A customer visits your website, browses products, even adds something to their cart, and then leaves without making a purchase. You’ve done the hard work (and spent the budget) to get them there, but they drop off right at the end. That can be frustrating.
But what if you could re-engage those warm leads before they forget you exist?
That’s the promise of retargeting ads—specifically designed to follow up with people who’ve already shown interest in your brand but didn’t convert. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about retargeting ads and how to build successful retargeting campaigns from the ground up.
What is Retargeting?
Retargeting is a type of advertising that lets you show ads to people who’ve already interacted with your website or content, but didn’t take the action you wanted them to. Maybe they visited a product page, downloaded a whitepaper, signed up for your newsletter, or even added something to their cart and left. With retargeting, your ads can show up and remind them of what they left behind.
For instance, let’s say you are a clothing brand, selling leather jackets. A user views a product, adds it to their cart, but leaves without making a purchase. Through retargeting, they will later see an ad highlighting a limited-time discount. This personalized reminder helps nudge them back. This way, it significantly boosts your conversions and maximizes your return on ad spend.
What are the Different Types of Retargeting?
Retargeting in digital marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all. Whether someone abandoned a cart or just finished reading a blog post, the way you re-engage them should align with their intent and activity. That’s why there are several types of retargeting ads, each tailored to specific interactions across platforms, channels, or content types.
1. Cart Retargeting Ads
If someone added products to their cart but didn’t check out, that’s high intent. They’re almost there, you just need to give them a little push. That’s where Dynamic Product Ads or Carousel Ads become relevant. These show the exact products they left behind, paired with a discount or some urgency to encourage the sale.
2. Social Media Retargeting Ads
These ads retarget users on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or X, based on their interaction with your website or social media. For example, a user browses your site for skincare products. When they later use Instagram, they will see a carousel ad featuring the exact products they viewed, encouraging them to revisit and buy the product.
3. Search Engine Retargeting
Here, you’re targeting people based on what they searched, even if they didn’t visit your site. For example, someone looks up “best hiking boots” but never clicks your link. You can still show them display ads for your boots later through Google’s Display Network. It connects search intent with visual follow-ups.
4. Display Retargeting
This is your classic banner ad strategy. It shows visual ads to users who have previously visited your website, typically across the Google Display Network or programmatic ad platforms. These banner ads appear on various third-party websites, encouraging the user to take action.
5. PPC Retargeting
PPC retargeting or paid search retargeting shows ads to users who previously clicked on a paid search ad but didn’t convert. It helps reinforce your brand and bring those users back. Say, for example, you’re selling a document management software. A user clicks on your ad for this product but leaves the landing page without signing up. Days later, they will see a retargeting ad inviting them to start a free trial.
6. SEO Retargeting
SEO retargeting targets users who landed on your site through organic search results but didn’t take further action. It allows you to re-engage visitors who were drawn by specific keywords or topics. The best retargeting for these users is educational displays or lead magnet ads.
7. Content Marketing Retargeting
If someone interacted with non-promotional content on your website, like blogs, videos, downloads, but didn’t convert, this is where you follow up. These users are clearly interested in learning. You can use that to your advantage. Show them sponsored posts, explainer videos, or ads that guide them further down the sales funnel.
How Effective Are Retargeting Ads?
Retargeting website visitors through ads is one of the most efficient and results-driven tactics available. These ads are quick to set up, run automatically, and go after people who’ve already shown interest in your brand.
And the numbers show this advertising effectiveness. Adobe says around 96% of website visitors leave without buying anything. That’s a considerable drop-off. Retargeting helps bring those users back. In fact, Greg Coleman, president of Criteo, points out that the average click-through rate for display ads is 0.07%, while retargeted ads are 10 times higher at 0.7%.
Retargeting is especially useful in e-commerce platforms. Data gathered by Baymard Institute suggests that the average e-commerce shopping cart abandonment rate is 70.19%. Moreover, according to Statista, the average conversions for all e-commerce websites is under 2%. An effective e-commerce retargeting strategy displays the exact products users left behind, helping businesses win back potential sales.
Beyond just following up with ads, the type of content you show them matters too. According to Plainly, around 51% of customers depend on product videos to make an informed purchase decision. Retargeting helps display personalized video ads to guide the user further down the sales funnel.
How does Retargeting Work?
Retargeting works through the use of cookies, which help websites collect data and track user behavior across various sites. The collected data then helps deliver personalized ads to those users as they continue browsing other platforms like Google, Facebook, and display networks.
Here’s a look at how this process works.
Browser Cookies: The Foundation of Retargeting
This is the most traditional and widely used method. When users visit a website, cookies are stored in their browsers to log behaviors such as the pages they view, products they interact with, or the time they spend on specific content. These retargeting cookies are of two types.
Third-Party Cookies
At the core of traditional retargeting is the use of third-party cookies. These are small data files placed on a visitor’s browser by a retargeting platform. When users browse the internet, these cookies help identify the retargeting audience across various sites. This helps platforms display personalized ads to these users based on their previous interactions.
First-Party Cookies
Although not central to cross-site retargeting, first-party cookies — set by the website the user directly visits — store useful data like items in a cart or login status. These cookies can still support personalized experiences and user tracking within a single domain, which is valuable for person-based retargeting methods.
