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What is CRM Retargeting? A Complete Guide

  • - LiveRamp
  • 3 min read

Ever since the early days of first-party data onboarding, CRM retargeting has been a tried and true strategy for advertisers looking to use their offline data to drive smarter, more efficient ROI through their digital media. At LiveRamp, we offer a simple yet powerful solution for data-minded marketers to put their CRM file to work. In this blog, we’ll get into some specifics about one of the oldest—but still one of our favorite—onboarding strategies.

While CRM retargeting and standard display retargeting have both been around for awhile, there’s still some confusion about how exactly they differ. So let’s set things straight from the get-go.

Retargeting vs. CRM Retargeting

In its simplest form, retargeting works by keeping track of people who visit your site and by displaying your retargeting ads to them as they visit other sites online.

Ok, that’s pretty easy.

But what about when you see a retargeted ad for something you already purchased?

For instance, after heading to a store and finally purchasing that watch you’ve been eyeing online all week, you still get retargeted with ads for the watch you already purchased!

Not the greatest experience, and lost revenue for the business, since they could have also sold you some new jewelry or a belt to go with that watch instead.

That’s where CRM retargeting comes in:

“CRM retargeting (a.k.a. offline retargeting) is about providing more relevant digital advertising  to your customers using the data in your first-party platforms (like CRM or POS systems).”

Sounds like a marketer’s dream, right?

Plus, reaching customers or prospects from your CRM provides the opportunity to engage on a deeper, more relevant level, giving you better outcomes.

Three Benefits of CRM Retargeting:

  • Cross-sell and upsell opportunities—As I alluded to above, CRM retargeting enables marketers to automate cross-selling and upselling so their customers have more relevant experiences. Talk about bringing brand loyalty to a whole new level. It’s the digital version of walking into your bank and the teller remembering you signed up for a credit card the last time you were in. Instead of trying to sell you on the card again, the teller asks how it’s going and offers advice on ways to earn even more points!
  • Define smarter audience segments—Delivering CRM, sales, and email data to your preferred data management and media platforms will enable you to reach audience segments based on known attributes, such as past purchase history or customer preferences. Now that’s what we call smart marketing.
  • Run better cross-channel campaigns—Retargeting with CRM data is allowing marketers to reach the same consumers in their journey across channels and devices to deliver seamless, integrated campaign experiences.

Retargeting strategies help boost ROI in all parts of the funnel, from site retargeting at the low end, to behavioral at the very top.

However, marketers are embracing CRM retargeting more and more because it transcends the funnel, giving marketers a way to extend customer relationships for better lifetime value.

What To Do Next

If you’re interested in how data onboarding can improve not only your CRM retargeting, but also your entire media strategy, more, contact us.

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