A website pixel or tracking tag is a simple piece of “code”, added to your website, that allows you to track all the user traffic, where they come from, and what they do on your site.
This kind of info and insight into how users engage and behave on your website is digital marketing gold! It can show you what’s working and what you’re doing really wrong. It’s like getting real, actionable feedback from customers, without having to corner (or bribe) them to fill out a survey or questionnaire.
Plus, this piece of code can also help improve your remarketing efforts, by allowing your ads to follow your customer around on the net, constantly reminding them about your business, product and offer.
Every time someone visits your website or mobile app, these small snippets of code share information back to your advertising and website monitoring services. They help to supply you with invaluable analytics and insights on the performance of your website and digital advertising campaigns.
Information such as: if the user has actually made a purchase, consumed cornerstone content on your site, how many pages they visited, the amount of time they spend on your site, how frequently they visit your site, what devices they use, and more.
This information allows you to make informed decisions on changes you may need to make to your website, how to better optimise your advertising campaigns to drive better results, or identify content that may not be getting any attention.
Knowing how many people actually made a purchase, or what percentage of people abandoned the purchase at what stage in the acquisition cycle, is obviously very handy. But what if I told you that you can communicate specifically with the customers that browsed your site but did not make a purchase, and bring them back to your site with a different message or a special offer?
This is what we call remarketing. It is a powerful tool for boosting conversion rates and driving sales; that keeps your business or brand visible to people who have visited your website, or used your app, and not taken a desired action.
For example, ever wondered why you keep seeing ads for flights after you visited a booking site? Or after looking at that new gadget online, ads for it follow you around everywhere? Well, that’s remarketing, and Facebook and Google Pixels allow you to do exactly that.
Remarketing, with the help of tags and pixels, allows you to group the different visitors to different sections of your site, and display bespoke ads that specifically talk to that content. It can also be used to cross-sell products, or promote another desired action, to customers that have already bought something for your site, for example, get them to sign-up to your newsletter.
There are almost endless applications, and a wealth of information to be had, using tags and pixels in your digital marketing mix. If you have not done so yet, I strongly recommend you set up a free Google Analytics account on your website and start exploring how much you can learn about your visitors, and their behaviour on your site, and then use that information to improve the performance of your site and advertising campaigns.
