It’s a familiar story across the eCommerce industry: abandoned carts are on the rise. The reason? There are just too many distractions in modern life for the consumer. The attention of your customers is being pulled in multiple directions at any one time.

So how do you combat this?

Simple. You retarget your site’s visitors with advertisements across social media.

As far as advertising goes, retargeted Facebook Ads are seen as the low-hanging fruit by eCommerce advertisers. It’s that easy. So…

What is Facebook retargeting?

Facebook retargeting (or remarketing) is the process of tracking a user’s activity on your website and then advertising directly back to them on Facebook. You won’t find a more cost-effective way to advertise online.

Retargeting is preached by digital marketing experts across the web (Rick Mulready recommends it here). But if you’re new to Facebook advertising, you can be forgiven for being completely lost by it.

So here’s a little analogy to help clear any confusion up:

Emma loves shoes. She loves your shoe store, and she wants to buy the cute red pair she found. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the money to splash out at the moment, but she does get paid later in the week.

A few days go by, and Emma has pretty much forgotten about that particular set of shoes. But then – she’s reminded of them by an advertisement for that specific pair of red shoes on her Facebook newsfeed.

Emma is now ready to buy, so she clicks the ad and buys them.

Perhaps the analogy is oversimplified, but I think we’ve all been in Emma’s shoes (pardon the pun there…). We’ve all not been ready to buy at a specific moment in time and then forgot about it. That’s why, arguably, retargeting is the biggest opportunity for growth within eCommerce.

How can retargeting help?

Retargeting:

1. Reminds your site’s visitors of your products

Down to the very one they viewed or added to their basket!

2. Upsells and Cross-sells.

It can be a great revenue generator – especially within stores that have products that complement others. A great example of this is a fashion store retargeting shoe buyers with matching bags and accessories.

3. Tailors Promotions

It allows you to offer discounts or promotions on products the user has already viewed. Free-shipping can be a fantastic ‘tipping’ point for a user to move from a store browser to a customer.

How do I begin?

For retargeting to work on the Facebook platform, you need to have Facebook’s Pixel installed in your website’s code. The Pixel is a piece of unique code provided to you by Facebook which places an invisible pixel image on your site. Facebook can then register every time one of their users visits your site.

Installing the Pixel is relatively simple, and it comes with standard tracking events which can be customised depending on your needs. If you’re unsure about how to code, pass this along to a professional developer, and they can ensure that the Pixel is installed correctly.

If you do want to try installing it alone, be sure to check out Facebook’s own guides on which Pixel Set-Up will work best for you.

What kinds of retargeting ads can I try?

Now that you have the Pixel installed, you can choose what type of retargeting you want to do.

Kit’s Automated Facebook Ads

For those stores running on Shopify, you can use their AI Facebook Ads manager – KIT. KIT will automatically build your ads using your product catalogue and then publish them. Unlike most in the digital marketing community, I’m a fan of KIT.

Yes, it’s basic, and you will never get fantastic results. But… if you just want to test the waters of Facebook advertising, Kit could be a good starting point. Ensure that you limit your spending cap and keep a watchful eye on the Cost-Per-Purchase analytics. Just remember that a professional advertiser who customises your ads, bids and copy will get you far better results than an automated AI bot.

For those that want great results from day one with retargeting, you have two basic ad options: a traditional static ad or a dynamic ad.

The Traditional Static Facebook Ad

The traditional static ad is the oldest form of advertisement on Facebook. The image is static, and there is usually some sort of product description like in the example below:

Source: Facebook

The Dynamic Facebook Ad

Our other option is the Dynamic Ad, Facebook’s most powerful ad to date for eCommerce retargeting. The Dynamic Ad promotes multiple products in a carousel format that are chosen as a result of the user’s interaction with your website (in other words, which products they viewed).

Dynamic ads do require you to upload your product catalog to Facebook, but once it’s set up, your ads can run and run.

Source: Facebook

But wait, there’s more!

We can also retarget on Instagram.

Depending on how photogenic your products are (but Pixc can help you there), Instagram could be a fantastic fit for your retargeting efforts – especially if your niche is in fitness, food or fashion.

Oh! And don’t forget about the Facebook Audience Network, which promotes your ads in apps outside of Facebook. Results here aren’t always as strong as for Facebook and Instagram, but it’s a great addition to the arsenal for some brands.

Facebook is a constantly evolving platform with 10,000 versions in operation at any one time (yup, you read that right, ten thousand). With 2 Billion users across the globe and 1.28 Billion using the platform once a day, the potential for eCommerce advertising is exceptional.

To ignore retargeting on Facebook is to leave money on the table for your competitors. If Facebook retargeting is done correctly, it is the cheapest and most persuasive form of advertising available to you online.

Reach more people with beautifully edited photos: try Pixc for free today!

Author Bio

Dale Hornidge is the Managing Director of Rogue Digital, a Facebook Ads agency focused on growing eCommerce. Rogue Digital offers solutions for eCommerce companies looking to increase their sales by utilising the power of Facebook and Instagram advertising.

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