Retargeting Pixels
Websites place a small JavaScript snippet or an invisible tracking pixel in their header. Advertising platforms like Google Ads provide this code. When a user visits the website, the pixel sends a request to the retargeting provider’s server. After receiving the request, the server places a cookie in the visitor’s browser. This cookie helps show ads to that user later on, even after they leave the original website.
How Retargeted Ads Are Delivered
Once a user is tagged, the retargeting platform, such as a demand-side platform (DSP), can serve ads to them on other websites. When the user visits another site that allows ads, the DSP reads the cookie and knows to display a relevant ad. This is how someone who viewed shoes on one site sees the same shoes advertised on a news website.
Cookie Syncing Across Ad Platforms
To recognize the same user across multiple ad platforms and exchanges, systems use cookie syncing. This method lets platforms compare and match their unique user IDs. As a result, they maintain consistent tracking of users. It also supports real-time bidding for ad space targeted at those users on various websites.
The Shift Away from Third-Party Cookies
Third-party cookies are facing increasing privacy restrictions by Google and various other browsers. Advertisers are leaning towards alternative solutions.
Person-Based Targeting
Brands collect first-party data when users log in or agree to share their information. This helps build user profiles directly. Advertisers then use these profiles to show personalized ads without depending on third-party cookies.
Authentication Cache
When users visit a site, advertisers assign them temporary IDs. If users give permission and don’t clear their cache, these IDs help track their repeat visits, ultimately, allowing retargeting while following strong privacy standards.
Google Topics API
This tool is part of Google’s Privacy Sandbox. It places users into interest groups based on the websites they visit in Chrome. Advertisers then target users based on these general categories, like Travel or Fitness, instead of specific browsing data.
Best Practices for Creating Successful Retargeting Ads
Now that we’ve learned all about retargeting and how it works, it’s time to build a retargeting campaign that delivers. To create successful retargeting ads, you need more than just showing products to past visitors. Below are the most effective retargeting strategies you can follow.
Create Personalized Ads
Generic ads won’t drive results in retargeting. You already know what the user looked at or engaged with when browsing your website. That’s valuable data that you can use to speak directly to the user’s interest. When you personalize your retargeting ads, you’re more likely to get their attention and bring them back to your site.
Here’s how to make that happen:
- Segment Your Audience. You can group them based on product categories, specific actions they took, or even how long they stayed on your site.
- Use dynamic retargeting. This lets you automatically show each user the exact products they previously viewed. It’s super relevant and feels personal, which is key.
- Keep it specific. Don’t cram a bunch of unrelated items into a single ad. That just dilutes the message. Keep your ads focused and aligned with what the user cares about to drive results.
Use a Multi-Touch Strategy
A multitouch strategy helps reinforce your message across different platforms, making it more likely that people will remember it and eventually convert. Why is it important? Today, users browse through different devices and channels. This means your message needs to show up in more than one place if you want it to stick.
- Combine your email campaigns with retargeting ads on social media and display networks.
- Keep your message consistent across retargeting platforms, but adjust the creative to fit each platform’s format (e.g., video for Instagram, carousel for Facebook).
- Set up sequential messaging to guide users deeper into the funnel by showing them the right message at the right time.
Align Destination Pages to the Ad
When someone clicks on your ad, they’re expecting to land on a page that feels like a continuation of what they just saw. If they end up on a generic or irrelevant landing page, it can disconnect them from taking the desired action and lead to higher bounce rates.
- Make sure you’re sending them to a landing page that matches the ad. Ideally, it should be product-specific or focused on the exact action you want them to take.
- Keep the design clean and simple. The message and visuals on the page should align closely with the ad they clicked on.
- Remove any distractions, such as excessive navigation links or off-topic content that might divert them from converting.
Match Bidding to the Sales Cycle
When setting up your bidding, consider how long and complicated your buyer’s journey is. If you don’t bid enough or stretch the campaign too long, you will end up wasting your ad budget. On the flip side, if the campaign’s too short, you risk not getting enough visibility.
For products with a quick decision cycle, like clothing or accessories, it’s best to run shorter campaigns with higher initial bids. You want to grab attention fast and convert quickly. But for decision cycles, like real estate or B2B services, you can plan for longer campaigns and use a phased bidding strategy. This helps you align your spend with how buyers actually move through the funnel.
Prevent Ad Fatigue with Smart Rotation
When users repeatedly see the same ad, they’re more likely to tune it out, or worse, start associating your brand with a negative experience. It doesn’t just hurt engagement. It can actually damage how people perceive your brand.
So, how do you avoid that?
- Use ad sequencing to show a logical flow of ads that tell a story or evolve over time.
- Set frequency caps to control how often a user sees the same ad.
- Regularly rotate ad creatives and copy to maintain freshness and improve engagement.
In The End
When done correctly, retargeting ads can re-engage interested users, boost conversions, and significantly improve your ROI. It’s all about using the right ad types, following best practices, and knowing how the strategy works behind the scenes. If you want to turn missed opportunities into real results, now’s a good time to start building a well-structured retargeting campaign.
