The average conversion rate for websites is slightly over 2%. So only about 2% of website visitors convert when they visit websites. Through the results of our recruiting lead generation efforts, we’ve found the percentage is a little higher for drivers. 10-15% of drivers convert. Though that percentage is better than the general conversion rate, the issue is that still leaves up to 85-90% of drivers who are not converting.
This is where retargeting comes in. Retargeting, also known as remarketing, allows you to keep your ads in front of drivers who do not convert or engage on your website. Retargeting goes further than targeting only website visitors. It can be applied to search engines, emails, and your CRM which we’ll get into a little later.
Let’s focus on how retargeting works in the world of recruiting.
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A Driver’s Experience with Retargeting
Consider this scenario:
A driver is in the middle of a job search. He isn’t satisfied with where he works. He wants to work for a company where he’s more appreciated and paid what he’s worth. He visits your website. But after skimming through a couple of pages, isn’t convinced he’s found what he’s looking for. He steers away to another site. He decides to visit his usual news site to distract himself. He sees your ad on the news site. He visits another site later in the day and sees another one of your ads. This time, he’s persuaded to click. After closely examining what you offer, he fills an application on your website and hopes for the best.
This is the same scenario without retargeting
A driver is in the middle of a job search. He isn’t satisfied with where he works. He wants to work for a company where he’s more appreciated and paid what he’s worth. He visits your website. But after skimming through the pages, isn’t convinced he’s found what he’s looking for. He steers away to another site.
End of story. Unfortunately, this is too often the case. What retargeting does is keep your company top of mind while giving drivers a chance to take a second look at what you have to offer.
So what does retargeting entail?
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The Inner Workings of Retargeting
A driver shows interest by visiting a website. Code is placed on their browser or, you could say, their browser is tagged. You may be more familiar with the word “cookie” but nowadays, there are new ways to identify a browser, which is unique to its owner. The likes of Google and social media have methods of “tagging” a browser that don’t involve the use of cookies. So the more accurate phrase would be “tagging a browser.”
Tagging the browser of a website visitor allows you to serve these users ads on other sites they visit. For drivers, retargeting can be based on driver type, type of haul, student/teams, nature of interest shown, etc.
At the risk of getting to deep into the weeds, I’ll mention that the tags/code can be layered. For example, a tag is placed when a driver visits a website. A tag can be placed for each of the details of job search info the driver provides. A geo-targeting tag can also be added. This allows a variety of individual tags to work at once to ensure the right ad finds the right driver.
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Keep in mind, a tag is based on the information the driver provides and what’s learned about drivers from their activity on the site. For the most part, tags are placed based on educated guesses.
As much as tags can be used to include website visitors, they can also be used to exclude. For example, a tag can be placed on the browser of a returning visitor who has already converted to make that returning visitor exempt from receiving your ads. This ensures your ads are shown solely to those who are yet to convert.
Retargeting with Google
Google Analytics has always used tags to identify returning visitors. These tag IDs have been integrated into Adwords. So now any segment built in Google Analytics can be retargeted. For example, let’s say you have a pay increase coming up. A Google Analytics segment can be built around people who have more than one page view on stories about driver pay on your website.
Google Adwords provides access to different types of retargeting in addition to standard retargeting. For example, search retargeting which targets drivers who searched for one of your keywords. There’s CRM retargeting which involves uploading contact lists and targeting those contacts with your ads. There’s also video retargeting where people who have interacted with your videos or channel on YouTube are targeted.
Video retargeting particularly is an invaluable but underrated tool in recruiting. Keeping in mind it is cheaper to get video views than clicks, retargeting on YouTube allows you to reach so many and for so much less cost-wise. Many may think it’s immeasurable but its real value is seen when it is measured against branded search.
Facebook Retargeting
For Facebook, the code used for retargeting is known as the Facebook pixel. The Facebook pixel is placed on the chosen web page (website page, landing page, “thank you” page, etc.). The browsers of visitors to this page are tagged, making it possible to serve Facebook ads to visitors after they steer away from the page with the intention of luring them back.
The way the Facebook pixel works is that it takes into consideration the nature of the action a website visitor takes, or doesn’t take, and what that action reveals about where they are in the buyer’s journey. It also tracks returning visitors and can exclude visitors who have converted already to ensure they are not served unnecessary ads.
Beyond retargeting, the Facebook pixel helps to create custom audiences made up of people who have engaged with the page the Facebook pixel is on. It also allows you to build lookalike audiences with the nature of your custom audiences as a reference. One of its greatest features is its ability to track conversions.
Audience Extension
This is where a digital publisher allows a business’ ads to be served to the audience generated by digital publisher’s media properties (e.g. website, content, etc.). Here, the information gathered about an audience is based on the digital publisher’s relationship with that audience or the audience’s engagement with the digital publisher’s media.
An example of this type of partnership between digital publisher and businesses is Randall-Reilly and trucking companies. Randall-Reilly’s media properties act as a recruiting platform to reach drivers.
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What Action or Engagement Can Qualify a Visitor to Be Tagged?
This depends on what actions distinguish the audience you want to retarget. The action a user takes on a site gives you insight into how to tailor the ads you serve them. Through their actions, you learn where they are in the buyer’s journey, their level of interest in what you offer, their specific interests, etc. Even the simple act of visiting the site and not taking any other action beyond that lets you know how to market to such a user.
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What actions can a user take that allow you to distinguish them with a tag?
- Page Visited
- Time on Page
- Video Views
- Form/Application Completion
- Clicking a Call-to-Action Button
- Clicking on an Ad
- Read an Article
- Saved a Page
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The world of retargeting, especially when it comes to how it works, may be vast, but don’t let that discourage you. Starting out with standard retargeting alone can make a big difference for your recruiting.
