'Net Features : retargeting

E-Commerce Email: Converting the Customer

Allison Howen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:25:00 GMT

Cart abandonment is among the most frustrating problems that e-commerce merchants face, and unfortunately, it happens way too often.

In fact, 80 percent of online shoppers have placed an item in a shopping cart and left the site without making a purchase, according to comScore’s Online Shopping Customer Experience Study. These abandoned items represent lost opportunities and leave merchants wondering why a purchase was not completed.

That being said, perhaps the best way for merchants to fight against cart abandonment is with a strong email retargeting strategy. By retargeting customers through email, merchants have the ability to reach the specific visitors who abandon their carts. Not only can a retargeting message remind someone about the products they left behind, but merchants can also offer some type of incentive in order to close the sale, such as free shipping or a discount code.

In the first installment of “E-Commerce Email: Welcoming the Customer,” Website Magazine looked at the welcome messages of 10 online shoe retailers. However, Part 2 is looking at the retargeting strategies of the same retailers. The examples below can be used to provide e-commerce merchants, regardless of industry, with insights into how some companies are guiding consumers through the purchase cycle via email.

DSW

This retargeting message offers a friendly reminder about the items I left in my cart during my last visit to DSW.com. While the content of the message is pretty generic and doesn’t display the specific products left in my cart, it does relay a sense of urgency by stating that items sell out fast. Additionally, the email tries to encourage me to make a purchase with the mention of free shipping at the very top of the message.

Zappos

Not only does Zappos send a reminder about the products I left in my shopping cart, but the company also displays the exact items I abandoned within this retargeting message. Furthermore, Zappos uses a mixture of quirky editorial text and bright call-to-action buttons to persuade me to complete the purchase. It is also important to note that Zappos creates a sense of urgency by letting me know that there is limited availability for one of the items in my cart.

Macy’s

Macy’s was among the first brands to send a welcome email to me after I became a member on the site. However, after abandoning a couple of shoes in my cart on Macys.com last week, I still have not received a retargeting message or any other type of email from the company.

Skechers

I never received a retargeting message from Skechers in regards to the items I abandoned in my shopping cart last week; however, I did receive a different message from the company, which was promoting one of their products.

TOMS

TOMS does a good job at disguising its retargeting message. This is because the company features a pair of shoes that I had abandoned in my cart, while also providing a large call-to-action button that encourages me to shop for new arrivals. Moreover, the email’s message tells customers that it is okay to be “picky” when it comes to making a purchase, and even further reassures customers by outlining the TOMS return policy and mentioning free shipping within the email’s subject line.

ShoeDazzle

ShoeDazzle implements an aggressive retargeting strategy, because I received not only one message encouraging me to come back to my cart, but two. The first message, which was sent out the same day that I abandoned my ShoeDazzle cart, captures attention with its catchy heading – “Your Cart Has Abandonment Issues.” Additionally, the subject line and content of this email is customized to remind me about the exact type of shoe I left behind. Conversely, the second message (sent the day after I abandoned the cart), relays a sense of urgency with the use of phrases like “don’t miss out.” It is also important to note that both messages try to entice consumers to make a purchase by offering free shipping and free return shipping.

JCPenney

After abandoning some shoes in my JCPenney shopping cart a week ago, I still have not received a retargeting email from the company. In fact, the only message I received from JCPenney (aside from the initial welcome email) was one asking me to sign up for text alerts.

Steve Madden

This friendly reminder from Steve Madden not only displays the exact products that I abandoned in my cart last week, but also offers a limited time incentive for free shipping. While this incentive is pointless for my order (since the site already offers free shipping on orders over $75), it would definitely be a good incentive for consumers who don't qualify for free shipping. Furthermore, Steve Madden asks consumers to provide feedback if they decide not to complete their order. This provides the company with insights that can help improve the customer experience.

