Retargeting is the practice of serving ads to a user who is already aware of your brand and therefore more likely to purchase from you. For example, maybe a user visits your website without purchasing an item or sticking around long. Retargeting gives you another opportunity to attract their attention.
iPromote retargets in a variety of ways. In its simplest form, iPromote drops a tracking cookie in the user's browser after an ad is clicked. In a more complex form, iPromote requires an advertiser to add a retargeting "pixel" to its website code; when the website or specific page is opened, iPromote drops a tracking cookie in the user's browser.
<img src="http://servedby.ipromote.com/ad/?src=pixel_cid&cid=[Insert_Campaign_ID]&cat=[Insert_Category_ID]" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" />Retargeting provides a highly valuable impression because it relies on very specific and recent data. It ensures that your visibility is increased and spend goes where it is most cost effective.
Retargeting types
iPromote retargeting solutions include the following:
- Click-through retargeting: An end-user clicks an ad, which drops retargeting cookies.
- Directory retargeting: A user enters search terms in a directory that determine which display ads to place on directory pages and which retargeting cookies to drop in the browser.
- Search campaign retargeting: An end-user clicks a search engine results link that includes a pixel_cid search retargeting URL, which drops retargeting cookies.
- Webpage retargeting: An end-user opens a webpage tagged with a pixel_cat or pixel_cid retargeting tag, which drops retargeting cookies.
For more information, see Webpage retargeting and related articles.
Details
After a tracking cookie is saved in a user's browser, it stays there for a short period of time, at most a few weeks. (The cookie is usually a campaign retargeting cookie (crt) or a category retargeting cookie (cat2).)
If an iPromote server detects the cookie again when the user browses to an in-network website, app, or page, the server prioritizes the request and attempts to serve an appropriate ad.
For example, an end-user in Colorado might click a hotel's ad on Friday. Doing so returns a category retargeting cookie. On Monday, when the end-user opens the same browser and goes to an in-network website, iPromote serves a display ad for a different hotel in Colorado.
If a pixel_cid pixel fires when an advertiser's website is opened by an end-user, but the campaign's account is frozen, iPromote still places the appropriate cookie (crt).
However, when the cookie is read and retargeting occurs, the paused campaign is not considered for the impression. Instead, iPromote uses the category setting in the cookie to determine an alternate advertisement from a different campaign in the same category to place.