Many digital marketers are still confused about “remarketing” and “retargeting.” Though they both have the same goals—re-engagement and conversion—the concepts differ mainly in execution and strategies. In this piece, we will differentiate each marketing technique and guide you through effective strategies to help you achieve your marketing goal.
Remarketing vs Retargeting: Key Differences
Remarketing refers to the strategy of re-engaging existing customers or previous website visitors by sending them target messages such as emails or specific ads; meanwhile, retargeting focuses on re-engaging users who have visited a website by placing a pixel or cookie on the user’s browser, which then triggers ads across various platforms.
Ultimately, digital marketers use remarketing and retargeting to convert to sales.
However, remarketing focuses on increasing customer retention and lifetime value by delivering personalised content to narrow their specific goals. Retargeting aims to encourage the user to complete the action on the website, either purchasing, signing up, etc.
Here is a comparative matrix highlighting the key differences between these two marketing techniques. Afterwards there is a brief discussion of the following comparative table.
| Key Aspect | Remarketing | Retargeting |
| Target Audience | Existing customers or previous website visitors | Potential customers who visited the website but did not convert |
| Implementation Tactics | Email campaigns, personalised ads based on customer data | Display ads, social media ads, and search ads using cookies/pixels |
| Technological Tools | CRM systems, email marketing tools | Tracking technologies like cookies, pixels, and ad networks |
| Campaign Objectives | Increase customer retention, loyalty, and lifetime value | Convert potential customers by bringing them back to the website |
| Message Personalisation | Highly personalised based on past behaviour and customer data | Moderately personalised based on website behaviour and interactions |
| Best Use Cases | Nurturing existing customers, promoting upselling or cross-selling | Recovering lost leads, increasing conversion rates |
Remarketing and retargeting are crucial digital marketing strategies, but they serve distinct purposes and employ different engagement methods.
Remarketing primarily involves re-engaging users who have already interacted with your brand. Email marketing, direct mail, or push notifications often achieve this.
The focus of remarketing is on nurturing relationships with existing customers or leads. By targeting users who have previously shown interest—such as past purchasers or email subscribers—remarketing aims to drive repeat business and foster customer loyalty.
The personalisation in remarketing is high, often including tailored offers or content based on the user’s previous interactions, such as sending a special discount to someone who abandoned their shopping cart. Remarketing effectively maintains ongoing relationships and encourages users to return to your brand.
On the other hand, retargeting users who have visited your website or app but did not complete a desired action, such as making a purchase. This strategy relies heavily on display ads, social media, or search ads to remind users of previous interactions.
The primary focus of retargeting is to convert these potential customers who have not yet completed their journey.
Retargeting ads are typically based on the specific pages or products users interacted with, aiming to draw them back to your site to complete their purchase. The timing of retargeting ads is crucial; they are often triggered shortly after the user’s visit to maximise the chances of re-engagement.
How Remarketing Works
To further understand how remarketing works, here is a step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Audience Identification and Segmentation
The first step in remarketing is identifying and segmenting your audience. It involves collecting data on users interacting with your brand, such as visiting your website, engaging with your content, or purchasing. After gathering this data, segment your audience into different groups depending on their behaviours.
Step 2: Campaign Creation and Personalisation
The next step in remarketing is to create personalised marketing campaigns. You must personalise the content based on the audience segment’s needs. You can also utilise these formats:
- Email Remarketing: Send customised emails with product recommendations, special promos, or reminders to complete a purchase.
- Display Ads: Create ads highlighting the products or services a user viewed, subliminally encouraging them to return and complete the purchase.
- Dynamic Content: Use tools that dynamically update the content of your ads and emails based on users’ previous actions on your site.
Step 3: Monitoring and Optimisation
Finally, you must track the performance of your remarketing campaigns and make adjustments or pivot as needed. You must track key metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS). You can optimise your campaigns by performing the following:
- A/B Testing: Experiment with key campaign elements such as visuals, ad copy, and CTAs.
- Adjusting Frequency: Test to discover the optimal frequency and time frame to display ads.
- Refining Segments: As you gather more data, refine your audience segments to target more effectively.
