You’ve almost certainly experienced remarketing before. As a financial adviser, for instance, you might have spent the morning looking at a set of mutual funds, only to see adverts appear as you browse another website later in the day.
It can be incredibly annoying and creepy on the one hand, or useful and effective on the other. It depends on the timing of the advert, the offer it is presenting and other important factors.
For instance, many of us in 2020 have now grown accustomed to Amazon remarketing ads rapidly appearing on our screens, after we have spent the morning looking at a retail product. Sometimes in the world of financial services, however, remarketing ads can feel too intrusive if they appear too quickly or if they follow the user around for too long.
One of our team experienced this once. They browsed a blog on expat pensions, and for the next 90 days were constantly followed around by this brand’s remarketing ads! Another team member, however, found that one of our financial adviser clients at one time managed to get their remarketing adverts onto The Daily Telegraph, which looked very impressive and prestigious.
Clearly, there is a right way for a financial firm to use remarketing ads within their wider marketing strategy, but there are also clear pitfalls to avoid. In this short guide, our team here at CreativeAdviser will be sharing some thoughts on this important topic. We hope you find this content helpful, and we invite you to arrange a free consultation if you’d like to discuss your own marketing strategy with us.
Key “Don’ts” for remarketing in financial services
It’s probably easiest to cover some of the key things you should NOT do when it comes to financial services and remarketing. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list for you to consider:
- Don’t forget your privacy policy. Users need to consent to you following them around the internet with your remarketing ads. A good way to gain this consent is through a legally-sound, prominent cookie bar at the bottom of your homepage.
- Don’t stalk your users. This is an obvious one, but it’s an important point as many financial firms still make this mistake. Don’t show your ads immediately to your audience, on every website they visit. They will soon get frustrated, possibly blocking your ads or making complaints.
- Don’t neglect to target. Not everyone who visits your financial website is going to be part of your target market. You don’t want to be wasting your remarketing ads on bringing these people back to your website, especially since remarketing ads cost money to run. Make sure your campaigns include appropriate demographic targeting to eliminate waste.
- Refine your remarketing locations. If you are trying to sell financial or investment advice to your audience, then it will probably look weird to them if your remarketing ads started appearing whilst they were surfing the net for children’s toys, swimwear or other irrelevant websites. Again, you can reduce the chances of this happening by setting up appropriate targeting within your remarketing campaign settings.
Key “Dos” for remarketing in financial services
With some of the common remarketing mistakes now identified and out of the way, here are some good practices to consider incorporating within your financial marketing campaign:
- Give them a good reason to come back. Remember, the whole point of remarketing is to convince your audience to click on your ads and revisit your website. They get constantly bombarded with ads like these, and they cannot afford to devote time to click on every single one. You need, therefore, to provide a compelling offer in your remarketing ads, which convinces them that it is worthwhile coming back to your website.
- Tailor the ad to their need. If the user spent most of their time initially looking at your pension advice service on your website, then it makes little sense to show them an advert about key person protection. Where possible, make sure the remarketing ad speaks to the need of the individual user. You can do this, for instance, by creating a set of remarketing campaigns in your ad account, and assigning an audience list to each campaign based on the time users spent on particular pages on your website.
- Make your ads look the part. Choosing a terrible headline, ad body copy or imagery is bound to lower the effectiveness of your remarketing campaigns, even if the offer is strong. Take time to craft the ads so they look and sound professional, attractive and consistent with your brand.
- Ensure a good user experience. Have you ever seen a remarketing ad, clicked on it and then found that the page won’t load, or that you are confused about what action the landing page wants you to take? Ensure a streamlined user experience with your remarketing ads by linking the ads to an appropriate landing page, where the call to action is clear and the loading times are fast.
- Consider different platforms. Remarketing is available via Google Ads, Facebook Ads and other popular platforms. Make sure you choose one (or more) which is appropriate to your market niche, business goals and budget allocation.
- Set realistic goals. Whilst remarketing can be a very powerful form of marketing, it’s important to keep things in perspective. A small financial planning firm spending £5 per day on their ad campaigns, for instance, is unlikely to see the floodgates open with their lead generation. However, you should expect reasonable results regarding website traffic, brand engagement and online enquiries in light of your budget.
- Refine continuously. Remarketing ads will perform variously, depending on a range of factors such as the headline, imagery or call to action. Be careful to test your remarketing ads on a regular basis and not simply leave them to float off into the distance.
