Retargeting Goes Mainstream: 1 in 5 Marketers Now Have Dedicated Retargeting Budget

Two years ago, the Chango Retargeting Barometer pointed to an industry on the way up. New survey results reveal that retargeting is now flying high.

the-retargeting-barometer-report-changoRetargeting is no longer the new kid on the block. The process of targeting an advertisement based on a consumer’s Internet actions has become an increasingly common marketing tactic in recent years. Even if that’s obvious enough, what’s less obvious is where retargeting now sits within the larger online marketing ecosystem. Is retargeting still a secondary tactic, or has it become a core initiative for online marketers?

The Chango Retargeting Barometer Q4 2013 attempted to answer this question, and what the survey found may surprise some. The Barometer asked almost 300 media buyers from a wide range of industries about the different ways they employ retargeting in their campaigns. The answer these execs from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. provided was clear enough: retargeting has gone mainstream.

One great way to understand the place of a particular tactic in a marketing campaign is to look at whether it needs a new budget. In a similar survey taken two years ago, almost 50 percent of respondents needed a new budget to carry out their retargeting campaigns. Skip ahead to Q4 2013 and the number is only 8 percent. The picture looks even better for retargeting when you realize that one in five marketers now has a dedicated retargeting budget.

Does this mean that retargeting is now a fundamental part of the campaigns these marketers run? The Barometer asked respondents to rate the claim that “retargeting is a standard practice” using a rating scale in which 5.0 meant “strongly agree.” The overall rating came to 3.98, which translates into a fairly resounding yes to the above question.

If these responses left little doubt that online marketers have grown attached to retargeting, there’s still the question of how they’re using it. The survey addressed this question as well. Specifically, the marketing professionals were asked how they would rate the claim that retargeting is comprised of “multiple facets” and “a lot more than a way to drive consumers back to a website.” The 3.96 rating reveals that marketers no longer see retargeting as a monolithic strategy but rather as a broad approach to marketing that can be employed in a number of different forms.

If the survey pointed to a growing and successful industry, it also located some minor growing pains for retargeting. Slightly more than a quarter of respondents cited a lack of integration with other marketing initiatives as a challenge in adopting retargeting. Others pointed to challenges related to measurement and attribution. In the past, most campaigns could be measured with click-through and view-throughs. But the survey results suggest that as retargeting is used in new ways, new metrics will be needed, as well.

Still, the future for retargeting could hardly look brighter. Two years ago, the Chango Barometer pointed to an industry on the way up. The new barometer reveals that retargeting is now flying high.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Whitepaper | Mobile US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

Whitepaper | Digital Marketing Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

Report | Digital Transformation Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

4w

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource