Some online users have shown past interest in your dealership and the cars you offer; how can you recapture their interest? The answer is retargeting strategies.
These strategies are an essential component of modern marketing for car dealers. If you want to reengage with potential customers who showed interest in your business and products, using ads that can add more value to their experience is a great way to get their attention. Retargeting reminds the consumer of your brand and increases the likelihood they will make a purchase.
What Is Retargeting?
The logic behind retargeting strategies is to recapture the attention a user once showed in your car dealership. The potential customers might not have been ready to purchase when they first saw your website, and they could have been comparison-shopping, but they might be more inclined to make a purchase with repeated exposure to your dealership, vehicles, and services.
This type of marketing can be list-based or pixel-based. Pixel-based retargeting allows a pixel to be placed on the browser when a user visits a web page. This cookie records the journey through the website and alerts the retargeting platform to display an ad at an appropriate time.
List-based retargeting can be an email list, which allows dealers to send invites, updates, and information that could entice potential customers to return to the dealership to take advantage of deals and promotions available to them.
The Mere-Exposure Effect
The Mere-Exposure Effect shows that most people are more likely to engage with content or information the more they are exposed to it. This is a huge reason why retargeting works. In fact, research shows that website visitors who are retargeted with ads are 70% more likely to convert. This leads directly to increased exposure, which helps push customers toward a vehicle purchase. Consumers who aren’t ready to commit receive retargeting ads that remind them they can click the “purchase” button when they are ready to buy.
How To Implement Retargeting Strategies
Retargeting needs to be a big part of our digital marketing strategy. In order to move forward and effectively retarget dealership customers, you should utilize a few best practices, including:
- Choose the right methods Use various funnels to help you present ads during retargeting. These funnels include Google, Instagram, and Facebook. Google is the most popular and allows car dealerships to reach the most online users because display ads are based on the user’s online behavior.
- Set a goal What are your retargeting goals, other than increasing sales? Do you want to increase brand awareness or close a loop in your marketing funnel? Your goals should be clearly stated.
- Define your metrics How will you measure the success of your retargeting strategies? Setting measurable goals helps you know that your strategies are working and will continue to work.
- Create compelling materials Your advertising materials should help your dealership stand out from the crowd. Create eye-catching ads with exceptional visual elements that clearly communicate messages that are relevant to each customer group.
- Adjust as needed Be prepared to be flexible and pivot as required to get the most out of your retargeting efforts. You can use tests to help understand what you’re doing right and wrong.
Effective Retargeting Strategies
Website Visitor Retargeting
Using retargeting, you can bring visitors back to your pages by showing them ads based on the pages they viewed. This is a great way to remind these potential customers of the vehicles they showed interest in when visiting your website.
Abandoned Cart Retargeting
Adding discounts to the pricing of products left in the cart that weren’t purchased can help turn visitors in to sales. This might not be an effective strategy for car dealers unless those dealers sell customization items.
Sequential Retargeting
One of the most effective retargeting strategies for car dealers is the use of sequential retargeting. This strategy guides shoppers through the decision-making process by showing various ads at different stages of the sale process.
Social Media Retargeting
Many users spend a large amount of their time on social media, and using platforms such as Instagram and Facebook for retargeting can be beneficial to your dealership and put your name in front of potential customers.
Video Retargeting
Why are some of the suggested videos on YouTube similar to recent conversations and search queries? Because Google and YouTube use your search history to provide you with retargeted materials. Using this type of retargeting can be extremely effective for car dealers.
What retargeting strategies will you put into practice for your dealership? Have you considered retargeting ads in the past?
