We’ve all been there. You’re about to buy something but abandon your cart at the last minute before paying. Some time later you’re seeing adverts for the same products that seem to follow you around the Internet.

Love them or hate them, these ads are effective. 

For marketers, retargeting is one of the most compelling ways to put your offer in front of the right audience. After all, you’re targeting the people who have already shown an interest.

In this post, we’ll explain how retargeting works and how to use these ads to dramatically increase conversions.

What is retargeting?

Retargeting is a marketing strategy for re-engaging users who have previously interacted with your site but didn’t make a purchase or complete a desired action.

From a marketer’s perspective, it’s about reminding potential customers of a product or service they were interested in but didn’t purchase for a number of reasons, such as:

• Lack of reliable information
• Availability of cheaper options
• Slow website loading speed
• Technical website issues

Of course, there’s also the possibility that they simply weren’t financially ready to complete the transaction. 

Regardless of the reason, the user expressed a strong desire to purchase, making them a prime target for retargeting ads. 

Types of retargeting ads

While retargeting ads all have the same universal objective of recapturing lost sales, they come in different types. This enables retargeting ads to fit different marketing objectives and audience segments.

Let’s look at the different types of retargeting ads.

• Site/Pixel-based retargeting ads. These are ads served to users who visited or interacted with your website or specific pages. Tracking is done via small pieces of code called “pixels,” which track important visitor data — hence the name. 
• List-based retargeting ads. This type of retargeting utilises data from email lists, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and other first-party sources. Setting up these campaigns involves importing customer data into your advertising platform. 
• Social media retargeting ads. These are ads displayed to users on social media platforms based on their past engagements with your brand. Apart from social media interactions, this type of retargeting can also use custom audiences from pixel data and lists.
• Search-based retargeting ads. This retargeting campaign allows you to build custom ad audiences based on their search queries. Think of it as PPC and SEO working together to help you reach the right audience. 

Retargeting vs remarketing: What’s the difference?

Sometimes, people use the words retargeting and remarketing interchangeably. However, there are a few key differences between them, especially in scope and channel of engagement.

Defining retargeting ads 

Retargeting focuses on re-engaging users primarily with paid ads. This strategy uses lists or pixels to track user behaviour and deliver targeted paid content on channels like social media, search engine results pages (SERPs), and website banners.

They’re also known in the marketing world as “stalker ads” or “follow you around the internet” ads. They stick to their mission of guaranteeing persistent brand visibility beyond the initial user action.

Defining remarketing 

Although it’s also used to re-engage users, remarketing involves a broader spectrum of tactics, such as email campaigns, personalised sales funnels, and other initiatives.

In other words, it’s not confined to online advertising and reaches potential customers across different touchpoints.

With a mix of channels and hyper-personalised content, remarketing can go the extra mile by building tighter customer relationships. In contrast, retargeted ads are usually aimed at bottom-of-the-funnel leads who are closer to making a purchase.

What are the benefits of retargeting ads?

Retargeted advertising is widely considered the most successful form of advertising, and it’s not hard to understand why.

• Better brand recall. Retargeting ads take advantage of better familiarity or brand recall. This builds up buyer confidence and trust — both of which are imperative to generating online conversions.
• Cost-effectiveness. Retargeting campaigns are typically more cost-effective than regular display ads in terms of cost per click (CPC). Since you’re targeting traffic with higher chances of converting, they’re also better in other metrics that matter, like return on ad spend (ROAS) and customer acquisition cost (CAC). 
• Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Retargeting ads aimed at past customers keep your brand top-of-mind. In short, you’re not just closing one sale but investing in long-term customer relationships that lead to repeat purchases. 
• Dampen the impact of cart abandonment. Cart abandonment is a huge hole in an eCommerce website’s pocket, and retargeting ads can patch it up. This is best done with remarketing emails that remind customers about the products they left behind.
• Retargeting for supplemental marketing. Rather than scrapping unprofitable strategies or building new ones from square one, you can use retargeting ads to leverage existing customer data you’ve already acquired. Seeing your ads alone can bring your audience back to your website regardless of whether they click. 

How to set up retargeting on Google Ads

Tip: To make the most out of retargeting ads, take your time to understand Google Performance Max or just “PMax” for short. In simple terms, Google PMax leverages AI to get you the best possible results from your ads while doing the least amount of work.

