Retargeting 201

In-App, Social, and Video

Introduction

We all know that shoppers don’t buy on any one channel or device. And most of the time, they don’t buy when they initially visit your website, either.

In our Retargeting 101 eBook, we covered the basics of how retargeting works and why it's so important for your marketing strategy. Retargeting ads can reach your shoppers with relevant recommendations, re-engage website visitors, and generate higher-value sales.

With advanced retargeting technology, powered by machine learning, you can do that across other channels, creating a seamless experience for each shopper.

In this eBook, you'll learn:

Contents

A Retargeting Refresher

Let's break down exactly what happens during a retargeting campaign:

1. Shopper views product on your website.
2. Shopper views product on your website. He leaves your site to read the news.
3. He leaves your site to read the news. And then he browses social media, where...

Why Machine Learning Matters for Retargeting

You’re probably wondering, what does machine learning have to do with dynamic retargeting? The short answer: Everything.

Between identifying patterns, optimizing ad layouts, and enhancing suggestions, machine learning is essential to maximizing the effectiveness of your retargeting campaigns. Shoppers today are inundated with offers competing for their attention across every channel, from mobile web to in-app, in-store, and online.

Four Ways Machine Learning Can Help You Stand Out

1. Deeper shopper insights
   Machine learning helps identify target buyers, understand past and present interactions, and predict what shoppers will need and do next in order to optimize offers.
2. Enhanced product recommendations and dynamic content
   Machine learning's ability to learn from spending habits, shopper behavior, and market trends enables highly relevant ad content for each touchpoint.
3. Eliminate redundancy and optimize budgets
   Personalizing content, cadence, and offers for each individual ad are just a few ways you can use machine learning to help drive revenue.
4. Criteo Dynamic Retargeting
   Our programmatic video and display ads are tailored using machine learning and automatically delivered to shoppers throughout their path to purchase. With predictive bidding, machine learning ensures that each ad is served to relevant touchpoints in that path to purchase.

App Retargeting

In the United States, 71% of mobile sales happen in-app, and advertisers with a shopping app generate 68% of transactions on mobile devices.

App users typically browse more products, add more to their shopping baskets, and convert at a higher rate. Not only that, the App product page view-to-buyer conversion rate is 3x that of mobile web users.

It’s not easy to keep app users engaged. In one report, app analytics firm Localytics found that around 1 in 4 people abandon apps after one use.

Your app can be amazing. But if your users forget about it, all of that effort goes to waste. This is where app retargeting technology can really help.

How App Retargeting Works

Imagine a shopper named Kim is searching for a double room for two adults, for one night in San Francisco.

As Kim browses your app, intent data is captured at each event level. Kim finishes browsing, but gets distracted and starts playing a gaming app. If the gaming app is part of your retargeting partners publisher network, the retargeting process continues in real-time.

Kim's purchasing intent is calculated, the impression is purchased, product recommendation determined and design of the ad occurs, all in real-time. The ad is displayed reflecting hotels Kim viewed, plus new recommendations based on items such as availability and pricing.

Criteo’s App Retargeting Solution: Powered by Network and Scale

Customer Value

• Retention rate: +62%
• Frequency of visit: +38%
• Products browsed per user

App retargeting through Criteo Dynamic Retargeting has been built to reengage your app audience and keep you connected to your most valuable users.

Criteo App Retargeting offers:

• Powerful performance. Not only does Criteo's app retargeting solution bring shoppers back, but once engaged, they're 30% more likely to return and shop within the app without further encouragement.
• Maximum reach. Through Criteo Shopper Graph and Criteo Engine, Criteo's app retargeting solution continuously organizes and analyzes insights from over 1.2 billion active monthly shoppers each year. By recognizing shopper habits like previously viewed and purchased products, sites visited, and interaction, the Engine uses real data to drive the most sales.
• Criteo's app retargeting solution delivers personalized dynamic ads that perfectly scale to all ad sizes across more than 555k mobile apps.

CheapOair: App Retargeting Success Story

CheapOair is one of the most popular US travel websites consistently ranked among the top five online travel agencies by Experian Hitwise. CheapOair wanted to stay in front of travel buyers by reaching and converting consumers in-app on their mobile devices. By leveraging App Advertising, CheapOair improved both the efficiency and scale of its mobile performance marketing efforts.

