How To Do Persuasive, Profitable Retargeting (Without Being A Pain In The A$$)

A Step-By-Step Breakdown Of How Tru Earth Wins New Customers

TruEarth utilizes not-so-textbook retargeting…and here’s why it works

I heard about Tru Earth when my wife told me we were replacing our Tide with these new “laundry strips.”

A few days later, however, I realized I was Facebook friends with one of the co-founders, Ryan McKenzie, who was sharing how the product had taken off so much it was getting serious traction in retail.

Being the marketing nerd I am, I wanted to see how they’d built their brand so I visited the site…and that’s when I entered the “life of fire.”

Within minutes I was seeing Tru Earth ads everywhere and I felt immediate regret for entering the “followup funnel.”

But then I realized that something about their approach was different.

The way most companies run their retargeting campaigns is to reach you with the same message over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…well, you get the point.

Tru Earth is absolutely persistent in their pursuit…but the approach is both refreshing and highly effective (as evidenced by the reviews and sales figures).

I decided to breakdown my experience to show you what a great retargeting system SHOULD look like.

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Retargeting Ad #1: The Branded Offer Ad

This is the first ad I saw…it’s just about the only ad most companies run

My first retargeting ad was the one I see from all companies; the offer ad from the brand that is trying to incentivize you to buy.

Tru Earth does it better than most with clear copy, a great video, and strong social proof.

Unfortunately this is just about the only retargeting ad that most companies put together so I had a feeling I’d be in for months on end of seeing the same ad over and over.

But that’s when I got hit with Ad #2.

Retargeting Ad #2: The Seasonal Use Case Ad

This is the seasonal use case ad that provides a relevant problem for potential customers

When I saw this ad, I knew Tru Earth knew more about marketing than the typical direct-to-consumer brand.

This ad injects a seasonally relevant problem into the mind of potential customers so they can relate to it and so the thought-provoking headline answers an important question.

The question here for potential customers is:

Is this eco-friendly laundry detergent actually tough enough to clean my REALLY dirty laundry?

As you can see from the engagement, existing customers come back to answer this question with a resounding YES.

This is a very PERSUASIVE ad that if you’re not using in your process, I highly recommend thinking of a way to do so.

Retargeting Ad #3: The Unbiased Content Piece Ad

This unbiased content piece helps potential customers see how the product stacks up against competition

The next ad I saw was the unbiased content piece that shows how the product measures up against the competition.

This is an important tactic to utilize as I saw lots of comments on prior posts of potential customers asking existing customers if the product works as well as what they used in the past.

What I found fascinating is that the reactions were almost 100% likes (as opposed to loves) which is a more typical response to “scientific evidence.”

You can tell this ad didn’t appeal to the emotional side of potential customers but rather the logical side.

In order to persuade people, you HAVE to appeal to the emotional AND the logical sides to make action happen.

Note: Tru Earth could also test running this ad as an engagement objective VERY FIRST in their marketing sequence and follow it up with normal conversion ads.

I imagine this would get great engagement and build a pool of women (their target demo) who were interested in the outcome.

Retargeting Ad #4: The Not-Usually-Considered Benefit Ad

The not-usually-considered benefit ad helps inject doubt about an incumbent

This final piece in this retargeting mastery is what I refer to as the “not-usually-considered” benefit.

Most people considering laundry detergent are going to think about:

• How well does it clean?
• How much does it cost?
• Does it smell?
• Does it make my skin itch?

But something most people don’t immediately think about is:

Is this product going to cause harm to my child?

Since the invention of the Tide Pod, kids of all ages have unfortunately been prone to eat them which can result in serious problems or death.

Tru Earth knows this and is utilizing it as an angle to undermine their competitors and give moms another reason to consider their product.

Conclusion:

As you can see from this list of ads, Tru Earth does a great job of taking a look at the questions, objections, and not commonly thought of benefits about their product and weaved together a storyline that helps them continue to convert customers from standard CPG giants.

I highly applaud them for their efforts and hope that you take a look at how you can improve your retargeting sequences to do a better job converting customers.

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