At Criteo, one question we get from marketers more than any other is, “How are you different from other retargeting partners?” Marketers today are always looking for partners that drive better efficiency and solve their most pressing challenges. You’ve probably heard a laundry list of things you should look for in a retargeting partner:
Transparent pricing, one-to-one personalization, customizable targeting methods…the list goes on. Sure, these qualities are important, but there are other key considerations that you might not have thought of, that will help you make a more strategic decision. To make sure you’re partnering with the right partner, make sure your retargeting partner:
Aligns with your business needs
Your needs and challenges are unique to you and your business. Only you can determine what’s working, what’s not, and where the gaps are in your marketing strategy. Finding the right partner that aligns with your business needs is crucial to your success. For example, one of your main challenges might be a fragmented view of the customer journey. Choosing a retargeting partner that doesn’t have a solution for accurately understanding how your customers are shopping across their devices is probably not the right partner for you.
Goes beyond conversions alone
Driving conversions is important, but I bet it’s not your only marketing objective. You’re investing valuable time and resources towards setting up and managing your retargeting campaigns, so why not choose a partner that can solve for more than just one of your business objectives? Why not one that can acquire, convert, and re-engage shoppers?
Drives efficiency at scale
There are lots of retargeting partners out there who can drive efficiency or scale. What good is a 10 to 1 return on ad spend if you’re only getting one sale? Or if they’ve driven 100 sales but you’ve spent more than you’re actually making?
A good retargeting partner has the data and technology that will drive efficiency and scale. They should give you the ability to not only justify the investment you’re making, but help you understand how to grow your business by investing more.
Makes a positive impact on customer experience
A retargeting partner that bombards your customers with ads showing products that they might not necessarily be interested in, is probably causing more harm than good. Instead, understand how they can help provide the personalized experience that your customers expect. More specifically, you should understand how they are able to understand shoppers across their devices and shopping journey, deliver personalized messages, and ultimately convince them to buy. A partner who can help you consistently deliver a positive customer experience will put you in a much better position to achieve your business objectives.
Offers the right mix of automation and control
A good retargeting partner should have technology that solves the challenges we can’t solve on our own. For example, predicting in real time when and where each individual shopper is most likely to engage, and delivering a message that will inspire them to convert, is something best left to machine learning. Instead, you can focus your time on controlling the things technology can’t solve for, like your overall marketing strategy. Finding the right mix of automation and control won’t be the same across all of the channels and partners you work with, but it is crucial to maximizing your investment.
Delivers the right level of service
You know your team best, and understand the amount of time and level of expertise they have. A good partner offers the level of service that you need to run successful campaigns. If you choose a self-service solution but you don’t have the resources to use it, it’ll end up costing you more in the long run because performance will suffer. So make sure you know what level of service your investment will get you, or if there are any minimums or fees for account management, so that you can take this into consideration when comparing cost.
(Learn more: 6 Questions You Need to Ask When Looking for an Ecommerce Tech Partner)
(Learn more: What is Retargeting? The Definitive Guide)
Finding the right retargeting partner is no easy feat. But doing so is crucial for delivering performance from your budgets, and ultimately driving profitable sales for you. And now for the question I know you’ve been waiting to ask – why Criteo?
- Criteo has one of the world’s largest sets of shopper data, fueling our deep understanding of shoppers and our ability accurately predicts in real-time when and where shoppers are most likely to convert, optimizing against your defined shopping outcomes.
- Our powerful machine-learning technology leverages 35M daily historic shopping and browsing events to deliver performance at scale and massive global reach.
- Criteo goes beyond just conversions, offering a number of solutions that span across the entire shopper journey, to help you acquire, convert, and re-engage shoppers.
The proof is in our 90% client retention rate and growing ecosystem of retailers, brands, and publishers. As consumers and the world of commerce continues to change rapidly and dramatically, it’s important to choose the right partner to keep up and deliver against your business objectives.
So instead of asking the typical “why are you better than other retargeting partners” question, keep these key considerations in mind to make a better, more strategic decision about who you partner with.
