What Are Retargeting Ads?

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Have you ever clicked on an ad for a pair of spray-on shoes that will make you run faster, checked out the website, and maybe even been tempted to click "add to cart" just to go back and keep doom scrolling through your feed? Maybe you got distracted or decided to sleep on it for a night before you made a purchase decision. For the marketer of that shoe, situations like this are exactly why retargeting exists.

Retargeting is a method by which marketers serve ads to prospective customers who have previously visited their site or engaged with their ads. Put simply, retargeting is an ad that reminds an audience that has already shown some level of interest in your products of all the benefits and value they missed out on by not making the purchase. Retargeting is the complement of prospecting in that they both are trying to convert new customers to a brand or service; however, prospecting is when marketers reach a broader audience who have never provided any intent signals such as a visit or engagement with an ad.

If you're wondering what retargeting ads are, this is where you need to be. We've made this entire article on retargeting to give you a better insight into this marketing strategy and help you decide whether it will help your advertising campaigns or not.

Retargeting Ads: An Explanation

Retargeting is a marketing technique that delivers advertisements to people who've shown previous interest in your brand either by visiting a page on your site or engaging with another ad campaign but haven't yet bought anything from your brand. These relevant ads can appear the next time they're on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or anywhere else where an ad impression can be served.

A real-life example of retargeting would be if a person viewed your website that sold plant seeds. Say they filled their basket and were about to click check-out but they changed their mind and instead left your website completely. Afterward, when they kept browsing the internet or doom scrolling through Instagram for other purposes, your advertisements would be displayed which would refresh their memory and drive them to action.

There are many types of retargeting ads but one of the most powerful is dynamic product ads. With dynamic product ads (DPAs) brands can feature the exact product that a site visitor was looking at to further personalize the retargeting ad and encourage incremental engagement and purchases. Platforms like Marpipe help you create dynamic product ads across all major advertising platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest.

How Does Retargeting Work?

Retargeting ads are typically made possible due to pixel based tracking, which is done through third-party cookies. You know those cookie pop-ups that display on your screen when you go onto a website - the ones you automatically click approve to get out of the way? Well, this approval is how marketers are able to obtain your browsing behavior (legally).

When a user clicks approve, this means they've legally allowed their information to be shared with services like Facebook Ads and Google Ads display network. So, whenever they use the internet next, your ads will be shown to them to make your website relevant to them and hopefully make them think twice about leaving your web pages.

When Is a Good Time for Companies to Use Retarget Ads?

Retargeting is such a popular digital marketing tactic that it tends to be a constant focus for marketers. Here are some of the ways that marketers leverage retargeting:

• You've released new products: If someone has already visited your site, that means they've been interested in one of your products. Whenever you've released a new product, these are the people who are most likely to buy it rather than someone who knows nothing about your brand.
• Someone who's filled a cart on your website: Anyone who's filled a shopping cart on your website has made it through the stages of your conversion journey. It's the highest level of interest before a sale, so retargeting them with advertisements featuring little discounts may encourage them to come back and make the transaction.
• When you've released a special offer: If you've got a sale on or are trying to promote a product, you can use retargeting ads to reach out to past users who've been on your website with offers that may entice them to click on your website again and buy something.
• Keeping your brand relevant: Someone will only be interested in your product for so long before they either buy it from another brand or focus their interest elsewhere, so you only have a certain period of time to convert someone. Retargeting helps you keep your brand relevant to those already familiar with your brand and spurs them on to make a purchase before it's too late.

The Difference Between an Ad Retargeting and Remarketing Campaign

It's easy to confuse both retargeting and remarketing because they both sound similar, their delivery via advertising platforms is similar, and because many marketers use the two terms interchangeably as well. But there are key differences you should be familiar with.

At Marpipe, we define retargeting as a marketing tactic to re-engage a prospective customer who has shown some interest in your brand but has yet to purchase from your brand before. Since you don't have any personal identifier such as an email address, retargeting is reserved for paid channels that can understand ad and visit behavior by leveraging cookies.

Remarketing is a broader concept used by marketers that could be used for prospective customers as well as existing customers alike. Let's say you release a new line of products, e.g. the plant seed company from before now wants to sell flower pots, and want to re-engage previous customers to raise awareness of this new offering. Now you can leverage paid channels as well as email or direct mail to re-market your product to existing customers.

A simple way to summarize the difference between retargeting and remarketing is that they both leverage re-engagement tactics but the former is for prospective customers and the latter for existing customers.

Types of Retargeting Campaigns

You'll come across three major types of retargeting campaigns that try to regain interest from potential customers. These include:

Search Network Retargeting

First up, we've got search network retargeting ads, which are shown to people according to certain keywords they've looked up in the past. After someone has typed one of the keywords that relate to your product, they'll start to be hit with retargeting ads from you across their web pages.

General Website Retargeting

General Website Retargeting is the main retargeting method we've discussed throughout this article. With this method, people receive your retargeting ads based on their past interactions with your website.

When we say interaction, it doesn't necessarily mean buying a product or service; it could be only a matter of a person viewing your catalog or filling a cart up but changing their mind at the last minute.

Dynamic Product Ads for Retargeting

Dynamic product ads are a powerful ad format that allows brands to show individual products from their catalog within the ad itself. Depending on your campaign goals, dynamic product ads can be used for both prospecting and retargeting alike but are highly effective at driving incremental purchases as they personalize the ad creative much more. With Marpipe, you can create 100s of ad variations with just a few clicks inside our creative builder to further enrich your product catalog ads.

Benefits of Retargeting Ads

Retargeting individuals who leave your site offers clear benefits; find some of them outlined below:

Better Chance of Increasing Your Conversions and Return on Investment (ROI)

Because your ads are aimed at individuals who are already familiar with your brand, you have a higher likelihood of converting them compared to those who are not, which gives you a higher chance of increasing your return on investment (ROI).

They Boost Your Brand’s Visibility Through the Best Practices

Any type of advertisement spears brand awareness, but retargeted ads go the extra mile as your company remains relevant to people who know who you are. As long as your brand is always in their minds, there's a possible chance that they'll return to your site and become a returning customer.

You Can Use Retargeting to Build up a List of Loyal Customers

Chasing one-time conversions here and there isn't sustainable long-term, but with retargeting, you've got an opportunity to retain customers and keep them coming back for more. Whenever you hold a sale or a product promotion, they'll be easier to hit with ads than people who don't know about your brand or what it represents.

Start to Leverage Retargeting Display Ads to Your Target Audience!

Make the most of the potential customers who've visited your website before with targeted retargeting ads. This type of advertising will give you the highest possible chance of converting this section of your base rather than focusing your attention on people who are unlikely to buy anything.