Remarketing, also called retargeting, shows ads to people who have already visited your website or interacted with your business. Most visitors do not buy or enquire on their first visit, so remarketing brings them back at the moment they are more likely to act.
- Remarketing shows ads to people who already visited your site or engaged with your business.
- Segment audiences by behaviour, and exclude people who already converted.
- Use frequency limits and sensible time windows to avoid ad fatigue.
- Disclose remarketing in your privacy policy and follow platform rules.
How remarketing works
When someone visits your site, a tracking tag or a platform integration adds them to an audience list. You then run ads aimed only at that list, across Google Search and Display, YouTube, social platforms or other networks, depending on the campaign.
Because these people already know your business, remarketing often costs less per conversion than ads aimed at cold audiences. It works best alongside prospecting campaigns that bring new people in.
The main types of remarketing
Different campaigns suit different goals:
- Display remarketing: image or responsive ads shown to past visitors across websites and apps.
- Search remarketing: adjusting bids or ads for past visitors when they search again.
- Dynamic remarketing: ads that show the exact products or services a person viewed.
- Video remarketing: reaching people who watched your videos or visited your channel.
- Customer list remarketing: ads aimed at existing contacts, using a list you upload.
Building a remarketing strategy that works
Segment your audiences by what people did. Someone who abandoned a cart needs a different message from someone who read one blog post. Set a sensible time window so you stop showing ads long after interest has faded, and use frequency limits so people are not followed around the internet.
Exclude people who have already converted, or give them a different message, such as a repeat offer. Always measure remarketing separately so you can see its true contribution.
Privacy and consent
Remarketing relies on collecting data about website visitors, so your privacy policy should say so clearly and explain how people can opt out. Follow the rules of each ad platform and the Australian Privacy Act, and avoid building audiences from sensitive pages. If you are unsure, get specific legal advice.
Common mistakes
The most common problems are audiences that are too small or too broad, no conversion exclusions, one generic ad for everyone and no frequency control. Fixing these usually improves results without increasing spend.
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