Retargeting Outperforms Online Marketing Averages On Cyber Monday

If you’ve recently begun to explore behavioral retargeting, you’re not alone. Behavioral retargeting is a rapidly growing segment of ecommerce. According to a study by AudienceScience and DIGIDAY, as reported by eMarketer in early 2011, the number of US marketers using site retargeting between May and December 2010 increased from 17 to 22 percent.

To exemplify the continued growth of behavioral retargeting in 2011, mediaFORGE compiled and compared performance data from Cyber Monday 2011 against the same data from Cyber Monday 2010. By comparing retargeting performance to total site performance, we were able to assess the increasing role of retargeting in e-marketing initiatives.

Performance Increase from Cyber Monday 2010 – Cyber Monday 2011

*Data compiled from retargeting campaigns run by 18 apparel, sporting good and home & garden retailers.

This data not only supports the growth of online retargeting, but it also proves retargeting is a valuable contributor to site performance.

In fact, our research shows retargeting’s contribution to overall site revenue grew by 78 percent between Cyber Monday 2010 and 2011. Modern interactive ad capabilities allow marketers to leverage technology to attribute site conversions to different levels of consumer ad engagement.

To further support claims about the value of retargeting, we looked at this engagement data and found that the rate of conversions resulting from engagements grew by 63 percent between the two Cyber Mondays.

It’s never too late for e-marketers to optimize their site performance through retargeting this holiday season, or to think about implementing this tactic for future campaigns.

By delivering dynamic ads with interactive and personalized content to site abandoners, they incentivize shoppers to return to their site and create an individualized shopping experience that leads to brand loyalty. In this way, retargeting will help marketers meet immediate holiday shopping goals as well as longer term objectives that improve site performance throughout the year.