Remarketing vs. Retargeting: What's the Difference?

Have you ever wondered how top brands keep their customers coming back or manage to convert visitors who left their website without making a purchase? The secret lies in two powerful strategies: remarketing and retargeting. 

At Opensend, we've mastered the art of turning casual browsers into loyal customers. Understanding the nuances between these approaches can revolutionize your marketing efforts, boost your conversions, and significantly enhance your customer engagement. 

Interested in discovering more? We’ve got you covered. Read on to learn what makes each strategy unique and how they can be pivotal in growing your business.

What Is Remarketing?

Remarketing might sound like tech jargon, but it’s actually a super straightforward concept. Imagine you visit a website, browse a couple of products, but leave without buying anything. 

Then, you start seeing ads for those products on other websites you visit — that’s remarketing. It’s like the website reminding you, “Hey, remember that thing you looked at? Here it is again!” This method helps businesses re-engage visitors who showed interest but didn’t make a purchase, nudging them to come back.

What Is Retargeting?

Retargeting is a slice of the remarketing pie. It specifically uses online ads to target users who have already interacted with your brand but left your site without making a purchase, signing up, or completing any other desired action. That said, retargeting isn’t just about showing ads randomly — it’s about showing the right ads to the right people at the right time. 

For example, if someone added a pair of sneakers to their cart but didn’t buy them, retargeting could show those sneakers in ads on different websites the user visits later.

How Do Retargeting and Remarketing Differ?

While both retargeting and remarketing aim to capture interest from previous visitors, they do it in slightly different ways. Remarketing is a broader term that includes any method used to re-engage customers, like sending follow-up cart abandonment emails or push notifications. 

Retargeting, on the other hand, is specifically about those ads that follow you around the web. Think of remarketing as the umbrella strategy and retargeting as one specific tactic under that umbrella, focused on using ads to reel customers back in.

Why Does Understanding the Difference Matter?

Knowing the distinction between remarketing and retargeting isn’t just a matter of semantics. It’s crucial for tailoring your marketing strategies effectively. 

Here’s why it’s important to get it right:

• Strategic Focus: Remarketing isn’t limited to ads. It involves various strategies to re-engage customers. By understanding this, you can diversify your efforts beyond just ads and include personalized emails, special offers, or social media interactions.
• Resource Allocation: Different strategies require different resources. Retargeting primarily needs ad budget and analytics, while remarketing might involve more content creation and communication efforts. Knowing which strategy to leverage helps in allocating your resources more efficiently.
• Customer Experience: Using the right approach at the right time enhances the customer experience. Retargeting with ads is powerful for quick reminders, but deeper engagement through remarketing techniques like follow-up emails can build a stronger relationship.
• Conversion Optimization: Each method has its strengths in driving conversions. Retargeting can be very effective in quickly recapturing lost sales, whereas remarketing can nurture a longer-term relationship that might lead to repeat sales and greater customer loyalty.

Getting a good grasp on these nuances allows you to craft more effective, holistic marketing campaigns that not only reach your audience but resonate with them on multiple levels.

How Do I Choose the Right Strategy for My Brand?

Deciding whether remarketing or retargeting is right for your brand boils down to your unique business objectives and the customer journey you want to enhance. Each strategy has its place in a well-rounded marketing toolkit, and selecting the appropriate one can significantly impact your engagement and conversion rates. 

Let’s go over some tailored insights to guide your decision:

Understand Your Business Goals

The first step in deciding between remarketing and retargeting is to clarify your business objectives.

• For Customer Retention and Engagement: If your primary goal is to maintain a relationship with existing customers, remarketing is your go-to strategy. It’s excellent for re-engaging previous buyers with personalized emails, special offers, and loyalty programs.
• For Immediate Conversions: If you're looking to convert recent visitors who left your site without completing a purchase, retargeting is more effective. By displaying targeted ads to these potential customers, you can quickly bring them back to complete their purchase.

Analyze Your Audience Behavior

Different audiences respond better to different strategies.

• Remarketing for Loyal Customers: Customers who have previously interacted with your brand and shown loyalty are more likely to respond positively to remarketing efforts. Sending them personalized content and offers can increase their lifetime value.
• Retargeting for New Visitors: New visitors who have shown interest but haven't yet converted are prime candidates for retargeting. Ads that remind them of the products they viewed or added to their cart can nudge them toward making a purchase.

Evaluate Your Resources

Consider the resources you have at your disposal.

• Content Creation for Remarketing: Remarketing often involves creating a variety of content, such as follow-up emails, newsletters, and special offers. Make sure you have the team and tools necessary to produce engaging content.
• Ad Budget for Retargeting: Retargeting requires a budget for online ads. You’ll need to invest in display ads and social media ads to reach your audience effectively. Streamlining this process can be achieved by integrating with your existing systems and optimizing your ad spend.

Integration With Your Current Tools

Choose a strategy that fits well with your current marketing tools and platforms.

• Remarketing With CRM Systems: If you have a robust CRM system, you can leverage remarketing to send highly personalized messages based on customer data.
• Retargeting With Advertising Platforms: If you're already using advertising platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, retargeting can be a natural extension of your current marketing efforts. Enhancing your retargeting efforts by providing real-time data and insights ensures your ads reach the right people at the right time.

Measure and Optimize

Regardless of the strategy you choose, continuous measurement and optimization are crucial.

• Track Key Metrics: Monitor the performance of your campaigns by tracking key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on investment.
• Adjust Based on Data: Use the data collected to refine your strategies. If you find that retargeting ads are not performing as expected, consider adjusting your targeting parameters or ad creatives. Similarly, if remarketing emails are not engaging customers, experiment with different content and offers.

Seamlessly Integrating Opensend

While choosing the right strategy, consider how Opensend can support your efforts. Our platform offers a seamless integration with tools like Shopify and Klaviyo, ensuring you can effectively implement both remarketing and retargeting strategies. 

By leveraging Opensend’s powerful visitor identification and data insights, you can target highly engaged customers and maximize your conversions with minimal effort.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, remarketing and retargeting are both powerful strategies to boost your marketing efforts, but they serve different purposes. Remarketing is great for nurturing existing relationships through personalized emails and offers, while retargeting is perfect for re-engaging visitors with targeted ads. 

Understanding and leveraging both can significantly enhance your customer engagement and conversion rates. At Opensend, we make it easy to harness the power of both strategies. Ready to turn casual visitors into loyal customers? 

Try Opensend today and watch your business grow. Book a demo with us now and see the difference for yourself!

Sources:

Remarketing: Definition, Benefits, Types and How To Use It | Indeed.com

What Is Retargeting? How To Set Up an Ad Retargeting Campaign | Hubspot

15 Best Practices For Producing Quality, Engaging Content | Forbes

CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Elements, Benefits, and Technology | Investopedia