Today I’m on Google. Don’t remember what I was looking for, but this image shows up of a bathroom vanity. So I click on it. I get sent to a site selling this vanity. I look at the vanity and click off.
Now, suddenly, on various sites, ads for this vanity pop up. Facebook. Vanity ad. Amazon. Vanity ad. Apparently, some marketing genius took the mere fact that I just clicked on this vanity as proof that I am really, really interested in it.
I have been a victim of retargeting.
What is Retargeting?
AdRoll (a company that specializes in retargeting) describes it as this:
“Generally 2% of shoppers convert on the first visit to an online store. Retargeting brings back the other 98%. Retargeting works by keeping track of people who visit your site and displaying your retargeting ads to them as they visit other sites online.”
As a business owner, I can see understand the lure of keeping your name first in mind of the customer. If people are looking for what you are selling, you want them to come to you.
Herein lies the problem. They HAVE NO IDEA why I clicked on this vanity. The fact that I clicked on this on a whim certainly doesn’t mean I want to see this thing on every ad on each site I click on. I can tell you what it does do. It annoys me. Really annoys me! And I can tell you I am not the only one.
I suppose I should be beholden to these marketing gods for being able to see into my soul and know by a mere click that I just can’t be without this wonderful vanity. Like the car salesman who sees you as a sale and hounds you throughout the lot without ever asking why you are there.
What Does My “Click” tell You?
I never liked the whole “100 people clicked on your product” argument that this is somehow proof that you are getting results. All it proves is 100 people clicked on your product. On top of that marketers use the number of clicks to prove to the client that they are getting results – and the client is paying for it.
You can tell I clicked on something. You can tell the number of times I clicked on something. You can tell I came back and clicked that same something again. But you cannot tell WHY I clicked on that thing.
I guess I am old fashioned. I want to know the Why. Why is someone on my site? Why do they like my product? Why don’t they like my product? Why did they buy? Why didn’t they buy?
If you can find out the why, then you have real insight into a potential customer’s head and are not annoying people who may have inadvertently clicked on the wrong thing, or worst yet, turning these same people against the very product you are trying to interest them in.
Of course, they can always use the “everyone’s a customer” argument because, hey, everyone will need a vanity at some point, won’t they?
(By the way, if you want to get those retargeting ads to stop following you, clear your browser cookies)