Overstock

Although Overstock did things a little backward by sending a retargeting message before sending me a welcome message last week, it is safe to say that this company has a robust email strategy. While I eventually received a welcome message from the company (along with a variety of other promotional messages), I also received two retargeting emails within the last week. The first message arrived promptly after I abandoned my cart and displayed Overstock’s checkout page with the exact products I left behind, complete with the purchase total and multiple call-to-action buttons encouraging me to finish the transaction. The second message was sent two days after I abandoned my cart. It featured the products I left behind next to bright call-to-action buttons, as well as contained a section of additional recommended products at the bottom of the message.

JustFab

While I didn’t initially receive a welcome email from JustFab at the time of last week’s Part 1 writing, it is important to note that I eventually received a welcome message from the company along with a variety of other promotional emails. Among those messages, was a retargeting email encouraging me to complete my purchase. While the message isn’t very personalized, it does include bright call-to-action buttons and prominently displays other information persuading consumers to complete their purchase, such as the "free shipping" and "easy exchange" text at the top.

8 Ways to Improve Your Site Over the Weekend

Michael Garrity — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Everybody may be working for the weekend, but if you run a website, you already know that you’re almost always working on the weekend, as well.

In fact, most of the work of the everyday Web professional has to do with tweaking, analyzing, and generally optimizing the performance of their site(s), which can take up a lot of time.

So, if you don't want to spend your whole weekend working, here are eight quick ways to refine your website in two days, and still have time to go see the new Batman movie.

Offer social proof on your website.

While peer pressure is typically seen as negative, that is not the case in the marketing world. Web workers can display customer testimonials or case studies on their website to increase engagement and conversions. By doing this, your audience will be able to relate to other customers, and therefore learn how effective your services or products are from a trusted opinion. So, find some of the nicest things that consumers out there have said about you (and don't forget, you can encourage them) and share it with the world.

Test email subject lines.

Email marketing campaigns won’t be successful if emails aren’t delivered or opened, which is why it is always important to use best practices, such as testing, when creating email subject lines. One way that marketers can quickly test email subject lines is with subjectline.com. This free subject line scoring tool evaluates subject lines and provides users with scores, as well as deliverability and marketing tips and advice. Take some time - 15 minutes or so - to sit down and brainstorm great subject lines.

Generate a Fivesecondtest for your site to assess its usability/readability.

When you don’t have the time to conduct user tests, this handy Web-based tool lets Web workers upload a screenshot of their Web page and then creates two different five-second user tests, one for memory and one for descriptive feedback. And, you know, it only takes five seconds.

Insert dynamic meta descriptions into your HTML.

One of the easiest ways to improve your search marketing efforts is to include useful, compelling meta descriptions on your Web pages. Just be sure that they are relevant to the page’s content and are captivating enough inspire a user to click on the search result.

Monitor keywords on Twitter.

It is important to keep an eye on discussions that are relevant to your brand, because it can help social media managers better connect with their audience, as well as help publishers discover possible content ideas. While there are many tools that can be leveraged for monitoring social media mentions, two free Twitter-specific tools worth checking out are Monitter and Twitterfall. Take a few minutes every hour or so to see who is using your keywords in the Twitterverse.

Assess your forms.

Does your email subscription form ask for unnecessary information? If the answer is "yes," you may be scaring off potential subscribers. This is why removing unnecessary or less important information from your forms can prove to be beneficial in the long run. In fact, it is important to note that the only information really needed on a newsletter subscription form is a name and email address, especially because more targeted information can always be obtained at a later time. Should you have some time to spare, why not give one (or all?) of your forms a review to make sure they're not asking superfluous questions.

Fix up and customize your 404 page.

Obviously you never want your visitors to land on one of these, but it happens, and in those situations, it’s good to have a custom 404 page that will not only provide them with information, but also offers additional useful content and encourages them to continue exploring your awesome website. If your 404 page is uninformative and boring, why not take a few hours to create one that will be a little more meaningful to your site's visitors?

Adjust white space to improve readability.

Finding the right balance between too much and too little space around text is one of the essential aspects of a readable website. Remember that your chunks of text content need room to breathe so that your visitors can view them more easily, and they shouldn’t be adhered to other elements, particularly images. Spend a few minutes during your morning coffee looking over your website to make sure it's optimized for readability, and if you see any problems, try increasing your padding and margins.

