Last Updated: November 25, 2020

When a business owner opens a brick and mortar shop, who should they direct their marketing efforts toward? Should it be those walking by the storefront by chance, or the patrons who are in the store already?

Of course, it makes more sense to focus time and attention on the potential customers already in a store than the people walking by. Yet online, many advertisers seem to put more effort toward targeting the masses, who may or may not have any interest in their products.

Since online shopping is so prolific, with 42% of Americans shopping mostly online in 2012 according to the “2012 Shopping Outlook” survey by PriceGrabber, it makes sense that business owners treat their online shops the same way that they would treat a physical store. Yet online business marketers are often tempted by how cheaply they can reach thousands upon thousands of people, and haphazardly create banner ads and send emails out with little return.

That’s where post-click marketing, with the “post” meaning “after,” comes in. In recent years, search marketing professionals have considered post-click marketing to be one of the most effective ways to improve search ROI and conversion rates.

What is post-click marketing?

Post-click marketing is the practice of engaging with potential online customers after they click on a business’s pay-per-click ads, open their emails, or search for products. By focusing on visitors who are already interested in the brand, product or service, post-click marketing leads customers to landing pages that ease the purchasing process.

A Beginner's Guide to Post-Click Marketing

  • Set up a web analytics tool, like Google Analytics, on the e-commerce site
  • Set a date range that includes a significant number of visitors (1,000 or more)
  • Sort web pages within that range to determine where the site is losing customers
  • Direct customers to targeted landing pages rather than allow them to get lost on pages with high bounce rates
  • Begin producing, prioritizing and implementing improvement ideas
  • Monitor analytics to test the successfulness of these improvements

Imagine driving down the highway, hungry, and seeing a sign that says “Great Food, Exit 120.” Pulling onto Exit 120, you find no restaurants, but rather a poorly-organized grocery store, where you are expected to find and assemble the ingredients for a meal yourself, with no help. It seems unintuitive, but is an unfortunate reality for many Internet users who click advertisements and visit a business’s home page. Without any obvious direction, they become confused about how to claim the offer or shop for the product.

Post-click marketing attempts to solve this dilemna, directing clicks to landing pages, or special pages on websites that features content relevant to the advertisement.

There, the customer will see the ad’s offer repeated and will be guided into making a purchase through imagery and content. With services like Google Analytics, post-click marketing professionals are able to collect information on their potential customers. This data allows marketers to target particular consumers following that initial click, improving conversion rates and sales results by offering personalized information.

How Well Does Post-Click Marketing Work?

According to a study done by compete.com …

  • Wireless companies with effective post-click campaigns enjoy 500% higher conversions
  • Credit card companies with effective post-click marketing show 30x higher conversions
  • American Greetings’ conversions jumped more than 20% after implementing a post-click campaign

Who implements post-click marketing?

Most businesses that operate online employ some form of post-click marketing strategy in outreach efforts. Even smaller operations that don’t have the money to entice customers from all corners of the Internet benefit from paying attention to the consumers who have already expressed interest in them. (See also Internet Marketing)

For example, online insurance broker Esurance does an excellent job of post-click marketing. By directing those who click on their ads to an easily-usable landing page, Esurance prompts the prospective customer to enter the type of insurance they’re interested in and their zip code, which produces a cost estimate. By completing these easy steps, potential customers are drawn in and immediately given an easy way to apply.

Since an estimated 98% of website visitors don’t convert on the first visit, according to a case study by Marketing Sherpa, recommending that all online businesses should implement post-click marketing to increase conversion. These numbers aren’t unique to any certain kind of vendor or retailer, meaning B2B organizations, service providers, clothing retailers, furniture manufacturers, and more can all benefit from post-click marketing.

How is a post-click marketing plan developed?

Describing a Successful Post-Click Campaign

In order to make a campaign as successful as possible, a post-click marketing team needs to concentrate on making their post-click marketing:

  1. User-Centered.
  2. Fluid.
  3. Relevant.
  4. Conversion-focused.
  5. Segmented.
  6. Targeted.
  7. Measured.
  8. Tested & Optimized.
  9. Analyzed.
  10. Transparent.
  11. Integrated.
  12. Agile.
  13. Bold.
  14. Branded.
  15. Prioritized.

