We get it. Converting those almost-ready-to-enroll visitors can feel like a tough nut to crack. You’ve probably seen plenty of keen learners browsing your courses, but they just haven't hit that “enroll” button yet.

The good news is that there is a way around it, and it’s called retargeting.

What Is Retargeting in Simple Terms?

Retargeting is like giving those almost-students a gentle nudge in the right direction. It’s a clever way to reconnect with those who have already shown interest in what you offer but haven’t quite made the leap to enrollment.

Let’s say someone visits your platform, and browses a few courses, but then for some reason gets distracted and leaves without signing up. With retargeting, you can show them ads across the web reminding them of the courses they were interested in. It’s almost like saying, “Hey, remember those awesome courses you were checking out? They’re still available here, waiting for you!”

It can be said that through strategic ad placements and personalized messaging, retargeting aims to rekindle interest in your target audience and make them take action, ultimately driving enrollment and engagement.

How Does Retargeting Work for Educational Platforms?

Retargeting might sound complex, but its inner workings are surprisingly simple and effective, especially when applied to educational platforms. This is how retargeting works in action:

The first thing that happens is tracking user behavior. It all starts when a visitor lands on your platform and expresses interest in your courses. Through website tracking technologies like cookies, pixels, or scripts, you can identify these visitors and keep tabs on their behavior.

Building custom audiences happens next. Once you have identified these interested almost-students, custom audiences are created based on their behavior. This could include people who visited specific course pages, spent a certain amount of time browsing, or even those who started but didn’t complete the enrollment process.

Later customized ads are created. Having custom audiences grouped, the personalized ads are designed to reignite the interest of these potential learners. These ads might show the courses they were eyeing, highlight special offers or incentives, or simply serve as a friendly reminder to come back and explore further.

Now the multi-platform delivery kicks off. Retargeting ads can appear across a variety of online platforms, from social media networks like Facebook and Instagram to popular websites and search engines. Having the ads displayed all over the place increases the likelihood of your message reaching users wherever they roam online. This basically can be the retargeting definition, when the ads are supposed to ignite the re-engagement.

Not-So-Official Yet Practical Retargeting Definition

The ultimate goal of retargeting is to inspire action in those who are clearly interested in what you have in your offer. Whether it is clicking through to revisit your platform, signing up for a course, or completing a previously abandoned enrollment, retargeting your ads are carefully planned out to nudge your target audience to take that next step toward becoming enrolled students.