You’ve likely come across Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) but essentially, they allow you to add remarketing lists to your search campaigns. You can then customise your ads or bid differently depending whether a user has already been to your site or not. It’s no surprise that searches from users who have been to your site before are highly valuable but what are the top five uses for RLSA?
1.Exclude users who have already converted – if your product/service is a more long term or a more considered purchase then you can use RLSA to block your ads from people who have already booked, purchased or signed up for your product/service. For example, if you sold villas in the Pyrenees, you wouldn’t want to bid for users who have already booked villas and are just searching for their villa name again. It is likely that they are re-searching for more information on their villa or to show friends & family where they are staying.
2.Improve your ad rank for returning searchers – If a user has already shown intent by visiting your page then it makes sense (as long as the performance justifies it) to bid up for these users to ensure when they search for a term you are bidding on that your ad is in top position. If you already hold top position then of course increasing your bids may have no effect but because you only pay the minimum amount for that position it shouldn’t do any harm in having a bid adjustment for your chosen audiences.
3.Target your high value customers differently – do you have certain customers that are more valuable to your business? Why not target them differently depending on what differentiates them? For example, for a retailer that sells to trade as well as the public they get a higher order value from wholesale/trade orders. We set up a remarketing list for users who visited the page for ‘Trade/Wholesale Enquiries’ but did not go on to order. We now target these users differently with messaging based on what would be important to those users such as volume of product and range of stock. This new type of ad resulted in 33% increased ROI.
4.Encourage returning visitors – try to convert your customers into loyal customers by encouraging visitors who have already purchased/engaged to purchase/engage again. The more they return to buy or engage then you are increasing the lifetime value of that customer and potentially they could even become brand advocates. Give users that personal nudge or just re-word your ads to be a little more customisable. If a user bought craft supplies from you two months ago and is searching for craft supplies again then make your headline fit for them I.E ‘Need More Craft Supplies?’.
5.Turn micro conversions into macro conversions – micro conversions are small steps that are taken on the way to your main business goal (macro conversions). Micro conversions can be signs up, enquiries, users adding to their basket or ‘wish list’ etc. People who have shown this intent are in the conversion funnel and if they leave then you need to accept that they left for a reason. Are your products more expensive? Is your range of products limited? Try to identify the reason and change your messaging aimed at them to nudge them into a macro conversion. For example, a user gets a quote on a cruise but then leaves. You notice that competitors ads offer a higher % discount but you also know that no one can sell that cruise cheaper than you. Change the messaging of the ad to something highlighted your USP such as ‘Lowest Price Promise. If You Find Our Cruises Cheaper, We’ll Match it’
