6 Things To Think About Before Retargeting Anonymous Website Visitors

Many people who visit your website never give their names or contact information. In fact, at least 96% of visitors don't provide the information required to reach out during direct mail marketing campaigns.

Given that few website visitors share their personal details, you might wonder how retargeted marketing can work. The good news is that recent tools and strategies finally allow you to add direct mail marketing to your campaign, even when website visitors don't offer their information. Here are six things to consider before sending them direct mail.

Identify anonymous visitors for ongoing communications

Lob's Visitor ID solution gives you the real names, email addresses, and physical mailing addresses of people who visit your site. Now, you don't need everyone to provide their information. Visitor ID audience targeting offers the following features:

• Accurately matches visitors to their real information
• Provides the data you need for direct mail marketing, such as each visitor's name and mailing address
• Offers phone numbers, email addresses, and other information when possible
• Integrates with Lob's Print & Mail API, making it possible to trigger mail automatically when someone visits your website
• Suppresses the contact information of people on your do-not-contact lists

Just as important, you can look at the content people view on your website to determine what type of product or service they need. Now, you only need to integrate that personalized information into your direct mailing assets.

Learn more about Lob Visitor ID audience targeting by reading this brochure.

Segment your contact lists for effective retargeting

The effectiveness of retargeted marketing often relies on delivering the right message to someone at the right time. Segmenting your contact lists helps ensure you provide relevant messages that convince people to act.

You can segment lists in several ways. Popular options include segmenting lists by:

• Geography: People within an area code, city, or region often have shared experiences you can use to connect with them. For instance, mailers sent near the end of January or the beginning of February to people near New Orleans might mention Mardi Gras.
• Demographics: People who fall into specific demographic categories may have some shared references you can use to pique their interest. For instance, your mailer might mention a beloved cartoon character from an age group's childhood.
• Interests: It's easier to appeal to people when you know what interests them. You should segment your lists by interests so you don't, for instance, send Red Sox-themed mailers to a die-hard Yankees fan.

The more information you have about people, the better you can segment your lists and persuade them with retargeted marketing materials. You should also ensure the retargeted content matches what the visitor was viewing, thereby encouraging them to move further toward a potential purchase.

What images and messages will appeal to different demographics interested in your brand? Brainstorm ways you can encourage people to take the next step in the buyer's journey. For example, you might retarget them with landing pages that request their contact info. From there, you can start personalizing your marketing to address each visitor.

Recommended reading: 5 Personalized Direct Mail Examples to Inspire Your Marketing Campaigns

Automate with event-based mail

Your websites likely serve hundreds or thousands of anonymous visitors per day. Therefore, sending direct mail marketing materials to all those people would take a monumental effort. It takes even longer to segment lists and develop campaigns targeting people who fall into specific categories.

Automating your approach to retargeted marketing gives you more time to develop influential messages that get results. Make sure you take an omnichannel approach so you can find the right path for each person. Omnichannel metrics will help you determine whether you should focus on direct mail, social media, email, or other forms of marketing.

Event-based automation should work well when you want to retarget anonymous website visitors. These people have recently interacted with your brand, so they know you exist and understand what you offer. Plus, they probably came to your site looking for a way to solve a problem in their business or personal lives. Consider also that they're potentially comparing your brand to competitors right now.

Set your mailing software to retarget people immediately after they visit your website. For example, Lob's print delivery network can get mailers to them in less than a week. Hopefully, they have yet to decide which company to choose.

When your mailer arrives, they will remember your brand and the first impression your website made. Suddenly, you're at the front of their minds and seem like the responsive company they want to use.

Don't let competitors reach people before you! Instead, think of ways to stand out and increase your customer base. Automated direct mailing and an extensive printing network will give you a leg up for turning anonymous visitors into customers.

Recommended reading: Get More ROI With Direct Mail Automation

Track visitor behaviors online

You don't need to know the contact information of website visitors to learn more about their online behaviors and interests. For instance, you can use UTM parameters to determine how someone reached your page. Did they get there by clicking a social media ad, PPC ad, or promotional offer in an email? UTMs tell you which campaigns and ad formats drive more people to your website. You can use that information to further hone your marketing effectiveness.

You can also use cookies to see where people go after they visit your website. Tracking their behavior online could show you that someone is comparing products before finalizing a purchase. It could also tell you which competitors get attention from people who've visited your site. If a competitor's marketing performs better than yours, look for ways you can emulate it to drive more conversions.

(Note: cookies are losing popularity, so you should shift your focus to building positive relationships. Still, it's worth exploring this option for now.)

Use promos and freebies to lure people back to your site

If your website adds cookies to a visitor's internet browser, you can have promotional offers follow them online. Maybe someone will sign up for your newsletter or finalize a purchase — which means providing their personal details — in exchange for a 15% discount.

Set limits on promo ads so people feel a bit pressured to act soon. A promo that ends in six hours will probably get more reactions than one without an expiration time.

Determine whether you should keep retargeting visitors

Sending one piece of mail to a website visitor makes sense in practically every industry that uses direct mail. But how many times should you attempt to use retargeted marketing to capture a sale?

You can set your mailing software to send personalized materials to people regularly, such as every month or every quarter. You can also continue sending them materials when they interact with your brand.

Hypothetically, you could keep engaging with a person every day for years. But that would cost a lot of money and might not generate revenue.

That's why you need an ROI calculator that helps you make data-driven, informed decisions that lead to higher revenues. With some testing, you should find the correct number of times to retarget people before further attempts become a waste of resources.

Recommended reading: The Best Metrics to Measure Direct Mail Effectiveness

Get started with Lob!

Lob makes it much easier to retarget anonymous website visitors with direct mailers that get results. Want to see how Lob can work for you? Get a free demo! And, be sure to ask about our Lob Audience service that can help you identify who you should be targeting with your direct mail.

You may also be interested in the recap blog of our webinar introducing Lob Audience.