On last week’s Heroview we had Cassie Oumedian (@Cass_Oumedian) on to chat in-depth about remarketing. Cassie is an Account Manager with Hanapin Marketing with over four years of online marketing experience combined with a background of ten years of traditional marketing. Cassie has worked with a variety of business-to-business and business-to-consumer verticals in ecommerce and lead generation.
PPC Hero: Thanks for joining us today, Cassie. We’re excited to hear your insights!
Cassie: Thanks for having me! Always a good time to chat up some Remarketing tips & tricks.
PPC Hero: Let’s start at the beginning: What do we mean when we say “remarketing,” in terms of PPC?
Cassie: Remarketing consists of using a tracking code to place cookies in the computer of people visiting your site and then serving ads with that cookie, specifically, on GDN.
PPC Hero: In your opinion, what are the benefits of remarketing compared to “normal” PPC ads?
Cassie: Ads tailored to users that have previously showed interest in your site & their search behavior. And it typically yields a higher ROI compare to other display campaigns.
PPC Hero: How do remarketing campaigns differ in cost per click?
Cassie: This may vary but I’m currently seeing 7% lower CpC compared to search & 2% higher CpCs compared to Display campaigns
PPC Hero: So remarketing operates a little differently than other campaigns. How does that affect your strategy for each?
Cassie: I usually start with a wide net to capture as much data as possible using “All Sites Visited” as long as I’m within my ROI target & then refine the audience w/ contextual kws & exclusions as we collect more data.
PPC Hero: From an overall account perspective, can you talk a little bit about when and why you would run a remarketing campaign?
Cassie: Remarketing is a great opportunity for incremental revenue, especially for ecom clients but also works for lead generation. It takes time to build an audience before you can reap the rewards so be sure to get the pixel on the site ASAP.
PPC Hero: Let’s get technical for a second. How do you generate and add a remarketing script for your landing page?
Cassie: On Google there are several ways to generate scripts 1.) Adwords>Shared Libraries 2.) GA>Admin>New Remarketing Lists. You also have the option of using Google Tag Manager to manage all your scripts under one tag.
PPC Hero: Could you give a few tips on testing member durations for running a specific remarketing campaign?
Cassie: Let’s use the example of a 30 Day Membership. You would create a member duration for 30 days & one for 60 days. Then exclude the 30 day member duration. This would allow you to target the client 30 – 60 days after initial purchase.
PPC Hero: How do you like to identify and set up your target audiences for remarketing?
Cassie: Each client will be a little different but you are usually good targeting “All site visitors”, “cart abandoners”, ect.
PPC Hero: How should your target audience choices affect the ads you choose to display to that audience?
Cassie: Your ad messaging should reflect where the user is at in the buying cycle. Using the 30 Day membership example you could test messaging that reminds the user to renew their membership w/ limited time purchase.
PPC Hero: Do you frequently cap your remarketing ads? If so, how many impressions is too many?
Cassie: Currently, I do not. But one way to test if you should, would be to check your impression share. If you are getting close to 100% impression share, probably time to start.
PPC Hero: What are your favorite optimization tips for remarketing campaigns?
Cassie: Test, test & Test again. I also frequently use the placement report to monitor & manage placements.
PPC Hero: Are there reasons to prefer either banner or text ads for remarketing?
Cassie: I think it’s important to test both in separate adgroups, or even separate campaigns. Some sites in the display network may not allow image ads so it would be important to have a text ad to get full coverage.
PPC Hero: How do you segment for specific devices? How will Enhanced Campaigns affect segmentation?
Cassie: Create mobile specific ads for Mobile campaigns – can’t separate tablet – boo! Adjust bid modifiers to reflect mobile performance which usually varies.
PPC Hero: Other than Google, which remarketing networks have you had success with?
Cassie: I’m currently only using Google but some of my fellow AMs have had luck with remarketing tools such as; Adroll, Fetchback & Criteo. FBX is also another option for Facebook Retargeting.
PPC Hero: Last question – What’s the one thing about remarketing campaigns you wish you’d known before you ever ran one?
Cassie: Be creative with it & don’t be afraid to test new things. Also, try layering with other targeting options such as Topics & Interests to really refine your target user to increase CVR & ROI.
Thanks for joining!
Be sure to follow @ppchero to chat with us live next time!
