Thereby, an interesting finding outcropped: Despite missing commonly recognized keyfigures on the profit of retargeting, advertisers regard this form of advertising as an „online channel of the future“. The main goal of retargeting campaigns consist in the increase of performance (Conversions, profit etc.). Branding effects rather play the second role.
Retargeting or Remarketing? One Form of Advertising – Various Definitions
Retargeting is the target group or user precise delivery of personalized online advertising in the display area. The personalization can be proceeded in various ways: ads could for example be displayed to a user for products he had previously looked on at other websites or shops that might also fit for these products (e.g. beach towel and sun screen).
In practice, the names of retargeting vary by provider and application. Criteo speaks of "retargeting", while Google AdWords uses the term "remarketing“. In intelliAd Retargeting, the retargeting campaigns of Criteo and Google AdWords can be imported and optimized via a respective API. In the survey, the term "retargeting" is used with the following definition: All services, which deliver online advertising for certain offers to users who have already shown their interest by their behavior on the Internet. This includes Criteo Retargeting and Google Remarketing.
Scientific Survey in Cooperation with the TU Munich
In collaboration with a research team of the Department of Technology Services and Marketing at the Technical University of Munich (Prof. Wangenheim) intelliAd developed an extensive questionnaire which was answered by intelliAd customers in April 2011. To obtain a valid data base, only the responses of participants who know remarketing and use it in practice were evaluated.
Performance is more Important than Branding for Advertisers
On the question what effects marketing managers want to achieve in principle with their retargeting campaigns, 88% of survey participants responded that performance is their first interest. The branding is only playing a major role for 12% of the participants ("Agree strongly"), see Figure 1.
Which Effects Do You Target with Your Retargeting Campaigns?
- Figure 1: Performance is far more important than branding for advertisers.
Retargeting - in Use Especially at Agencies
With over 70%, Retargeting or Google Remarketing is one of the most used channels in the mix of agencies. For direct customers it is still about 50% (see Figure 2).
Which Ad Channels Do You Generally Use?
- Figure 2:Retargeting/Remarketing is strongly represented in the online marketing mix of agencies.
Among providers, Google has the edge: 93% of advertisers use the possibility of personalized advertising. Criteo stands at 47% in second place (see Figure 3). Reason for the dominance of the search engine provider may be that the majority of the respondents are using Google AdWords for their search marketing and thus have direct access to Google Remarketing.
Which Retargeting Provider Do You Use?
- Figure 3: Over 90% of respondents use Google Remarketing.
More Conversions, Revenue and Profit - Most Estimate Retargeting Positively
The effectiveness of Retargeting is in total classified as positive by advertisers (see Figure 4). For most respondents the use of this advertising channel could increase performance data such as profit (54%), sales (75%) and conversions (79%).
Which Key Figures Could Be Increased Through Retargeting?
- Figure 4: Profit, revenue or conversions: Retargeting has a positive influence on most key figures.
Retargeting is Opening up New Conversion Potentials
When asked how retargeting has actually helped in the optimization of advertising campaigns (see Figure 5), 46% responded that inactive users could be reactivated. With retargeting, customers could be animated to a conversion which would not have occurred otherwise (64% agreement). 64% of participants also confirmed that scattering losses were minimized in advertising campaigns. About 82% of respondents said retargeting has helped increase awareness of their own products.
Retargeting Has Helped You...
- Figure 5: Additional conversions, less scattering losses, more awareness: Retargeting is a useful help for many advertisers.
Cost per Conversion (CPO) - the most Important Key Performance Indicator
When asked which key figures play the most important role in the assessment of the success of retargeting campaigns, advertising managers responded with a large majority (8.50 on a scale of 0.00 to 9.00) that the CPO (cost per Order) was most significant (see Figure 6). This result is not surprising, since performance is the most important goal for advertisers regarding Retargeting.
Which Key Figures Play the Most Important Role when Evaluating Retargeting Campaigns?
- Figure 6: The CPO plays the most important role when analyzing the success of retargeting campaigns.
Privacy: Negative Image of Retargeting for the User?
A not insignificant problem with Retargeting is the subject of data protection. A total of 57% of respondents assumes that retargeting could be perceived as "disturbing" by customers (see Figure 7).
Could Retargeting Be Identifies as "Bothering" by Your Clients?
- Figure 7: Most of the advertisers are aware that regargeting could be regarded as bothering.
Among the survey participants who do not capitalize retargeting, 50% oppose this advertising channel because they fear that the acceptance by customers is uncertain. About 40% of marketing executives see the risk for Retargeting that customers might perceive this as an intrusion into their privacy (see Figure 8).
You Do Not Use Retargeting because...
- Figure 8: Lacking acceptance and a possible intervention in the privacy are the biggest concerns regarding retargeting.
Most Advertisers Want to Continue to Invest More in Retargeting
Despite some uncertainties in dealing Retargeting, most advertisers think that Retargeting has a great future and intend to continue investing additional parts of their advertising budget in customized advertising. While currently 6.5% of total SEM advertising budgets, accounts consisting of SEA and SEO, are allocated on Retargeting, advertisers want to spend 11% in the future, representing an increase of 69%.
How Much of Your Total SEM Budget Is Allocated on Remarketing?
- Figure 9: Advertisers would like to spend more on Remarketing in the future.
Conclusion: Advertiser Retargeting is for the online channel of the future
Whether Remarketing or Retargeting: Most advertisers are pursuing the goal of promotions which are tailored to target group’s needs to maximize their sales. Even if the performance is the focus of attention, positive influences on the attention can be achieved with Retargeting. Therefore, the budget expectations are very positive: Most advertisers want to redistribute large portions of their budgets on this advertising channel. Nevertheless, there are certain reservations, since the successful tightrope walk between relevance and reactance needs to be achieved.