Before you begin, take some time to understand the data regulations and requirements in your area. Additionally, you must ensure you have the correct cookie policies in place, or you risk falling foul of privacy laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations).

To set up a retargeting campaign on Google Ads, follow the steps below:

1. Create a Google Ads Account

If you haven’t already, create a Google Ads account to gain access to the tools you need to run retargeting ads. This only requires an active Google account and a few minutes to confirm your account settings. 

For a smooth account creation process, prepare the following information when setting up Google Ads: 

• Tax information
• Business contact information
• Payment details

Feel free to skip the guided campaign creation workflow when getting started. 

2. Install the Google Ads tag or link your Google Analytics 4 account

To import your audience data into Google Ads, you must install the Google ads tag to your website or link an existing Google Analytics 4 account. 

From your Google Ads dashboard, head to ‘Tools,’ click ‘Shared library,’ and select ‘Audience manager.’ 

On the audience manager page, switch to ‘Your data sources’ to see the tools you need for retargeting ads. 

If you already use Google Analytics 4, pulling your readily available traffic data is the fastest and most practical option. Click ‘Enable audiences’ under “Google Analytics (GA4) and Firebase” to continue. 

On the next page, click the ‘Add’ button (“+”) to bring up the link setup page. 

Here, you need to specify the Google Analytics 4 property from which you want to pull audience data. Enable the data-sharing options and click ‘Link’ when you are done.

Google Ads may take up to 24 hours to collect data from Google Analytics 4. When done, you can proceed to the next step. 

If you prefer to pull data via the Google Ads tag, click ‘Set up tag’ under “Google Ads tag” on the previous page. 

Before generating your Google tag, you need to choose between two remarketing options: only collecting general website visit data or collecting data on specific actions.

To reach a broader audience and get more ad impressions, stick to the first option. 

Otherwise, select the second option to utilise user interaction data from your website. This will require you to specify set-up conditions for activation. 

When done, click ‘Save and continue’ to proceed to the next step. This time, you’ll have three options for installing your Google tag.

• Install the tag yourself—Copy your Google tag and event snippet into every page you’d like to track. Plugins like PixelYourSite for WordPress can speed this up. 
• Email the tag—Send a copy of the codes to your website admin. This is useful if you’re managing a campaign for clients or have someone else manage the technical side of your website. 
• Use Google Tag Manager — Install your Google tag using the Google Tag Manager, which must be installed prior to generating your Google Ads tag. Read this guide from Google to learn more about this process. 

Once your tag is installed, you can head back to the data sources page and view the available audiences obtained through your Google tag. They will be segmented into lists depending on the business type you specified, like “All visitors,” “Non-converters,” and “Purchasers.” 

Take note that Google Ads also lets you build remarketing lists from your YouTube channel, manual file uploads, and mobile app user data. If you want to retarget these audiences, make sure you use the same Google account across Google Ads, Google Play, or YouTube.

3. Build your audiences

Back on your audience manager page, switch to the ‘Your data segments’ tab and click the ‘Create remarketing list’ button (“+”).

To continue, select between the available sources. Pick ‘Google Analytics’ to obtain audience data from your Google Analytics 4 source or ‘Website visitors’ to use data from your Google tag. 

The next steps will depend on the data source you choose. For example, if you want to retarget audiences via Google Analytics, simply select the linked property and grant your Google Ads account the required permissions. 

With Google Analytics, you’ll also be given a handful of audience templates based on the profiles of common retargeting ad audiences. Of course, you can also create a custom audience from scratch. 

You’ll then be given the opportunity to create or review the targeting settings for your audience. 

With Google Analytics 4, audiences can be refined by including or excluding them based on conditions. Some examples are visiting a page, reaching a certain number of sessions, using a specific device, and so on.

Give your audience list a name so you can find it when setting up your retargeting campaign. When you’re happy with your settings, click ‘Save’ to continue.

4. Create your campaign

With your retargeting list ready, it’s time to build your PPC campaign like you normally would. Set your campaign objective, specify your conversion goals, and choose a campaign type. 

If you’re creating a Google Shopping campaign, remember to add products using your Merchant Center account. 

After the initial campaign creation page, Google Ads will bring up the campaign settings page. Scroll down to the “Audience segments” section and switch to the ‘Browse’ tab. 

