What Is Google Ad Retargeting and How Does It Work?

As I’ve outlined elsewhere, Google ads are a great way to target your specific customer. You may choose for your ad to show up for someone who types in a certain key word or phrase to a search engine or someone who lives in a specific area. You might choose to pinpoint a precise age range or a particular kind of device, like a phone.

So let’s say you have launched a digital advertising campaign. Your initial budget is between several hundred to several thousand dollars for Google ads to drive traffic to your business.

And it’s working. People are clicking on the ads and you’re getting some traction along those lines. You are converting some of the people who see your ads to people who come in the door of your practice for services.

The ads are also working for other people too, although you may not realize it. There are a lot of people who will click on your ad but who don’t need you right now, or they aren’t sure just what they want from you.

They may be in the market for a better smile but aren’t completely sold yet for whatever reason. It might be a budget issue. It might be because they are too busy to make time for an appointment. Or they may have loyalties to previous practice and feel guilty about leaving.

Repetition is the key

This is where retargeting comes in.

Did you know that, according to Mail Chimp, about 97 percent of people who visited a company’s website, don’t come back? Sure, you are glad to have captured the interest of that three percent but there are a lot of potential patients that are being left behind.

Retargeting can pinpoint those interested parties who didn’t convert and try again. It won’t be obvious to them that they are getting a second pass. There’s no neon sign. But there are slight differences, or triggers, that stem from the person’s previous interaction with you.

If someone has visited your website, that’s a trigger. If they have filled out a form on your site, that can be another trigger. If they have clicked the chat message on your website, that is a trigger too.

And depending on what information they have given you, or what they’ve done or looked at on your website, you can send them a different type of ad to essentially say, ‘hey we noticed that you went to the form. We’re still here for you.’

Supposing they selected one of your services for teeth whitening, you can send them a message with a special for teeth whitening.

With retargeting, you can upsell a specific service or you can cross sell the service. It is a really effective method to reach out and to capture those missed sales.

Advertisers know that when people see an ad, they need to see the ad seven or more times before they convert. And research from V12data tells us that a quarter of a retargeted people actually like the familiarity of the ads. It becomes a habit. Each ad is moving them closer to conversion. It just may take a while. But when they are ready, they will bite.

In fact, according to data from Kwanzoo, your chance to reach a customer increases by 70 percent when they are part of a retargeting campaign.

The lower cost for Google advertising also makes retargeting more doable. The Google AdWords program runs on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, meaning you only pay only when a visitor clicks your ad.

The old adage says if at first you don’t succeed, try again. And while it may not be true for everything, Google Ad retargeting is right on the money for your practice.