Retargeting: Sticking With What You Know

January 11,2019


Not using retargeting? You could be wasting precious ad spend.


Retargeting is an ingenious process that allows advertisers to create a more persistently memorable and powerfully effectual message, spreading it across the countless websites composing the internet. Taking the age-old adage "out of sight, out of mind" to heart, rather than let your brand message be forgotten as soon as a potential buyer leaves your brand's website, we can use retargeting to reach out across numerous channels, strategically positioning advertisements in front of the visitors of your website who completed an action during their visit, such as completing a sale, signing up for a newsletter, watching a video, or even simply visiting any page on your site.

So what’s the point of retargeting?

Not only does this process inherently place your message in front of people already at least mildly aware of your brand, but also allows us to create a specific tone and verbiage perfectly aligned with the action the visitor previously completed on your site. For example, if a visitor placed a product in their shopping cart but stopped their checkout process at the Shipping Method step, creating a retargeting ad with a coupon code for free shipping provides corrective action for a potential catch point and invites the user back to the site, all while delivering the brand message only where and when it's most effective. Another clever use of retargeting ads is promoting accessory and complementary products that can accompany a previously purchased product, effortlessly redirecting people from the bottom of the funnel to the top and driving the cyclic movement of the ideal conversion cycle.

You can simply set a "Come Back In" ad to show to the past visitors of any page or you can target only visitors who spent more than 5 minutes looking at three different pages, played more than half of a video, and placed an item in their shopping cart—it's very easy to be as broad or as detailed with your messaging and targeting as you desire. In combination with limitations such as frequency capping and topic placement targeting, we make every last penny work as hard as it can to get as many leads for you as possible.

But how exactly does retargeting work?

When a visitor first completes an action on your advertiser's site, such as visiting or making a purchase, a unique cookie is placed into their browser and the information associated with the cookie is recorded into a "retargeting List". It's important to note that retargeting doesn't capture sensitive information (such as your name, email, or IP address) and removes you from any retargeting Lists when you clear the cookies in your browser. When the user leaves and visits another site using the same advertising channel, then the channel will recognize the cookie placed by your site on the visitor's browser and display relevant retargeting ads. Easy-peasy. 

Many different digital marketing channels offer their own form of retargeting and each comes with its own set of benefits.

  • Google Ads & Analytics

    Google Ads is a leading choice for as a retargeting channel: Google displays advertisements on a huge network of websites and services such as Google search results, Gmail, YouTube, mobile phone apps, and over 92% of all other websites on the internet, giving a huge potential reach even when using only modest funds. By using Google Analytics to create and maintain your retargeting list, we transfer the entire list to Google Ads directly and keep it automatically updated continuously for real-time messaging and expedited results.
  • The Facebook Pixel

    Facebook Pixel is also a top contender in the retargeting world thanks to its seamless integration with your website and your brand's Facebook accounts. Easily created from the Facebook Ads menu and added to your site either manually or using Google Tag Manager, the Facebook Pixel is a small piece of code that enables the application and tracking of a unique cookie across Facebook and Instagram. This allows your message to go places where even Google can't reach, delivering an individualized message that can go hand-in-hand not only with your existing Facebook branding strategy, but also alongside other retargeting campaigns for a wide-reaching and universal message that is far more actionable than the average advertisement.


Because retargeting displays personalized and highly relevant advertisements that run in parallel with visitors' intent, complementing it rather than mirroring it, retargeting has a much higher conversion rate and ROI, showing hefty increases in conversion rate while also dropping cost per click for a double-whammy influx in ROI—something we're always happy about! Moreover, it's no surprise since retargeting inherently utilizes every aspect of a successful ad campaign to inject your message into the internet's advertising atmosphere with maximum efficacy.


Want to know if retargeting is right for you and your website? We, the digital marketing specialists behind AppSoft Development, are always happy to help! Contact us at 800-736-9112 to chat about your brand’s current performance and how retargeting can take it to the next level.

Want to work with us?

Contact us and get an accurate quote for your project.

More than 700 completed projects in 10 years.