Results:

• 37% increase in in-app sales
• 196% YOY sales growth

App users are some of the most valuable shoppers a brand can have, but only if they keep coming back to use your app. With app retargeting, you can drive engagement across the entire app usage lifecycle. Whether it is re-engaging inactive users or driving repeat sales from your best shoppers, app retargeting helps you encourage shoppers to return to your app and ultimately convert them into buyers.

Social Media Retargeting

On average, people worldwide spend 135 minutes per day on social media, so it’s no surprise that to marketers, social media is a critical part of a shopper’s path to conversion.

As social media takes up more time of a user's day, it’s important to stay at the forefront of their attention. Social media retargeting works by connecting you with shoppers who have already visited your site on social channels while incorporating shopper behavior from the open web.

Let’s Look at a Real-Life Example of How It Works

Jennifer

Let's say Jennifer is browsing your website. As she moves through initial search, listings, product view, and basket, her intent data is captured at each level.

Jennifer finishes browsing, but gets distracted and leaves your website to browse on Facebook, where the retargeting process continues in real-time.

Jennifer's purchase intent is calculated, the product recommendation determined and dynamic design of the ad occurs in real-time. The ad is displayed reflecting the products Jennifer viewed, plus new discoveries based on items such as availability.

Criteo Dynamic Retargeting for Facebook and Instagram

The right retargeting partner can help you create one unified, cross-channel experience for shoppers and drive more sales than a siloed retargeting approach. Our unique ability to connect the dots between social platforms, premium publishers, and ecommerce sites can help you gain a granular understanding of each shopper’s complete web journey, not just their journey through social media.

Current clients using Criteo Dynamic Retargeting on Facebook and Instagram see an average of 12% sales uplift across all their retargeting campaigns.

La Redoute: Success Story

By adding Facebook Dynamic Ads to its existing Criteo Dynamic Retargeting campaigns, French fashion e-tailer La Redoute was able to convert 10% more customers and triple conversion rates. Their integration with Facebook Dynamic Ads and ability to capture purchase intent across shoppers' journeys helped La Redoute reach customers when they were most likely to convert, generating 28% of incremental sales from new product discoveries, at 49% lower cost of sale.

Video Retargeting

Shoppers spend a third of their time online watching video content. People engage with video across all devices, which is why video advertising is increasing 40% year-over-year.

Cisco forecasts that in two years time, more than 80% of internet traffic will be video-based. For marketers, video retargeting is a crucial way to reengage with customers.

How Video Retargeting Works

Ben, a shopper, visits your site and looks at a variety of products. Ben's shopping behaviors are captured using tracking pixels. He leaves your site and starts to browse the internet.

As Ben moves through different websites or apps, the video retargeting process continues in real-time. His purchase intent is calculated, video inventory is purchased, relevant product recommendations are determined, and the personalized video ad is generated and served—all in real-time. Ben's video ads could show up in-stream, out-stream, or in-app, depending on where he is browsing.

Personalized Video Ads with Criteo Dynamic Retargeting

Criteo Dynamic Retargeting delivers video ads targeted at individuals based on their behavior and shopping intent. Using Kinetic Design, Criteo generates 20-second video ads featuring a branded intro and outro, relevant product recommendations from your live catalog, and an accompanying music track, all delivered in real-time and at a scale only Criteo can offer.

bonprix: Video Advertising Success Story

Using Interactive Video with Criteo Dynamic Retargeting, bonprix was able to retarget shoppers in a completely new ad inventory channel. The dynamically generated video ads helped the retailer generate sales, connect to shoppers, and increase brand awareness without extra effort.

Measurement

There are two key performance indicators (KPIs) typically used:

• CPS (Cost per Sale): Campaign costs divided by the number of post-click sales.
• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Gross revenue realized for every dollar spent on advertising.

Other Useful KPIs

• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
  The percentage of users who clicked your ad from the total impressions.
• Conversion Rate (CR)
  The rate at which buyers convert to the next stage, whether through a purchase or subscription.

Establishing Attribution

Click-through attribution provides a clear indication of an ad’s impact on the final sale. We optimize towards post-click metrics because a click indicates that the ad was seen and influenced the shopper.

The Pretzel-Shaped Purchase Journey

The purchasing journey is pretzel-shaped. People interact in roundabout ways with your product and brand via various channels. Personalization is the foundation for any marketing campaign. By optimizing your retargeting campaign and building a comprehensive attribution model, you can ensure a personalized, omnichannel experience for every shopper.

About Criteo

To learn more about how the Criteo Commerce Marketing Ecosystem drives sales and profits for thousands of brands, retailers, and publishers worldwide, visit Criteo.com/about.