How Retargeting Works
Step 1: Tracking and Identifying Website Visitors
In retargeting, the first thing to do is to track and identify visitors who come to your website but leave without completing a desired action. You can track them by placing pixels or cookies on your websites. These tools track user’s behaviour, such as:
- Visited pages
- Viewed products
- Spent time on the site
Step 2: Creating Targeted Ad Campaigns
After identifying your target audience, you must create retargeting ads custom to the user’s behaviours. Your users can see these personalised ads across platforms like social media, search engines, and other websites they visit.
In creating retargeting ads, mind the following:
- Dynamic Ads: Create display ads showing the products or services the user viewed on your website.
- Ad Copy and Visual: Use compelling visuals and messages that remind users of their previous interests and encourage them to return and complete their purchase.
- Offers and Incentives: Include special offers, discounts, or limited-time deals to entice the users to return to your website.
Step 3: Monitoring and Optimising Campaign Performance
The final step in retargeting is to monitor the performance of your campaigns and continuously optimise them for better results. Track the following metrics as the basis of your success:
- Click-Through Rates (CTR)
- Conversion Rates
- Cost-Per-Conversion
5 Effective Strategies and Best Practices for Remarketing
Implementing these strategies and best practices in your remarketing efforts can significantly enhance your ability to re-engage past and existing customers, boost conversions, and increase customer loyalty.
1. Segmentation of Audiences
- Strategy: Group your audience into segments based on their behaviours, purchase history, or interactions with your brand. For example, you can create a segment for customers who have purchased within the last 30 days, another for those who abandoned their shopping carts, and another for those who have not interacted with your emails recently.
- Best Practice: Since you have created different segments for different customer behaviours, you can personalise the messaging and the offers you will send to each segment. For instance, send a personalised discount to cart abandoners or offer a loyalty reward to recent buyers to encourage repeat sales. Use CRM tools to track and manage these segments effectively.
2. Personalised and Dynamic Content
- Strategy: Personalisation is essential in remarketing, for it increases user engagement. With personalised content, your users will have a sense that your brand knows them well and cares enough about their preferences. You can use dynamic email content that changes based on the recipient’s name and past purchase behaviour.
- This effort allows you to offer product recommendations based on the user’s previous purchases or browsing history.
- Best Practice: Leverage data from your CRM and marketing automation platforms to deliver personalised messages. Ensure that the content reflects the user’s past interactions with your brand. You can mention specific products that they viewed or bought.
3. Timing and Frequency
- Strategy: In distributing remarketing messages, you aim to stay top-of-mind without being intrusive. Customers annoyed with your messages tend to mute you, unsubscribe to your newsletter, or block you altogether. Therefore, you must carefully manage the timing and frequency of your remarketing messages to avoid overwhelming your audience.
- Best Practice: You can implement frequency caps to limit how often users see your remarketing ads or receive emails. Moreover, consider the timing. You can send reminders soon after a customer has interacted with your brand or abandoned their cart, but not so quickly that it feels pushy. Remember, the key is to remarket proactively but gently or strategically.
4. A/B Testing and Optimisation
- Strategy: Like any other marketing effort, testing and optimising are essential to achieving the highest outcome. Therefore, you must regularly test different aspects of your remarketing campaign, like the subject lines, ad copy, images, and calls-to-action (CTA). A/B testing helps you know which campaign element works best for particular audience segments.
- Best Practice: You must continuously optimise based on the results of your A/B tests. For instance, if one version of an email outperforms the other regarding open click-through rate, you can use that insight to improve future campaigns. Always be keen about the data and learn how to make sense of the gathered data to make informed decisions. Remember to avoid creating campaigns out of sheer guesses.
5. Multi-Channel Remarketing
- Strategy: Expand your remarketing efforts across multiple channels, such as emails, social media, and paid ads. A multi-channel approach ensures your message reaches users whenever they are most active.
- Best Practice: Ensure consistent messaging across all channels or touchpoints. Formats may change, but the core message and branding must remain consistent.
5 Effective Strategies and Best Practices for Retargeting
By implementing these strategies and best practices, you can create more effective retargeting campaigns that bring users back to your site, enhance their overall experience with your brand, and drive better ROI.
