It's Halloween season, which means ecommerce merchants are scrambling to get their November promotions in line so they don't get spooked by Black Friday. 

Here’s a freaky fact: 97% of people who visit your site for the first time leave without buying anything. 

Don’t panic — there are ways to bring them back. 

You know that creepy thing the Internet does where it seems to track everything you're doing at all times? Like how you searched for dog toys on Google once, and now there are ads for chewable bones all over your Facebook feed? 

It’s not big brother. It’s retargeting! 

All jokes aside, retargeting is a seriously effective way to bring the right customers back to your page and generate conversions. 

We all know it's going to be a different kind of Black Friday. But with the right strategy we hope you can make the most out of every sale and keep those online customers coming back for more. 

Here are three strategies to add to your ecommerce tool-belt in time for Black Friday. Seeing as we already talked about Facebook, let’s start there! 

1. Retarget on Facebook 

This tactic is as simple as it sounds: you target people who have already engaged with your company on Facebook or visited your website. 

If they went to your website or clicked on your Facebook page, they are probably interested in what you are selling on some level. 

You’re doing them a favour, really, reminding them about the products they know they want!

Here's how it works:

Did you know that retargeted visitors are 70% more likely to make a convert on a website than those who aren't targeted a second time? Let's face it, creepy as it might seem, retargeting really works!

Here are a few rookie mistakes to avoid this Black Friday for your Facebook retargeting campaign:

1. Don't lump your visitors into one retargeting group

Many businesses make this mistake, assuming their customers all have the same views, interests, and needs — are the same person essentially. Unless you are selling shoe horns that say "Harold" on them, chances are you have a fairly diverse customer base. This is where marketing segmentation comes in. 

Facebook lets you create and save audiences so that you can run targeted ad campaigns. You can give your audience a name, gender, age group, location, even define them by specific behaviours, activities and interests. Here's a nice beginners guide to Facebook Advertising if you want to learn more about that. Otherwise we'll carry on with our next Facebook retargeting tip:

2. Don't skip the Pixel

We aren't talking about those computer games you played in the 90s with crappy graphics — a Facebook pixel is an analytics tool that lets you track site visitors and use the date to run targeted Facebook ads. In other words, it should be an essential part of your Facebook retargeting strategy. 

Select Pixels in the Measure & Report section of your Facebook business page. Once you have your pixel code, go to your Shopify store and copy the code into the Facebook Pixel ID field under Preferences. Finally, make sure to check your pixel status on Facebook. The status should say active if it is working properly. 

For a more in-depth tutorial, learn how to add your Facebook Pixel to Shopify (plus 5 tips to maximize it). 

Otherwise let's keep moving to our final rookie tip: 

3. Don't blow the budget

Remember when you were a kid and your parents gave you a $2 allowance and told you not to spend it all on candy (then you did anyway)? That would be an example of bad budgeting.

Just like all things that cost money, advertising on Facebook requires careful budgeting to ensure you are yielding a positive return on investment (ROI), or at the very least, breaking even and gaining some useful analytics for next time. 

In order to decide how much to spend on Facebook retargeting, you'll want to figure out your conversion rate and average profit per conversion. 

Conversion rate refers to the percentage of people who see your ad and actually make a purchase. Profit per sale is how much you make per item sold. If you spend $1000, have a 10% conversion rate, and make $10 profit per sale, your ROI will be $0. However, if you can manage to yield the same numbers with a $500 ad spend, that's $500 of profit! 

These are just a few quick ideas to get the creative juices flowing. If your focus is Facebook, check out this step-by-step guide to retargeting for eCommerce. 

Otherwise, let's turn to our next retargeting strategy.

2. Get Brainy

Don't be like Homer — use your brain this Black Friday! We're talking, of course, about Bold Brain, our powerful personalization app that adds AI functionality to your Shopify store. 

Let's back up a second. 

In the old days of brick-and-mortar commerce, if a store owner told you they knew exactly what customers were thinking before they even walked in the door, you would have thought they were full of bologne. 

Today, ecommerce merchants enjoy these kind of insights and more. Between Google and social media analytics, not to mention the data they are able to gather right on their eCommerce platform, sellers have access to so much information it's a challenge just to figure out what to do with all of it! 

Apps like Brain take data gathering a step further. Simply install on your Shopify or eCommerce platform, then sit back while it tracks everything your customers do on your store (talk about creepy!).

You know how when you are shopping on Amazon and it starts suggesting products you might like? Then you think to yourself, "hmm, they're right, I do want this 'Cat Person' mug." Brain allows you to add this sophisticated technology to your eCommerce site to make data-driven smart recommendations that help you sell more!

That's not all! You can use Brain's data-gathering tools to come up with a killer retargeting strategy. 

For example, let's say a jewelry seller notices customers are adding a pair of earrings to their cart but not checking out. This probably means that people like the item, but the don't like the price. They can use this insight to send a targeted email to everyone who added the item to their cart, offering them a special discount. Even 10% off might be all it takes to create multiple conversions. 

Brain integrates seamlessly with email marketing services like Mailchimp, so once Brain has gone to work and gathered all the data you need, you can go ahead and start retargeting your customers through emailing. 

Add Bold Brain to your store for free this Black Friday, and give your store the power of AI personalization. 

Let's wrap up with one more cool thing Bold Brain can do when combined with another Bold app called Loyalty Points & Rewards. 

3. Track the Customer Journey 

Just like a real brain, our Brain app is always learning, growing, and evolving. One of the latest features we are offering is integration with the already popular app Loyalty Points & Rewards. 

If you're already familiar with this app, you know it's used to create rewards programs, offer V.I.P. promotions, manage referral programs, and more. In other words, it's the perfect app to help you run a successful retargeting campaign. 

But that's not all. 

Now, when combined with the Brain app, Loyalty Points is able to track each customer's journey. Wait, what? 

The customer journey is a concept that seeks to segment customers according to different behavior they have demonstrated while interacting with your store. 

The five stages of the customer journey as defined by the app are:

1. Awareness (just checking in)

2. Consideration (showing some interest)

3. Acquisition (making a purchase)

4. Retention (frequent visits and purchases)

5. Advocacy (your most loyal customers) 

Now, instead of retargeting all your customers (and potential customers) with the same promotions, you can segment them out according to where they stand on the customer journey. 

This is crucial, because a customer who is in the awareness phase (has visited your site and looked around) is a much different audience than a customer in the advocacy phase (loyal customer who loves your store). 

For example, you may require a more aggressive offer to get the attention of those in the awareness or consideration phase. Retention and advocacy customers might not need deep discounts to keep coming back, but they may be looking for loyalty programs or a V.I.P.-only sale. 

In a sense, this integrated functionality simulates the experience of a smaller brick-and-mortar store, where the in-person owner or manager is able to identify newcomers, return customers, and regulars. 

The app also integrates easily with Mailchimp, for segmented retargeting email campaigns. 

Imagine the look of excitement on your new customer's face when a huge offer shows up in their email inbox, or the satisfaction a loyal customer feels when you send them a personalized email thanking them for their support with a V.I.P. offer. 

Using the Bold Brain and Loyalty Points apps, you'll have everything you need to run a successful Black Friday retargeting campaign that is fuelled by real data and customer insight. 

So, what are you waiting for? 

Get Ready for BFCM 2021

Thanks for reading, and we hope you got some good ideas for retargeting your customers for Black Friday & Cyber Monday. 

Head to the Shopify App Store and try out the Bold Loyalty Points & Rewards App, then integrate with Bold Brain for free. With these tools, your retargeting campaign will be unstoppable!