Here, you’ll find the audiences you’ve created earlier through Google Analytics 4 or your Google tag. You also have the option to create a new segment using your existing data sources in case you skipped the audience-building step earlier. 

Before you finish setting up your campaign, pay attention to the additional targeting settings below the audience segments section. 

The ‘Observation’ option is selected by default, which targets your audience segments along with new users that match your audience profile. If you purely want to retarget your existing audience, select ‘Targeting’ to narrow down your campaign’s reach. 

Once you’ve finalised your audience targeting, complete the rest of the campaign creation process by entering your ad group keywords, assembling your ad assets, and setting a budget. Double-check everything on the overview page before you click ‘Publish campaign.’ 

That’s it — your Google Ads retargeting campaign is all set!

How to set up retargeting on Facebook Ads

Facebook is the biggest social media platform on the planet, making it vitally important in any social media strategy.

Here’s how to set up retargeting campaigns on Facebook Ads:

1. Install your Facebook pixel 

Log in to the Meta Business Suite and open ‘Events Manager’ from the “All tools” submenu.

To generate a Facebook pixel, click ‘Connect Data Sources’ from the left menu. There, select ‘Web,’ click ‘Connect,’ and follow the instructions below to install your pixel. 

• Name your pixel and click ‘Create Pixel.’
• Enter your website’s URL and check for a partner integration. 
• If a partner integration is available, select that option to expedite the pixel installation process — otherwise, just click ‘Next.’
• Select ‘Meta Pixel and Conversions API’ and click ‘Next.’
• Unless you’re using a partner integration, select ‘Set up manually’ and click ‘Next.’ 
• Click ‘Continue’ in the bottom-right corner and specify your industry in the drop-down menu.
• Select the events you want to track (e.g., add to cart, contact, donate, search, purchase, and subscribe) and click ‘Continue.’ 
• Specify the customer information you want to gather (e.g., city, phone number, first name, gender, and email) and click ‘Continue’ twice. 
• When presented with the options, choose between sending instructions to your webmaster or implementing the API yourself — then click ‘Continue.’ 
• To manually install your Facebook pixel, copy and paste the base code into your website (between the “<head>” and “</head>” tags). 
• Toggle on “Automatic Advanced Matching” to reach matching Facebook users with your ads (optional). Click ‘Continue.’ 
• Use the event setup tool to visually create events directly from your website. 

2. Create your retargeting audience

After creating your pixel-based data source, return to Meta Business Suite and select ‘Audiences’ from the “All tools” submenu. 

Select ‘Create a custom audience,’ choose ‘Website’ as your data source, and click ‘Next.’ 

Remember that if you have a presence in other Facebook services, like Instagram and in-app listings, you can easily import your audience data without using pixels.

In the custom audience creation window, select your data source, event type to track, and an audience retention timeframe. Give your audience a name and description before clicking ‘Create audience’ to complete this step. 

3. Create your campaign

The last step is to create an ad campaign for your custom retargeted audience.

In Facebook Ads Manager, go to ‘Campaigns’ and click ‘Create.’ 

Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your campaign’s parameters. 

Pick your buying type, select your campaign objective, and click ‘Continue’ to head to the campaign settings page. This is where you can configure the following settings: 

• Special ad categories — Declare if your campaign falls under specific categories, namely “Credit,” “Employment,” “Housing,” or “Social issues, elections or politics.” 
• Campaign details — Review your campaign’s buying type, objective, and spending limit.
• A/B test — Run multiple versions of your ad to determine the best configuration.
• Advantage campaign budget — Automatically optimise your budget for different ad sets depending on performance, goals, and bidding strategy.

On the next page, scroll down to ‘Advantage+ audience’ and search for the audience list you created earlier. You’re now free to complete the rest of your campaign by creating your ad content, setting up tracking, and more. 

Final words on retargeting

Launching retargeting ads is like getting a second (third, or even fourth) chance to convert potential long-term customers. 

Think of it as a failsafe that ensures your brand awareness and organic marketing efforts are well-spent. As long as users interact with your website, there are other ways to reach and eventually generate a conversion. 

Need help with your retargeting ads and other PPC campaigns? Get in touch with one of our PPC experts!

If you’re ready to move on to the next stage, check out this blog on writing a remarketing and retargeting strategy.