Self-Service Retargeting from Bizo

Allison Howen — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT

Marketers can start their own retargeting campaign with a new solution from business audience marketing provider Bizo.

This new self-service tool is currently in public beta, and enables marketers to launch a retargeting campaign for as little as $5 per day. The solution helps marketers recapture leads and increase conversions by targeting consumers that didn’t convert on their first visit to the marketer’s website.

Retargeting can make a business’ other marketing programs more efficient because it brings lost prospects back to a website in order for marketers to gain leads, increase conversions, obtain less wasted spend and therefore a better ROI.

The self-service retargeting tool is an intergrated part of the Bizo Self-Service platform, which also includes the company’s Audience Analytics, Social Marketing and Campaign Performance Reporting solutions.

Check out this infographic about retargeting via Bizo:

MarketLive Merchants Get MyBuys Remarketing

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:30:00 GMT

Ecommerce software provider MarketLive has partnered with MyBuys, a profile-driven remarketing suite. Unless you've been living under a rock the past six months, you'll know that remarketing is the hottest thing in e-commerce since the rise of sophisticated product recommendation technologies.

The MyBuys Profile-Driven Remarketing Suite gives retailers multiple options (email and display advertising) for bringing shoppers back to their sites to buy for the first time, or to encourage repeat purchase. MyBuys, (much like other remarketing solutions, learns about each individual shopper and understands the brands, products, and attributes of interest, then uses those insights to send targeted emails and personalized display ads to each shopper, enticing them to return.

“We constantly look for ways to add value for our merchants by enhancing the already robust marketing, merchandising, selling, servicing, and analytics capabilities of our eCommerce platform,” said Mark Pierce, President of MarketLive. “The agreement with MyBuys builds upon and strengthens our long-term partnership and gives MarketLive merchants seamless access to the MyBuys Remarketing Suite. The solution will enhance merchants’ ability to generate repeat sales and increase customer loyalty.”

Fetchback Adopts Retargeted Ad Icon

Linc Wonham — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:00:00 GMT

One of the leaders in the retargeting space, FetchBack, has announced its adoption of the Advertising Option Icon provided by the Direct Advertising Alliance. All FetchBack retargeted ads will now include the icon, visible in the upper right corner of each ad.

The symbol is trademarked by the Direct Advertising Alliance (DAA) with the intent of making it a universal symbol for consumers. By clicking on the icon, consumers can find out which participating companies are tracking them through online targeting. It includes an “opt out” selection for consumers that do not wish to be tracked online.

FetchBack, a part of the GSI Commerce Global Marketing Services division, is one of the first retargeting companies to adopt the symbol and joins the list alongside Yahoo and Google.

“It is an important part of FetchBack’s culture to be transparent with our approach to retargeting,” said Chad Little, CEO and founder of FetchBack. “The Advertising Option Icon is a perfect opportunity to show that retargeters have an ethical responsibility to consumers. The inclusion of the icon builds brand trust and credibility by sharing information with the consumer that they otherwise would not have had access to. We stand behind this as a universal symbol for transparency in marketing.”

The Direct Advertising Alliance created the icon as part of the organizations Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. The icon provides detailed information to the consumer to help them better understand how and why they are being tracked, as well as provide the “opt-out” option for those who do not wish to be followed.

Numerous professional and industry organizations are working hard to make the Advertising Option Icon a cross-industry standard piece of every online ad.

Criteo, TagMan Partnership a Bullseye for Retargeters

Linc Wonham — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:00:00 GMT

A new partnership between Criteo and TagMan merges display retargeting and data management in such a way that underscores the rapid movement toward much more highly targeted marketing on the Web.

TagMan provides the leading real-time attribution and tag management system that enhances online campaign tracking, ensures that marketers are complying with the latest privacy and data-collection standards and improves slow page-loads due to excess tags. Criteo's scalable personalized retargeting platform enables global e-commerce companies to re-engage with website visitors who have left their sites via highly targeted personalized display ads. The collaboration is designed to benefit those e-commerce companies that are looking to attribute ROI of their online retargeting campaigns in real-time across all channels – not just search or display.

