A rather unimpressive 2% of shoppers will convert during their first visit to an online store. This means that 98% of your customers could be slipping through the cracks - and that's where retargeting comes in.

The concept of retargeting in advertising focuses on allowing your brand to zero in on those 98% of visitors, giving them a second, third, fourth and fifth chance to convert. It allows you to show tailored ads to potential customers via social media, search engines, and other websites. They see your advertisements, click back into your website, and convert. Retargeting is a way for you to stay connected to your potential customers, feeding all of the stages of your marketing funnel with engagement, brand recall, and conversions.

Of course, the more amazing your retargeting campaign is, the more successful you are likely to be. Though this is a concept that has been proven to be effective, it's also worth noting that a poorly conducted campaign could hurt or hinder your marketing efforts. With that in mind, here are some best practices to follow when you're wondering what makes for a good retargeting campaign.

1. Optimize Your Creatives

First and foremost, if you want to get real results from your retargeting campaign, then you need to make sure that your banners are enticing enough to tempt people to click on them. Make sure that you devote enough time and resources into making engaging and beautiful ads. Remember, this doesn't mean cramming as much information as possible into the space that you're given. You want your banner to be memorable, and this is usually achieved by choosing great headlines and using a simple design. At the same time, don't forget that any and all of the ads that you produce should be easy to recognize and well branded. Stick to concise copy, clear font and bold colors, as well as clear calls to action that draw attention to clickable buttons.

2. Create the Brand-Audience Connection

Although the retargeting strategy helps to ensure that your ads will stay in front of your audience for longer, your creatives still need to establish a connection between your audience, and your brand. Since the people who are viewing your banners and advertisements will have already seen your website, the chances are that they'll be somewhat familiar with your logo. Therefore, highlighting that logo and branding all of your ad-units is a great way to make sure that you're giving off the right vibes.

3. Frequency Caps

Visiting your website once or twice doesn't mean that your prospects want to see your ads everywhere they go. Overexposure leads to customer annoyance and decreased campaign performance, which is why it is essential to use a frequency cap. The more a prospect sees your ads, the more likely they are to start suffering from banner blindness, or fostering a negative association with your brand. A frequency cap prevents your potential customers from being overwhelmed, while still delivering you the best retargeting results.

4. Audience Segmentation

Audience segmentation in retargeting allows you to deliver tailor-made ad messages to users who are in certain stages of the marketing funnel. The process itself is simple - you place different pixels on different pages of your site and tailor your creatives according to the depth of the engagement shown by each user. For example, when a visitor approaches your main page, the aim should be to provide creatives that communicate brand awareness. On the other hand, if they're visiting your product page, you might offer up ads that are more specific according to your product offerings. Regardless of the level of interest your user has, audience segmentation ensures you serve engaging, relevant ads time after time.

5. Geographic, Demographic, and Contextual Targeting

Though retargeting gives you the perfect opportunity to reconnect with your target market, it also provides a chance for you to fine-tune your ad placements, thereby ensuring greater relevancy and enhanced performance. Advertisements can be targeted according to demographic information like gender or age, contextual factors like subject matter, or even geographical data. Targeting your ads in this way means that you don't waste any valuable impressions on people that aren't relevant to your campaign. Instead of serving ads everywhere, you're saving important money in your budget by delivering ads to the people for whom your advertisements make the most sense.

Remember, the right education will ensure that you always get the most out of your retargeting efforts, so don't be afraid to do the research.