*Adapted from Business2Community’s 15 Building Blocks for a Post-Click Marketing Strategy

An effective post-click marketing campaign begins by learning a bit more about targeted customers (See also Behavioral Marketing). Based on the ad, keyword, email, or social media link someone clicks on, the post-click marketing team can begin to answer questions about the potential consumer, including:

  • Who are they?
  • What are they looking to buy?
  • Why are they looking for this specific product or service?
  • How ready are they to make a purchase?
  • Is there special context to their browsing, like back-to-school, a holiday, or an upcoming vacation?

Once the post-click marketing team has gathered as much information as possible to answer these questions, they can direct the click to the next step. Often, this next step is a landing page that is specifically tailored to the ad, keyword, or email that the customer has already seen – meaning that he or she doesn’t have to hunt through an entire website to find the correct product.

To work most effectively, a landing page will include content that encourages users to eventually make a purchase, called a call-to-action. This can take various forms including registration, a request for information, an e-newsletter subscription, or a purchase.

In post-click marketing, even after a customer takes this call-to-action and makes a purchase, the post-click marketing team’s job is far from over. If the potential customer has taken the requested action and made a purchase once, it is in the company’s best interest to make them a repeat customer. If they clicked away without making a purchase, then cookies and targeted advertising can help entice them to return.

A post-click marketing team can improve the effectiveness of their campaign even further by personalizing their follow-up content with whatever information they have gathered about a specific lead – anything from first name, to product desires will help make a prospective client feel special and appreciated.

What types of careers work with post-click marketing strategies?

Post-click marketing is a digital marketing field, which means that a career in post-click marketing requires individuals to not only have a marketing background, but also a firm understanding of the ever-changing world of social media, search engine analytics, and broad-based online marketing. An effective post-click marketing team will be made up of individuals who are extremely comfortable with technology trends and have the creativity to take their post-click efforts to the next level.

Marketing Managers

What do they do?

Salaries in E-commerce Marketing

  • Marketing Manager
    Entry level: $60,230
    Experienced: $155,050
  • SEO Specialist
    Entry level: $27,989
    Experienced: $60,247
  • Webmaster
    Entry level: $29,701
    Experienced: $73,873

*Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Payscale.com

A successful post-click marketing campaign should be led by a marketing manager with the knowledge and training necessary to manage and effectively strategize campaign activity. Typically, marketing managers oversee all activities within a company’s marketing, advertising, and promotional department. They establish brand guidelines and growth strategies, evaluate customer needs, and tweak marketing plans dependent on success.

Education and Skills

Marketing managers usually hold at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related major like communication, advertising or business. Marketing managers generally begin in entry-level marketing positions and work their way up the career ladder.

SEO Specialist

What do they do?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Specialists work to make sure that their websites are optimized to attract and engage the largest amount of applicable visitors who will eventually convert into customers. They do so by making sure that the website’s branded content across all platforms leads Internet users to their offerings by building search engine rank, reputation, and traffic.

Education and Skills

A bachelor’s degree in marketing or digital communication is the best path to a career in SEO, and a background in programming can also be extremely useful. Beyond formal education though, individuals who want to pursue a career in search engine optimization should continue their training individually by staying up-to-date on the ever-changing world of SEO.

Webmaster

What do they do?

A webmaster collaborates with the post-click marketing team to develop and maintain the functionality of a website. He or she is responsible for the usability and feel of a site day-to-day, and ensures that it is performing at the best possible level. By monitoring traffic and customer experience, the webmaster can adjust expectations and improve performance.

Education and Skills

Beginning a career as a webmaster usually requires a bachelor’s degree in business or computer programming, as well as a working knowledge of programming language like HTML. Usually, webmasters need a few years of experience in the programming industry before becoming responsible for sites of their own.

How can a marketing school help you succeed?

Our Recommended Schools

  1. Grand Canyon University (GCU)

    GCU's Colangelo College of Business offers leading edge degrees that address the demands of contemporary business environments.

  2. Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU)

    Explore the bond between business and consumer behavior with a degree in marketing.

Although the post-click marketing field involves a level of comfort with technology, knowledge of marketing principles are also required. Most organizations that hire a post-click marketing team require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in marketing, along with website experience. It is important to earn a marketing degree to ensure you have the proper background knowledge upon which to build your career.

A marketing degree program provides an ideal foundation for a career in post-click marketing. Because post-click marketing is so heavily rooted in customer marketing, a specialized school that teaches exactly what consumers want from their online shopping experience is a great way to build the knowledge needed to excel in this field.

To learn more about how a marketing degree can help you build a successful post-marketing career, request information from schools offering marketing degrees today.