Remarketing 201 – How to Segment Specific Audiences, and Create Content that Converts

Posted by Shawn Friesen on Dec 18, 2013

In my last article I wrote about setting up a basic Remarketing/Retargeting campaign to make the most of your website traffic.  In this article I am going to take it a step further and show you how to ‘segment’ or ‘target’ a specific audience of your site visitors.  This will enable you to craft specific messages for different types of people, and different stages in the buying cycle.  Let’s begin…

Note:  It is assumed you have the necessary tools and know how to set up a basic Remarketing Campaign using Google Analytics and Adwords. 

First you will want to consider the various types of visitors who come to your website, some examples:

– the buyer:  this person comes in search of his next RV, and can be found on your SRP (Search Results Pages) and RVDP (RV Detail Pages).  You will want to serve him a specific message over the next several weeks (or months) as he continues to shop, keeping your dealership on the forefront of his mind.

– the hot lead:  this visitor fills out a “Contact Us” form on a RVDP and has expressed intent to buy.  For this visitor, you want to consider following for a shorter period of time, with a very specific call-to-action, such as a limited time discount or sale that will cause him/her to visit or call your dealership.

– the RV owner looking for service:  he/she comes in search of info on the operating hours of your parts and service department, viewing the corresponding pages.  You can create a banner ad to offer parts and/or service specials, or simply express the benefits of scheduling an appointment for service at your dealership.

There are obviously many more visitor segments, but I think you get the picture, and hopefully are starting to see some amazing opportunities for generating more customer interest in your products and services.  Here’s how we go about ‘segmenting’ a specific type of visitor, in this case, we will target visitors to your SRPs:

1. Login to your Google Analytics account and click “Admin” tab
2. Select the appropriate “Property” – generally this will simply be your main site profile.
3. Click “Remarketing” and “Lists”
4. Select “New Remarketing List”
5. Choose the profile for your site from the “View” menu
6. Now click “Visitors who visited a specific page/section of my site”
7. Enter the unique URL that identifies your SRPs – eg. /rvlist.asp or /searchresults.php
8. Name the list “SRPs”
9. Enter how many days you want to advertise to this visitor.  I would recommend at least 30 days, but suggest up to 90 or even longer…the length of time an RV shopper typically spends shopping for an RV (you will likely know what this time frame is for your average customer ?? )
10. Choose the Adwords account to link the list to, and then “Save Remarketing List”

Now that you have created a specific “segment” of your website traffic, you can set up a new campaign in your Adwords account that will serve banner ads to ONLY this specific audience.  You will want to consider what message would be best to ‘touch a nerve’ in this group.  Maybe its a link to an “Internet Specials” page, or a limited time Discount Coupon for Parts/Service if purchase is made by a certain date, or even an ad with various in-stock units (more about this in an upcoming article).  Here’s the steps for setting up the Adwords campaign for this group:

1. Login to your Adwords account
2. Select the “Campaigns” tab
3. Click “+ Campaign”, and then “Display Network Only”
4. Name the campaign and choose “Remarketing” radio button.
5. Choose a Bid Strategy and Daily Budget.
6. “Save and Continue”
7. Name your Ad Group
8. Select the newly created “SRPs” from the Remarketing Lists area.
9. “Save and Continue”
10. Create Ads and save.

Congratulations!  You have created a targeted display ad campaign that will reach a specific and targeted group of RV consumers, as they traverse the internet for the next month(s).  If you created banners with a message custom tailored to this audience, you should find the click-through-rate on these banners is higher.  As always, it is best to always run two creatives in competition, winner stays, repeat.

Let me know some of your experiences with Remarketing campaigns.  In my next article, I will explain how to use Google Merchant centre to create dynamic remarking display ads that show your inventory!  Stay tuned…