1. Segment Your Retargeting Audiences
- Strategy: Just like with remarketing, you also need to break down your retargeting audience into smaller segments based on specific actions they did on your website. Depending on your marketing goals, you can segment them as follows:
- Those who visited a product page
- Those who added items to the cart
- Those spending a certain amount of time on the site
- Best Practices: Tailor your retargeting ads to match the intent of each audience segment. For instance, you can showcase the product left behind by users who abandoned their carts. You can add a reward like a discount or a freebie to attract that segment more. For those who just visited a product page, you can create ads that highlight the product’s key benefits and some customer reviews.
2. Use Dynamic Retargeting Ads
- Strategy: Implement dynamic retargeting ads that automatically update to show the exact products or services a user has previously viewed on your website. This personalisation increases relevance and engagement.
- Best Practices: Ensure your dynamic ads are visually appealing, have a compelling copy, and accurately reflect the products the user viewed. Use high-quality images, straightforward pricing, and enticing calls to action.
3. Set Up Frequency Caps
- Strategy: You must control how often you show your retargeting ads to your audience. Remember that an audience can experience fatigue and overwhelm when your ads are repetitive and numerous. Balance the frequency of your ads to avoid negative perceptions towards your brand.
- Best Practices: A general rule might be to show the ad three to five times a week. You must also figure out the optimum time frame for displaying your ads. Monitor engagement metrics to adjust the frequency, ensuring effectiveness without becoming intrusive.
4. Employ Cross-Channel Retargeting
TripAdvisor’s Retargeting ads on Facebook from ClairePells
- Strategy: Extend your retargeting efforts across different platforms, such as social media, search engines, and display networks, to reach your users wherever they are most active.
- Best Practices: Ensure your retargeting ads remain consistent on all channels. The formats and design may vary, but the core messaging and brand experience must stay the same.
For example, a user who visited your site might see a display ad on a news site, followed by a reminder ad on Facebook, increasing the chances of conversion.
5. Exclude Converted Users
- Strategy: Showing ads to users who have already completed the desired action can save your ad budget, but it may also annoy the customer.
- Best Practices: Use your tracking pixel or analytics tools to create a list of converted users and exclude them from your retargeting campaigns. Then, consider moving these users to a different segment for upselling or cross-selling, making the most of your retargeting budget.
Top 5 Tools for Remarketing and Retargeting
Now that you know how remarketing and retargeting work, plus the strategies and best practices you can employ to create effective campaigns, it’s time to learn about the tools that can help you streamline your campaigns. Below is a table of the top five tools you can use in remarketing and retargeting.
| Tool | Overview | Key Features | Best For | Pricing |
| Google Ads | A popular platform for remarketing and retargeting across Google’s ecosystem |
|
Broad audience targeting across multiple platforms | Pay-per-click (PPC) model, the average CPC varies by industry and keywords |
| Meta/Facebook Ads | Social media retargeting across Meta ecosystem such as Facebook and Instagram |
|
Leveraging social media for retargeting a highly engaged audience | Pay-per-Click (PPC) or Pay-per-Impression (CPM); costs depend on audience targeting |
| AdRoll | Comprehensive platform for cross-channel retargeting, including display, social, and email |
|
E-commerce businesses and multi-channel retargeting management | Monthly fee starts at USD 19 for self-service; additional costs for ads based on PPC or CPM |
| Criteo | Specialises in dynamic retargeting ads tailored to individual user behaviour |
|
E-commerce businesses focused on converting high-intent users | Custom pricing based on ad spend and performance metrics |
| HubSpot | Inbound marketing platform with CRM integration from email remarketing and retargeting |
|
All-in-one marketing, CRM, and retargeting capabilities | Subscription-based starts at USD 50 per month with higher plans offering more features |
Case Studies of Remarketing and Retargeting
In this section, you will learn how established brands utilise remarketing and retargeting. Here, you can learn how an international and a local/Singaporean brand re-engage their audience through the two marketing techniques.
For Remarketing
Brand 1: Airbnb
Image source: Airbnb Newsletter from Email Mastery
- Objective: Increase bookings by re-engaging users who had previously visited the site but still needed to complete a reservation.
