97% of first-time website visitors leave without converting. Remarketing — also called retargeting — shows ads to people who have already visited your website, reminding them of what they viewed and encouraging them to return and complete their action. It is one of the highest-ROI advertising strategies because you are targeting people who already know your brand.
How Remarketing Works
When someone visits your website, a small piece of code (pixel or tag) places a cookie in their browser. This cookie tells advertising platforms — Google, Meta, LinkedIn — to show your ads to that visitor as they browse other websites, social media, or search engines. The visitor sees your brand repeatedly, building familiarity and trust until they are ready to convert.
Types of Remarketing
Standard remarketing: Shows display ads to past visitors as they browse websites in the Google Display Network. The most common and easiest to set up.
Dynamic remarketing: Shows personalised ads featuring the specific products or services the visitor viewed. If someone looked at a specific WordPress plugin on your site, they see an ad for that exact plugin with its price and image.
Search remarketing (RLSA): Adjusts your search ad bids for people who have previously visited your site. When a past visitor searches for related terms, you can bid higher to ensure your ad appears prominently.
Video remarketing: Targets people who have interacted with your YouTube videos or channel. Show them ads across YouTube and the Display Network.
Email list remarketing: Upload your email list to Google or Meta and show ads to those contacts across their platforms. Useful for re-engaging leads that have gone cold.
Building Effective Audiences
Not all visitors are equal. Segment your audiences by behaviour: visited the pricing page (high intent — show specific offer ads), added to cart but did not purchase (show urgency or discount ads), read a blog post (lower intent — show educational content or lead magnets), visited the homepage only (show brand awareness content), past customers (upsell or cross-sell).
Set appropriate membership durations. Cart abandoners might need only 7-14 days of remarketing. Blog visitors might stay in your audience for 30-60 days. Adjust based on your typical sales cycle.
Remarketing on Google
Set up remarketing tags through Google Ads or Google Tag Manager. Create audience lists based on page visits, time on site, or specific actions. Run display campaigns targeting these audiences. Use responsive display ads for broader reach or upload custom image ads for brand consistency. Exclude converted users — do not waste budget showing ads to people who already bought.
Remarketing on Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
Install the Meta Pixel on your website. Create Custom Audiences based on: website visitors (all or specific pages), engagement (people who interacted with your posts or ads), video viewers, and lead form openers. Meta’s algorithm is excellent at optimising delivery within these audiences. Combine with Lookalike Audiences — Meta finds new people similar to your best remarketing audiences.
Creative Best Practices
Personalise your message based on the audience segment. Cart abandoners respond to “Still thinking about it? Here is 10% off.” Pricing page visitors respond to social proof and case studies. Blog readers respond to more valuable content (downloadable guides, webinars). Use urgency carefully — “Limited time offer” loses credibility if shown for weeks.
Rotate your creative regularly. Seeing the same ad 20 times creates fatigue and annoyance. Set frequency caps — 3-5 impressions per day per user is a reasonable starting point. Refresh creative every 2-3 weeks.
Measuring Remarketing Performance
Key metrics: conversion rate (should be significantly higher than prospecting campaigns), cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, and view-through conversions (people who saw your ad but converted through a different channel). Attribution matters — remarketing assists conversions that other channels close. Use data-driven or position-based attribution models to properly credit remarketing’s contribution.
