Remarketing is like having a friendly store clerk follow up with customers who left without buying.
Except instead of being creepy, it’s incredibly effective.
What Is Remarketing?
Remarketing shows ads to people who already visited your website but didn’t take action.
Think of it as a gentle tap on the shoulder saying “Hey, remember us? You were interested in this…”
The Numbers: 96% of visitors leave your website without buying. Remarketing helps you win back that 96%.
How Remarketing Actually Works
Step 1:Visitor comes to your website
Step 2:A small piece of code (pixel) tags their browser
Step 3:They leave your site and browse other websites
Step 4:Your ads appear on those other websites
Step 5: They remember you and come back to complete their purchase
Real-Life Analogy
Imagine you walk into a bookstore, browse for 10 minutes, then leave empty-handed.
Later that day, you see a billboard for that exact bookstore with a 20% off coupon.
That’s remarketing in the physical world.
Types of Remarketing Audiences
Website Visitors: Anyone who came to your site or you can even define rules, like “people who visited pageA of my website, stayed there for at least 90 seconds and watched the third video on this page” – they should only be targeted via my remarketing ads.
Page-Specific:People who visited specific pages (like pricing, like product details, like About us, etc )
Cart Abandoners:Added items to the card, but did not checkout
Past Customers:People who already bought, might buy again
Video Watchers:People who watched your videos , either on Facebook , Linkedin , Youtube, etc – AND watched at least 50% of more of the video
App Users: People who downloaded my App , but not upgraded to premium , paid plan
Essentially, there are many ways in you can define your remarketing audiences, through various criteria and you may want to run different types of remarketing campaigns to different audiences. For example, people who added products to the card but did not checkout, could be shown an add that offers a time limited discount coupon
Platform-Specific Examples
Google Remarketing:Someone searches “running shoes” → visits your site → now they start to your shoe ads on other websites and in between Youtube videos
Facebook Remarketing:Person visits your website and checks out your online course → Now when they open Facebook , they see the ad of that exact onine coutse he saw on the website
LinkedIn Remarketing: B2B prospect downloads your eBook by clicking a link → Now they sees case study ads on LinkedIn with a call to action to book a demo call.
Remarketing Campaign Ideas That Work
E-commerce Store: • Cart abandoners: Show exact products they left behind + discount • Product viewers: Display customer reviews and social proof • Past buyers: Cross-sell complementary products
Service Business: • Pricing page visitors: Show client testimonials and case studies • Blog readers: Offer free consultation or guide download • Contact page visitors: Display limited-time offers
Software Company: • Free trial users: Show upgrade benefits and success stories • Feature page visitors: Demo videos and user testimonials • Pricing visitors: Customer ROI case studies
Don’t irritate your customers by bombarding them with Remarketin Ads – Instead use some of these smart remarketing strategies
Frequency Capping:Don’t show same ad 20 times per day (annoying!)
Sequential Messaging:Tell a story across multiple ad touchpoints
Dynamic Ads: Show exact products they viewed to make advertising highly personalized
How to know if your remarketing ads are doing well ? Success metrics ?
✓ Click-through Rate: Higher than regular display ads (typically 2-3x). If more people are clicking on your ads, means you are reaching the right audience with the right product
✓Conversion Rate: Often 5-10x higher than cold traffic . Of course, if more people end up buying, then it is doing well
✓ Cost Per Acquisition: Usually 50-70% lower . Because these are people who have previously expresses some level of interest in your products / company ( as defined by your criteria/rules of creating remarketing audiences ) – they should be easier to convert and hence cost per customer acquisition should be lower than what you would pay for a totally cold audience
✓ Return on Ad Spend:Often 300-500% or higher. Lower cost per customer acquition can translate into higher Return on Ad Spend.
Example Success Story
Online Furniture Store:
• Remarketed to cart abandoners with 10% discount
• Showed product reviews to browsers who didn’t buy
• Result: 35% increase in conversions, 40% lower cost per sale
Key Learnings
✓ Most sales happen after multiple touchpoints, not the first visit – VERY IMP
✓ Personalized remarketing outperforms generic ads by 5-8x
✓ Timing matters – reach people when they’re still interested
✓ Different audiences need different messages and offers
Common Remarketing Mistakes
❌ Using the same ad for all different remarketing audience
❌ Remarketing immediately after first visit (give them time to think)
❌ Not excluding converters from campaigns
❌ Showing irrelevant products to past customers
The Bottom Line
Remarketing turns your biggest cost (website traffic) into your biggest asset.
Instead of letting 96% of visitors disappear forever, you get multiple chances to convert them.
It’s not about being pushy – it’s about being helpful at the right moment.
