How important is Facebook ads retargeting for your pest control company?
It’s really important. These are already people who have shown interest in your service and your brand in general. And most pest control companies aren’t even using retargeting, which means they’re leaving massive amounts of money on the table.
I’m Jake Sheldon, co-founder of Pest Control Millionaires. I have a portfolio of service based companies from moving to pest control, and I work as a fractional CMO for service based companies across the country. Today I want to show you exactly how to set up Facebook retargeting ads so you can convert people who almost became customers but didn’t pull the trigger.
What Is Retargeting?
Let me start by explaining what retargeting actually is.
There are a lot of cool things that you can do with Facebook ads retargeting. You can retarget people who went to your Facebook page. Or people who like your Facebook page. Or people who went to your website.
You can retarget people who are already your current customers and retarget them on Facebook. You can retarget people who showed interest in your Facebook ads in the past.
Pretty much anything you can think of, you can probably retarget. And that’s why you get these, what we call creepy level ads. People who’ve been to a site or they’ve been to your page or been somewhere that is relevant to your brand, and they see another one of your ads over and over and over again.
The 90 Day Rule
You can go back and retarget people who liked your content in the past. But is there a specific time frame where you don’t want to go back? Maybe it’s 90 days plus?
The rule of thumb is typically about 90 days is going back. 90 days is typically the best.
Facebook, most of their platforms, or most of their targeting is going to say 90 days, especially for the lead forms. If anyone’s come through a lead form, it only goes back 90 days anyway.
90 days is the rule of thumb. So basically it’s anyone who likes and is interested in your company that showed interest before. Websites, Facebook, they liked your page, whatever. You’re retargeting all those people.
Retargeting Works Better Than Normal Ads
How does retargeting compare to normal Facebook ads?
I actually see retargeting ads work better. The reason why I believe they work better, just like with any other advertising platform, is because it’s already people who have engaged or showed likeness in your brand. Or they already maybe even came through a funnel or were on your website.
They’ve already come in contact with your brand. And you can get very, very specific with the messaging in the retargeting, which we’ll talk about in a second.
Run Retargeting Ads Year Round
How frequently should you show retargeting ads to avoid ad fatigue?
I run them all the time. Literally year round. My retargeting ads are always running because it’s a fresh audience all the time.
If people are coming through your regular Facebook ads, like your conversion ads or lead gen ads that we talked about in previous videos, you’re having a fresh audience from there. And then you’re just going to retarget the people who didn’t sign up for your service.
Same thing on the website. You’re just going to continually remarket to these people. And you can make the messaging very, very specific.
Get Specific With Your Retargeting Messages
Let me give you a perfect example. Say someone goes to your first ad and it has to do with a mosquito control offer. They make it halfway through the funnel and they don’t quite fill out their info.
Well, you can actually retarget them and be like, “Hey, I saw that you didn’t fill out your form all the way. What happened? Here’s an extra discount.”
You can actually be that specific.
A lot of you watching this probably have had that happen before. You go to a website like Nike. You’ve halfway filled out the form and then you leave. And later you get an ad that’s like, “Hey, I noticed that you filled out the form but you didn’t check out. This is still in your cart.”
That is a perfect example of a retargeting ad.
I think most people in our industry don’t realize that they have access to these tools. They’re like, “Wait, I have gotten hit with a retargeting ad.” They just didn’t know that’s what it was.
We’ve been doing this so long that we know what they are. And these things are so cool. You can just take ideas from those people. Like, “Gosh, that was a really good retargeting ad.”
The More Specific, The Higher The Conversion Rate
Which retargeting messages produce the highest conversion rates?
It’s the ones that are more specific. Because again, they already have come into contact with your brand. They might have even seen another ad in the past already.
So the more specific, the better. For example, the one I just gave: “Hey, you left something in your checkout.” Or for our instance with pest control companies: “Hey, you didn’t fill out the form. Hey, you didn’t call us. What happened?”
You can actually say that in the ad. Be so specific. And people are like, “Whoa, what the heck? How do they know I didn’t call them? Or how do they know I didn’t fill out my info to talk to this pest control company?”
That specificity is what makes retargeting so powerful.
How to Set Up Facebook Retargeting Ads
Can I walk you through the process of what it looks like to set up retargeting?
It’s going to be in your ad set, your actual targeting section when you’re doing the retargeting. It’s going to be under custom. There’s a little drop down.
So you’re actually going to pick custom rather than lookalike. It’s going to say lookalike and then custom. Click custom.
And then you’re going to be able to choose on there what custom source you’re going to use. That could be your website. Could be your Facebook page. Could be a lead form. Whatever it may be.
And then you’re going to choose how you want to retarget.
My Favorite Retargeting Strategy
My personal favorite is I like to retarget people who came from an ad already but didn’t submit their form.
That’s my favorite because those are going to be really, really high converting. These are already people that showed interest in that previous ad. And it makes my cost per lead super, super low and ultimately my cost per acquisition super low.
My next favorite is going to be people who have gone to the website. If you’re not capturing people who’ve gone to your website and retargeting them, you’re missing out. Those are really good people to target.
The Two Biggest Retargeting Mistakes
What are the biggest mistakes I see when people run retargeting ads?
Biggest mistake number one with retargeting ads is simply not running them.
Most people don’t know that they even exist. And once they realize that they exist, they figure out how powerful retargeting ads really are. So that’s number one. Just not using them at all.
Number two is not making your messaging specific enough. I see a lot of people run retargeting ads and they don’t make them specific. It’s just like a general ad.
Really tailor them to make it feel like you’re personally talking to that person. Because you essentially are, because they’ve already shown an interest in your brand. You can be even more direct with these people.
Those are the two mistakes I see most often.
Start Retargeting Today
The bottom line is this: if you’re running Facebook ads and you’re not running retargeting campaigns, you’re throwing money away.
These are people who already know your brand. They already showed interest. They just didn’t convert yet. A simple retargeting ad with a specific message can be the nudge they need to finally book.
Set up retargeting for people who didn’t complete your lead form. Set up retargeting for people who visited your website. Set up retargeting for people who engaged with your previous ads.
Make the messaging specific. Call out exactly what they did. Offer them something to come back. And watch your conversion rates skyrocket while your cost per acquisition drops.
This is low hanging fruit that most pest control companies are completely ignoring.
Keep Learning and Growing
Want to connect with over 2,000 pest control business owners who are running profitable Facebook ad campaigns with retargeting? Join our free Facebook group, Pest Control Millionaires. We share our retargeting strategies, ad examples, and results every single day.
And if you want the complete playbook for Facebook advertising including retargeting campaigns that actually work, check out Zip Code Kings. We break down the exact retargeting sequences, ad copy, and targeting strategies that are crushing it right now.
Now go set up those retargeting campaigns and stop leaving money on the table.
