You probably have heard of Ad Retargeting by now – it’s the new kid on the advertising block.

Savvy e-commerce business owners have undoubtedly realized that old school advertising doesn’t exactly cut it anymore. As the ever-expanding internet world is becoming more fluid and dynamic, online companies are under increasing pressure to follow suit by tweaking the targeting and optimization of their ad campaigns. The latest buzz word in online advertising is ad retargeting, a new form of advertising, which gathers browsing information from individual consumers and uses that information for targeted ads on a network of their favorite sites. For e-commerce websites of any size or type, this new way of advertising has proven to be a veritable goldmine.

It happens to even the biggest of e-commerce sites. Consumers browse a selection of products or show a keen interest in a certain product category, but they never quite follow through with the call-to-action. In other words, a large chunk of the traffic being driven to e-commerce sites never gets converted into sales, either because the consumer decides to buy elsewhere or because he decides against a purchase altogether. Once a visitor leaves your site he may return in the future, but it is more than likely that at that point you have lost a potential customer forever.

Ad retargeting has the ability to turn this conversion loss around through a very simple process. So-called retargeting platforms place cookies on a consumer’s browser, which remember the exact products or services in which he has shown an interest. If that same person then visits other websites that form part of the same retargeting network (e.g. YouTube, social media websites or blogs), the platform will show him ads for those products he has browsed but never purchased. This is a fantastic way to consistently remind visitors that have not yet turned into customers of your company’s existence and to tease them into returning to your store to make a purchase.

Both smaller advert solutions companies and big network such as Yahoo and Google are now offering this type of retargeting platforms to their commercial clientele and many of them even make bold promises of a more than 100% increase in conversion rate. It is undeniable, though, that e-commerce websites greatly benefit from an increase in revenue thanks to ad retargeting, especially those who operate a pay-per-click system. Plus, by combining ad retargeting with thoroughly researched keyword campaigns, you can optimize your ads further for even better results.

Even though ad retargeting has been proven to increase click and conversion rates and improve brand awareness, a few potentially negative aspects should be taken into account before you commit yourself to an ad retargeting campaign, which can be pretty costly. Despite its potentially invasive nature, ad retargeting should at all times remain fair and transparent to the consumer. For instance, the ad frequency or the amount of ads consumers are exposed to within a certain time frame, should be capped at a reasonable number. Visitors of websites engaging in ad retargeting should also be made fully aware of the retargeting potential of the website and they should have the possibility to opt out of the campaign at any given time.

For e-commerce businesses that have the necessary financial means at their disposal, ad retargeting is a new and highly efficient way to make your company literally unforgettable.