The desire to connect with potential consumers that have previously engaged with a brand has been pinned mainly to one goal – awareness.

Although plenty view retargeting as a way of reaching out to some of the most likely converters, new research suggests that driving sales actually falls behind generating awareness in the marketer’s agenda. 

AdRoll surveyed 250 marketing professionals across Europe to find that 60% would use retargeting as a way of gaining better awareness for their brand. The second priority was boosting sales (57%), with retention making up the top three (51%).

In words following the report, Michael Bertaut, MD EMEA at AdRoll, praised the overall versatility of retargeting.  

Multi-channel benefits

Brand awareness may be the key objective in a typical retargeting strategy, but AdRoll’s report stated that conversions still rank as the most important metric for gauging success. 

Over half of marketers (57%) consider purchases made as the barometer of a good campaign, while gaining insights into customer behaviour was voted for by a similar proportion (51%).

The survey also proved that success in retargeting efforts is having a knock-on effect on the performance of other channels. AdRoll discovered that 74% of respondents saw this having an impact on their search activity, and 68% claimed the same for email.

“Leading the charge”

Elsewhere, retargeting was voted as a top-performing channel by 42% of the group – fending off competition from paid search (38%) and social media (30%) – and Bertaut is seeing the impact this is having on spend. 

 “Our report shows that marketers have expanded the way they think about retargeting, and are heavily increasing investment in the technology based on its high performance,” he commented.

“Retargeting has moved from a niche tactic to a critical tool for turning data into successful strategies, helping marketers meet every marketing goal from driving sales to keeping your brand top of mind for audiences. It isn’t just keeping pace – retargeting is leading the charge in programmatic by paving the way for a deeper understanding of online customer behaviour.”
 
Looking ahead, the marketers said they would be looking into new platforms for their retargeting efforts, with shopping sites such as Amazon (71%) and eBay (55%) proving popular.