Review Of Retargeting Networks
Great customer support and lots of documentation. I've even used their documentation and tutorial videos to train my employees.
They don't charge a high margin on the traffic, and they allow you to show ads all over the web OR inside Facebook. Meaning, someone can visit one of your order pages, leave without buying, and then see an ad for that product inside Facebook later that day.
Their code is very flexible and with their settings you can run everything from the most basic campaigns to highly advanced message sequencing campaigns.
The downside is their reporting interface seems more focused on looking pretty than giving you all the key metrics. So you have to spend a little time getting to know the interface to know where to find those numbers.
Good news is, the most important metrics like clicks, cost, conversions are right on the home dashboard.
Lastly, PerfectAudience is a self-serve network which means you are in control of everything. There is no one else helping you optimize the campaigns, but their customer support reps are very helpful.
One of the cool things about retargeter is they are a hybrid of self-serve and full-service. Meaning, you login and mess with the campaign settings just like a self-service network, but they also have account reps who help you optimize those settings while you are logged out.
They can also show ads all across the web or into Facebook. They also have the ability to create simple campaigns or very complex campaigns.
The downside with Retargeter is their pricing model. They force you to pay in $500/mo chunks. Which means sometimes you're spending more than you need too and other times your account level is not high enough for the campaign you want to run.
Some people prefer a higher level of control over their spending. For others who have more money than they do time, Retargeter can be a great middle ground between hiring a pro and doing it yourself.
They've become the 800lb gorilla in this industry because of great marketing. They also have a very nice user interface that many people find easy to use.
It is a self-service network and you can run both simple campaigns plus complex campaigns. They have access to the whole web and Facebook.
PerfectAudience is very much like AdRoll, other than a few visual details.
The downside for AdRoll though, is in all of their rules. Advanced marketers often mock AdRoll in forums because of these rules, saying that AdRoll is great but unusable.
Now I'm not trying to beat them up, but with rules like "no redirect links" and you have to show ads for the same site you cookied people from. It limits a lot of their functionality. Also, redirect links means "tracking links" or "affiliate links" for many people, and that's usually where the complaints come from.
They've also gotten a reputation for charging a high margin on the traffic which has helped them afford to out-market their competitors.
If you're looking for a great dashboard, aren't planning to use redirect links, and are planning to use retargeting for one site, then AdRoll might be good for you. Or you might want to try PerfectAudience which almost a clone of AdRoll.
This network can do a lot more than just retargeting. You can run your whole display advertising campaign from SiteScout. You can even run ads for a local business within 25 miles of that business with SiteScout.
Their user interface is very easy to understand and most people consider Sitescout to be the best in the business.
The code they give you is one of the most flexible in the industry. You can run the simplest of simple campaigns or any level of advanced message sequencing you can imagine.
The big glaring problem with SiteScout though is that they do not have access to Facebook traffic. Which is a REALLY big deal. If they had that, I wouldn't use any other network.
The big benefit of Google is that they control some of the best web property on the web and it integrates right into your Adwords and Analytics accounts.
I've never heard a complaint about Google Remarketing other than you're limited to only Google's properties. Meaning no Facebook campaigns and if a site does not have AdSense code on it, your ads won't show.
Other networks like PerfectAudience have access to Google's traffic, the rest of the web, and inside Facebook as well.
Also, because you may already have Google Analytics code on all of your pages you may be able to get started faster. You can login to your Analytics account and choose a retargeting list based on segments of your previous visitors instead of having to build up a cookie pool from scratch.
ebay Enterprise (formerly
Fetchback)
This is a full service company that has been doing retargeting for many years before it became so popular. They require a fairly decent sized budget though.
What's great about their service (other than how much experience they have) is the types of ads and campaigns they run.
They've got some very unique, very powerful ads and campaigns that many other services just don't have.
We also provide a full service retargeting service at IMScalable.com, but I have to tip my hat to Fetchback. They've got much more experience, I think we make a great #2 though and we accept smaller budgets.
This network is very much like PerfectAudience so this will be a short review. I just wanted to point out what makes them unique.
They have a unique rich media ad builder which means you can put social share buttons, Youtube videos, and other HTML items into your ads with them. These rich media ads tend to have a higher click-thru rate.
They've also got the ability to do dynamic retargeting. Meaning you can load a whole catalog of products into their campaign builder. Then they'll watch your
visitors and show them ads for the exact product they were looking at without you having to painstakingly build out all of those campaigns by hand.
If you're an eCommerce store with a lot of products, this is the route I would choose.
I actually don't know much about this company. I only included them because they offer a unique service called "search retargeting."
Which means you can show ads to people based on keywords they have searched for, instead of people who have already been to your site.
I've been wanting to test them out. Now that you're on my email list, you'll hear from me with a blog post once I do.
This list of retargeting websites, are the most recommended networks. I used to use SiteScout because they are the most flexible, have an easy to use interface, and have complete transparency of where your ads are running.
However, they don't have access to the Facebook Exchange and because of that I left them for PerfectAudience. I've been incredibly happy with PerfectAudience.