“We’re excited to work with Criteo and its e-commerce clients to bring even more insight and control over campaign performance, multi-touch attribution and privacy,” says TagMan CMO Chris Brinkworth. “Criteo’s platform already provides robust reporting capabilities, and with their solution existing within our tag management system, Criteo’s advertising clients can instantly access and manage an additional layer of control, attribution analytics and de-duplication for their marketing campaigns, including exactly what search term individuals typed after being exposed to a retargeting banner.”

The partnership was formed to simplify and accelerate Criteo’s retargeting campaigns and to provide Web marketers with increased visibility to retargeting’s role in the online sales process. Criteo’s clients that use TagMan’s tag management system will be able to manage and unify unique customers’ paths to conversion across touch-points such as retargeting, organic and paid search, as well as social media, while engaging tighter controls on targeting, privacy and page-weight challenges.

“Online advertisers have long wanted more visibility into their online campaigns, retargeting being one type, to accurately measure the effectiveness of their retargeting efforts,” says Vincent Meyer, strategic partnership manager at Criteo. “By partnering with TagMan, Criteo is bringing even more flexibility and value to our platform. Our relationship with TagMan makes it easy for advertisers to integrate advanced tagging management and attribution capabilities into their display retargeting campaigns.”

Retargeting has become a hot-button issue among Web marketers and privacy advocates in the past year, and opinions differ greatly on the impact that highly targeted display advertising has on consumers. An undisputed leader in the industry, however, Criteo has unquestionably bolstered its offerings in the space with this new affiliation.

Yahoo's Personalized Retargeting Can't Miss

Linc Wonham — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:10:00 GMT

While one of the hottest topics on the Web today, retargeting is hardly a new concept for online marketers. In fact, Yahoo! writes on its advertising blog that it invented search retargeting more than a year ago.

That much is open for debate, but Yahoo’s continued push for a return to Web prominence is not. The company’s latest attempt to reclaim that position comes with the announcement of a new display advertising product.

With Personalized Retargeting, Yahoo states in the blog post, “We can help you tap the potential of interested consumers who visit your website by retargeting them across the Web with personalized creative. It can help you turn prospects into customers at an even higher rate than standard retargeting – and you’ll only pay for clicks or conversions.”

Yahoo has two important advantages behind the release of its new product, which is a relatively late entry in the website retargeting space. The first is its recent acquisition of Dapper, a creative technology platform that provides dynamic display ad creation and optimization, and most of the power behind Personalized Retargeting.

In the verticals in which Dapper was successfully competing before its acquisition by Yahoo, such as travel and retail, the new product has performed magnificently in the early going. One travel client has seen a 97-percent overall lift in revenue and a 104-percent increase in conversion rates with Personalized Retargeting. The mission now for Yahoo is to take that success and spread it across numerous other verticals.

That’s where Yahoo’s second, and biggest, advantage comes in, which is scale. Yahoo still has the largest display network in the U.S. and can give its advertisers the best access on the Web. The second part of the blog announcement was about rebranding Yahoo’s ad network and calling it Yahoo! Network Plus, which can reach 86 percent of the consumers on the Internet.

As Yahoo! wrote, “It’s a lot easier to target a narrow segment of users at scale when you reach massive numbers of them in the first place.”

It will be interesting to see what Yahoo! can do for advertisers now that it’s added creative new technology to the longest reach on the Web. Visit Yahoo! to find out more about Personalized Retargeting and the Yahoo! Network Plus ad network.

Behavioral Retargeting Code of Conduct

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:00:00 GMT

The IAB's Affiliate Marketing Council (AMC) has unveiled a new code of conduct for dealing with behavioral retargeting technology. If you are responsible for anything Internet-marketing related, it is an important development and one you should be aware of as retargeting presents an exciting Web promotional opportunity. The AMC hopes to create a "fair and equitable" code to ensure that all parties can continue using the technology with confidence (and, of course, profit). Let's hope it works.

The "self-regulatory" code of conduct will apply to affiliates that run behavioral retargeting activity and primarily addresses "post view" or "post impressions" cookies – but more on that in a moment. Before proceeding, some explanation is definitely in order.

Behavioral retargeting (BR) is method of Web promotion that serves targeted advertising based on a user's previous behavior (such as a user that visits a site without completing a conversion). The behaviorally targeted advertisement can be seen by that user as they travel the Web, encouraging them to return and interact. The ads served are usually bought from ad networks on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis. The resulting sales from the ads are rewarded by advertisers/merchants on a CPA basis when operated via affiliate networks.

In order for behavioral retargeting to be effective, many BR companies require Post Impression (PI) or Post View (PV) cookies to be used alongside traditional click cookies. Therein lies the problem. PI/PV cookies are impression-based as opposed to click-based; in other words, a cookie is stored on an impression being served rather than a click. Historically, very few networks or affiliate programs have operated PI/PV cookies, as the more tangible action of a click is seen as more in line with the CPA and sale function of affiliate marketing – rather than the branding element of banner creative (and, therefore, impression cookies).

In working with PI/PV cookies, the IAB is setting some much-needed hierarchy rules involving click and impression cookies and standardizing overwriting procedure across the networks. As banner impressions are a more passive, brand-focused area of online marketing, the IAB hopes to provide clarity about whether the cookie length should be different, depending on the type of cookie. BR is becoming more prevalent and BR companies are looking to run activity on a CPA basis via affiliate networks. The code of conduct has been devised, which all BR companies must adhere to when running activity via member networks of the AMC. It's a positive step for both the advertising networks and affiliate marketers.

The AMC has taken the decision to make some elements compulsory with others subject to individual advertiser/merchant choice. Where this choice is available to advertisers/merchants, the network will be able to advise on the range of options available. The code of conduct applies to all affiliates/publishers who engage in behavioral retargeting via affiliate networks including Affiliate Future, Affiliate Window, Affilinet, Buy.at, Commission Junction, Linkshare, OMG, TradeDoubler & Webgains.

These aforementioned networks are able to work with BR affiliates and publishers in a "controlled way" if they are deemed to offer additional value (at the discretion of the network). Advertiser and merchants are encouraged to highlight programs where PI/PV is in place. Perhaps most important in the compulsory code of conduct is that PI/PV cookies should never overwrite a click cookie.

The IAB's AMC has proposed the following hierarchy which should be adhered to by all networks:

Where a single Post Click affiliate cookie exists in isolation, the Post Click cookie is attributed to the click referrer; whereas when multiple Post Click affiliate cookies exist, the most recent Post Click cookie is attributed to the last click referrer.

Where a single PI/PV cookie exists in isolation, the PI/PV cookie is attributed with the PI/PV referrer. Where multiple PI/PV cookies exist, the most recent PI/PV cookie is attributed with the last PI/PV referrer. Should PI/PV cookies and Post Click cookies coexist, the most recent Post Click cookie is attributed with the last click referrer.

This code of conduct is desperately needed and it positions behavioral targeting as a tactic very well in order to continue its growth in both the advertising and affiliate communities.

Three in Four Merchants to be Retargeting in 2011

Linc Wonham — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:11:00 GMT

Online remarketing techniques have been a hot topic of debate in recent weeks, including our own take on The Cost of Retargeting. Retargeted advertising has been the hot-button issue for marketers and consumers alike, but a new study indicates that the biggest increase in remarketing efforts this year will occur by way of retargeted emails – by a substantial amount.

An August 2010 survey by e-commerce solutions provider SeeWhy indicated that 74 percent of U.S. merchants will be engaging in email remarketing campaigns within 12 months, whereas only 34 percent are sending retargeted emails right now. The survey revealed that the jump in retargeted advertising will be much less significant, from 31 percent in August 2010 to 36 percent in August 2011.

The adoption or continuation of some type of remarketing strategy – the practice of reaching out to potential customers who have visited a website but left without engaging in a conversion activity, or possibly abandoned a conversion activity – was in nearly every merchant’s plans for 2011. Almost half of the respondents stated that they do not currently use any remarketing techniques, but almost all of them have plans to within the next 12 months.

