Common RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) Mistakes

Remarketing lists for search ads, or RLSA, can be an excellent way for businesses to reach possible clients who have already visited the site. If you offer a product or service where people are shopping around and hesitant to make a purchase, retargeting can be a great solution.

Learn how retarget marketing works.

Setting up remarketing lists can be a very simple task, yet there are many mistakes people end up making. Avoid these mistakes to ensure your remarketing campaigns run smoothly.

Letting Durations Overlap

Creating multiple lists with different time durations is great. It allows advertisers to reach very targeted audiences. However, it’s easy for these time durations to be set up inaccurately which can cause some overlap. This can result in showing ads to users that are in a higher bid list, or outside your specific audience. For instance, when creating a list for a set amount of days, say 10 and 14 days, you’ll need to subtract 10 from 14. This will eliminate any overlap of your durations, properly optimizing your RLSA lists.

Inaccurate Settings

Having any campaigns settings inaccurately set up can be costly, and this doesn’t just stand true to RLSA campaigns. If your settings are incorrect you can be reaching the wrong audience and exhausting your budget quickly.

Within RLSA ads there are two main settings to choose from, target and bid or bid only.

Now if you accidentally set the campaign to bid only you’ll find you’re receiving quite a bit of traffic. This often comes with at a high price, resulting in high spend. Since you’re bidding on broad keywords you’re reaching a larger audience, yet not the users you intended.

Let’s say the inverse has been set up, you’ve selected target and bid. Chances are you’ll see traffic dip since you’re showing very specific ads to very specific users.

When you’re setting up your ad groups it’s vital the proper settings are selected. As mentioned above you may end up reaching the wrong users and spending more money with little return.

Creating Lists That Are Too Small

When building your lists it’s recommended you review your analytics before creating. By not looking at the data you may end up creating a list that is too small. Once you’ve reached 100 members over the last 540 days you may utilize Display Network Remarketing. 1000 members over 180 days allows for remarketing lists for search ads.

If you are not meeting the criteria above it’s best to start with a wider audience. It’s best to not rush your lists and gather the proper data before going live.

Not Excluding A List From Another

There’s nothing worse than targeting users who have already made a purchase from you. Now there are cases where you want to remarket to users who have made a purchase. Say if they need to purchase additional items, for example laundry detergent. We’ll save that for another conversation. In this scenario a user is making a one time large purchase, a car for example. Once they do convert, either visiting or calling the dealership you’ll no longer need to market to them.

Not Tracking Holiday Audiences

By tracking users through particular time frames can allow you to gather targeted data. Your site may see a jump in traffic around certain times of year. This may include holidays like Christmas or seasonal traffic like swimsuit sales in the beginning of summer.

If you do offer a service or product that is needed at a certain time of year chances are users will begin searching around the same time the next year. When this happens you’ll have a list ready to retarget them. For example, if you sell flowers you see users begin searching for mother’s day gifts three weeks before the holiday. You can begin showing users ads around this time.

Forgetting To Monitor Activity

It’s easy for many advertisers to have the mentality of “set it and forget it”. When it comes to advertising within AdWords, and any digital platform, it’s important to always be reporting and reviewing data. This is especially true for retargeting campaigns as they are targeted at very specific audiences. As many mentioned in many of the points above it’s vital to review settings, check audiences, and make changes accordingly. Don’t become complacent with your campaigns, always be tweaking and adjusting. Don’t be afraid to try new tactics, as always track your changes. If you’re not sure where to get started or are interested in having Adficient set up retargeting for your business please contact us today.