When you remarket online, you are targeting someone who is already familiar with you because of a previous visit to your website. There are so many opportunities to remarket using Google Analytics and Google AdWords together, with many people taking advantage of this on the Display Network since only 100 visits to your web site are required. RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) can also happen for Google search ads, but at least 1,000 cookies are required before RLSA can be utilized. Google states their required minimum of 1,000 is to protect the privacy of the people on your list. What makes this great for search is the ability to use a remarketing list combined with your keyword search campaigns.
The first step is to ensure remarketing is enabled in Google Analytics. Check your Property Settings, then look for Tracking Info, and then Data Collection. Simply turn it to “on” once you get there. If you are brand new to Google Analytics, you will want to enable this immediately even if you are not sure when or if you will remarket. Since your RLSA list does need 1,000 cookies, it may take some time to collect this many cookies on your site, depending on the volume of traffic you normally receive.
If you have been collecting this cookie data and are ready to start using RLSA, here are some use cases to consider in the context of the goals for your site.
- Exclude customers searching for your company name. In this case, they already know about you, but forgot your exact URL. Assuming you are doing okay with your SEO strategy, you should show up on the first page for your brand name and would want people to click on your organic link rather than your paid listing.
- Create ads for website visitors that abandoned their shopping carts. If they start a Google search for what they almost bought from you, here is an opportunity to get in front of them again with an offer that will entice them to complete the conversion process.
- Target people who have converted but did so a while ago. The maximum window for targeting is 180 days but can be changed. Perhaps your product is one people tend to buy quarterly. In that scenario, you would target every quarter (90 days) and remind them it is time to buy again. (If a site has a low volume and few conversions, this may be a tough strategy for some advertisers.)
- Although I personally tend to bid low when starting a new Search campaign for clients, using RLSA is when it is time to increase those bids. This remarketing list consists of people interested in your products or services so when it comes time for them to continue researching, or searching again, on Google.com, you want to remind them of their past interest in you.
- A recommended keyword strategy for Search campaigns is to have tight themes in each group that are targeted to the appropriate landing page. However, with RLSA, you may actually want to use broader keywords. This can keep your targeted audience from becoming too narrow.
- The same remarketing rule of “Don’t Be Creepy” applies to Search just as much as Display. You don’t want to say “Finish buying our ____.” Not only will that feel like an invasion of privacy, it could result in some uncomfortable conversations in a household with multiple people using the same computer. A better strategy would be to make the offer based on assumptions about why the person did not complete a purchase. For example if they abandoned their cart at the time of shipping, a promo code for half off shipping can get their attention without feeling like an invasion of privacy.
- Focus on engaged users. Perhaps your site is driven by content. The more time people spend on your website, the more likely the will see your affiliate ads. You can create ads for this group if they spent a certain amount of time on the site or visited a number of pages.
- If you have an ecommerce site, you can engage some of your big spenders. Invite them to come back and spend even more based on their purchasing habits and what they have bought from you previously. You may find a better ROI for your ad spend if you go after this group.
There are some limitations to RLSA. Some dimensions, such as age and gender, are not available because of privacy. You also unfortunately can not use language, location, operating system, device or browser, but hopefully the above scenarios provide enough justification for giving RLSA a try.
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