Many marketers and retailers have lowered their shopping cart abandonment rates and increased conversions through different forms of remarketing. Providers of retargeting and geotargeting services and technologies abound throughout the industry, including Criteo, FetchBack and ChoiceStream, to name just a few. But the prevalence and frequency of retargeted ads on the Web has gained some attention from the mainstream media in recent weeks, leading to a fair amount of debate about the practice and even some concerns over consumer privacy.

A year ago, retargeting was identified in one report as the most underutilized advertising technology on the Internet, and today it has become one of the most talked about. The results of the SeeWhy survey tell us to expect remarketing to be an industry standard by this time next year, with retargeted emails leading the way.

The Cost of Retargeting

Linc Wonham — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:30:00 GMT

With so much talk these days about privacy concerns on the Web, one of the biggest questions facing advertisers and retailers right now is, How much is too much? Specifically with regard to the rapidly developing field of personalized retargeting, at what point do Internet marketers start doing themselves more harm than good by clearly displaying their knowledge of consumers’ purchase histories, browsing habits, salary range, geographic location and shoe size?

Invasion of privacy?
More and more, consumers are noticing that online ads are becoming increasingly personal, and, some say, intrusive. Most seasoned Web shoppers have come to accept some degree of online tracking by marketers, as the practice of retargeting is by no means new. After users visit a retail or commercial Website to browse or shop, it has become commonplace to expect some form of customized advertising content as a result of the cookies that are enabled when the Web browser lands on the site.

But with more companies offering increasingly advanced solutions in a crowded and competitive field, retargeting is quickly becoming a precision-based science. Rather than simply seeing an influx of automobile ads while using the Internet to browse for a used car, now many consumers are finding that they cannot casually view a product without being followed everywhere on the Web by the same style, size and price point of the item – if not by ads for the exact product if they chose not to buy it initially. In addition, shoppers may find themselves inundated with ads from the retailers nearest to them that carry the product or similar items because of the emergence of geolocation technologies, as well as ads that make clever use of any other personal data that Internet users have divulged along the way.

A marketer's dream
This degree of personalization is considered a major development in the e-commerce industry and many retailers are clambering to adopt the latest solutions from providers such as Criteo, ChoiceStream, FetchBack/GSI Commerce, Strands Recommender, Venda and many others, eager to take advantage of this seemingly open passageway into the consumer data vault. But retailers and merchants must first determine if this kind of marketing will, in fact, help sell more product – because the answer is not quite so simple. Not yet, at least.

From a marketer’s standpoint, it’s easy to view today’s retargeting strategies as providing a service to consumers. Who in their right mind wouldn’t prefer advertisements that are relevant to items in which they have previously shown an interest, and relevant to other aspects of their lives, than to advertisements that have no relevance to their lives at all? From a seller’s perspective, it’s the no-brainer of all no-brainers. But what we are seeing right now is that consumers may not be quite ready to accept, much less adopt this particular service. And, at least for the near-term, merchants and advertisers have to be careful not to alienate consumers with too bold or too intrusive retargeting efforts.

The issue of privacy is foremost on the minds of most Internet users right now, and the prevalence of Web advertisements that basically state that a consumer’s online information is anything but private is fairly distressing for many people. Where this type of marketing crosses the line between ineffectual and potentially damaging is in the delivery of that statement, to the point where a marketer may not only lose a sale but also a customer if it is too brazen.

A losing combination
A 2010 study by two marketing professors, Ari Goldfarb of the University of Toronto and Catherine Tucker of MIT, found that tailoring plain text ads to the content of a website proved to be an effective strategy for increasing purchase intent. The same was found to be the case for increasingly visible but less targeted ads. So, a customer browsing a shoe retailer’s site would be positively influenced by a plain text ad pertaining to shoes in his or her size, for instance, and also by a more visually striking but less personalized ad for a different product altogether.

However, the study found that the purchase intent actually decreased when these two strategies were combined, meaning that a highly targeted, personalized and visually obtrusive ad had the opposite effect of its intention – it actually drove the consumer away. Goldfarb and Tucker attributed this result to the interpretation that the more visible targeted ad was an invasion of the privacy of the consumers in the study, boldly broadcasting the fact that their data was available to marketers all over the Web.