- Strategy:
-
- Airbnb implemented a remarketing campaign using Google Ads to target users who had searched for accommodations but left the site without booking.
- They segmented their audience based on the type of accommodation and location searched by the user.
- They created dynamic remarketing ads, showing users personalised ads with the specific properties they had viewed and similar properties in the same area.
- Results: The campaign led to a significant increase in conversions. By targeting users with highly relevant ads, Airbnb saw a 300% increase in click-through rates (CTR) compared to their standard display ads. Remarketing was a key driver of incremental bookings, making it one of the most cost-effective strategies in their digital marketing mix.
Brand 2: Lazada Singapore
- Objective: Increase the conversion rate of users who visited Lazada’s online marketplace but did not complete their purchases.
- Strategy:
-
- Lazada implemented a Google Ads remarketing campaign to target users who added items to their cart or browsed specific product categories but still needed to complete the checkout process.
- The brand used dynamic remarketing ads to display personalised ads featuring the exact products users had viewed and similar items to entice them back to the site.
- To enhance the campaign further, Lazada offered limited-time discounts or free shipping for returning users, creating a sense of urgency.
- Results: The remarketing campaign resulted in a significant uplift in conversions, with a 40% increase in completed purchases from users who engaged with the remarketing ads. The strategy also contributed to the rise in the average order value, as users often returned to purchase additional items featured in the dynamic ads.
For Retargeting
Brand 1: Dollar Shave Club
Image source: RelevantlyMarketing
- Objective: Boost subscription sign-ups by retargeting potential customers who visited the site but still need to complete the sign-up process.
- Strategy:
-
- Dollar Shave Club used Facebook Ads to retarget visitors who had shown interest in their products but left the website without signing up for a subscription.
- They created personalised retargeting ads featuring the specific razors and grooming products users had viewed. These ads highlighted the benefits of their subscription service, such as convenience and cost savings.
- They also ran A/B tests to optimise the ad creatives, offers, and messaging, refining the retargeting ads based on performance.
- Results: The retargeting campaign was highly successful, driving a 50% increase in conversion rates for new subscriptions. The campaign also significantly decreased the cost per acquisition (CPA), making retargeting one of the most efficient tactics for growing their subscriber base.
Brand 2: RedMart
Image source: HashMeta
- Objective: Boost customer re-engagement and increase sales by targeting users who visited the RedMart website but have yet to purchase.
- Strategy:
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- RedMart, an online grocery retailer, used Facebook Ads to retarget visitors who had browsed products or categories without completing a purchase.
- The company created personalised retargeting ads that featured the specific products users had viewed, along with compelling messaging about the convenience of online grocery shopping and exclusive promotions.
- RedMart also utilised A/B testing to refine their ad creatives, adjusting images, copy, and call-to-actions to identify the most effective combinations for driving conversions.
- Results: The retargeting campaign led to a 30% increase in conversions and a noticeable reduction in cart abandonment rates. RedMart successfully re-engaged a significant portion of its website visitors, resulting in higher overall sales and improved customer retention.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between remarketing and retargeting?
Remarketing typically involves re-engaging customers through email marketing after interacting with your brand. Retargeting focuses on serving ads to users who have visited your website or app but have yet to complete a desired action.
Which is more effective: remarketing or retargeting?
Both are effective but serve different purposes. Remarketing is better for nurturing leads and maintaining relationships with existing customers, while retargeting excels at converting new visitors who initially needed to complete an action.
Can I use both remarketing and retargeting in the same campaign?
Yes, integrating both strategies in a campaign can maximise your reach. Use retargeting ads to bring users back to your site and remarketing emails to engage further and convert them.
How do remarketing and retargeting impact conversion rates?
Remarketing can boost repeat purchases and customer loyalty, while retargeting typically improves conversion rates by reminding potential customers to complete their purchases or sign up.
What are the best platforms for remarketing and retargeting?
Google Ads and Facebook Ads are the top platforms for both strategies. Google Ads excels in dynamic remarketing across its network, while Facebook Ads offers powerful retargeting options on social media.