Drawing the line
This study shows that until consumers can become more comfortable with the concept of personalized retargeting, this is where marketers and retailers have to draw the line between personal and too personal. It seems that what the consumers in the study are saying is that relevant, personalized information might be helpful toward influencing a purchase, but it becomes an invasion of privacy the more visible advertisers are in their presentation. This mindset will likely fade away over time, but today’s merchants have to be cautious in the meantime.

One way of doing that is by looking very carefully at all of the methods and practices utilized by the different retargeting technology companies and advertising firms. It is still a developing field and there are no best practices to speak of, but by the same token, innovations are being made every day. Criteo, for instance, has a feature in which it explains to consumers why they are receiving certain ads if they click on a link. In today’s privacy-sensitive climate, it will be attempts at transparency such as this one that appeal the most to consumers – and have the most long-term benefits for marketers and merchants.

FetchBack’s Recommendation-Powered Retargeting

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:24:00 GMT

Businesses need to stay in front of their customers to stay competitive. Retargeting company FetchBack this month released an interesting recommendation-powered retargeting solution that helps merchants do just that by combining machine-learning technologies and shopping history to ensure that the products displayed in ads actually fit consumers’ interests.

A definition of retargeting is in order. Retargeting is a form of online advertising wherein ads are delivered to consumers based on previous actions that in the past did not result in a conversion. For example, you visit my website because you are interested in buying a digital camera. You don’t buy today but since I now know who you are I can display an ad to you later on perhaps when you are more ready to buy.

Fetchback is taking retargeting a step further by enabling its clients to recommend products that, while maybe not directly associated with what the user initially searched for, may support it nicely. For example, you came to a website searching for a digital camera and eventually bought one but now retailers can offer up associated products such as carrying cases, extra batteries, etc, even if they did not initially sell the camera itself.

Every merchant (at least those without their heads in the virtual sand) wants to increase the opportunities they have to make a sale and retargeting is increasingly getting attention as a way to accomplish that. The issue is really that too many of your site visitors (the one you’ve paid good money to attract) leave without taking any action. Retargeting helps to change all that.

“We are proud of our commitment to constant improvement here at FetchBack,” says Chad Little, President and CEO. “This goes beyond our industry-leading technology; providing tailored content and offers that help convert prospects to customers quicker. It will give our clients the ability to showcase more products, provide fresh branding and overall have more data and intelligence about what consumers want.”

Related Items: FetchBack Analytics – Retarget

FetchBack Analytics - Retarget

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:02:00 GMT

A new analytics package that "retargeting" provider FetchBack made available to advertisers today reveals that nearly half of consumers return to retail sites quickly after being served its Fetchback ads. Who would have guessed?

Looking across 10 industry categories (e.g. online electronics, retail, apparel, cosmetics, home and health), FetchBack says that on average 42.9% of consumers returned to the retail site that generated the FetchBack-served retargeting ad within one hour of seeing the ad. In the houseware category, it increased to 69.9% within one hour. At 12 hours, there is a dip to 8.5% return conversions, but return conversions jump back up to 21.0% in 24 hours.

"Knowing how quickly a prospect returns to an advertisers' site after a viewing a retargeted ad, or how many impressions each prospect receives before converting is important information that allows advertisers to optimize their campaign," says Chad Little, FetchBack's President and CEO.

Two new retargeting reports developed by Fetchback allow advertisers to see how long in hours it takes prospects to return to their site after viewing a retargeted ad online. "Our patent pending Retargeting technology, known as FIDO 2.0, allows us to provide in depth reporting that quantifies our advertisers' investment," adds Mr. Little. "Before our analytics were introduced, Advertisers relied on network reporting, which provides basic retargeting facts such as the number of impressions served and the campaign click through rate. This information isn't enough to understand the true impact of retargeting campaigns. Marketers need to be able to understand what impact retargeting has on their lost prospects."

FetchBack also offers other reports on retargeting that show the number of impressions the average unique prospect received, how many impressions were shown before a customer returned to the advertiser's site, the number of impressions shown before a consumer converted, the number of days it took a consumer to convert after seeing a retargeted ad, and a daily ROI report.