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The Power of Retargeting: How it Works and Why You Need it

Ad Retargeting is a form of advertising that focuses on customers who have interacted with your website, read your content, or expressed interest in your products. It aims to attract these users back to your website for conversion, increase brand recall, and re-engage these visitors.

Sweta Khot
Sweta KhotWriter at iTechNotion
03 Jul 2023 3 min read
The Power of Retargeting: How it Works and Why You Need it

What is Ad Retargeting?

Retargeting primarily uses paid ads to target audiences who have visited your website or social media profiles. It allows you to reach those customers again who have previously visited the website but left without completing any transaction and entices them to visit you and complete the purchase.

Difference between Retargeting and Remarketing

Retargeting is placing tailored ads on other websites or Google networks to target people who have visited your website but did not complete the actions you wanted them to by tagging them through cookies.

Remarketing basically means re-engaging customers with emails. It means more like cross-selling email, cart abandoned mail, etc.

Why Choose Retargeting Ads?

Retargeting builds visibility for your brand, allowing you to reach an audience that has already expressed interest in your products. With a retargeting campaign, you are aiming to be the first brand on the customer’s mind when they are finally ready to shop and spend money. Plus, it's a lot more cost-effective than other types of advertising.

Advantages of Retargeting Ads

  • Increased Conversion Rates
  • Enhanced Brand Recall
  • Improved Ad Performance Tracking
  • Increased Ad Reach and Frequency
  • Retains Existing Customers

Types of Retargeting Ads

There are two main types of retargeting:

  • Pixel Based Retargeting
  • List Based Retargeting

Pixel-Based Retargeting

Pixel Based Retargeting is when someone visits your website, javascript code (a pixel) is incorporated into the page, which causes a pixel to be deposited on the visitor's browser and causes the browser to become 'cookie-d.' That cookie alerts retargeting services to offer tailored adverts depending on the particular pages the visitor previously viewed on your website when they leave your site to browse the internet.

Example of Retargeting Ad

How to Retarget Website Visitors

  • Facebook pixel tracking code to retarget people on Facebook, Instagram and many mobile apps.
  • Adroll tracking code to retarget people on thousands of non-social media websites (such as Forbes, Yahoo, MSN, etc).
  • LinkedIn tracking code to retarget people on LinkedIn.
  • Google tracking code to retarget people on YouTube, Google and other Google properties.

List-Based Retargeting

List-based Retargeting works when you have someone's contact details in your database. By uploading a list of email addresses to a retargeting campaign, typically on platforms like Facebook or Twitter, you can specifically target users who have those addresses within that network. The platform will then display retargeting ads exclusively to those users based on the uploaded list.

Third Party Retargeting Tools

Using third-party solutions is not mandatory since social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide their own native tools for retargeting. However, third-party solutions can offer additional benefits such as expanded targeting options, advanced features, and access to larger ad networks and platforms. The decision to use third-party tools depends on factors such as specific advertising goals and requirements. Below are some of tools used for retargeting:

  • SharpSpring Ads
  • Retargeter
  • Criteo
Sweta Khot
Written by

Sweta Khot

Writer & AI practitioner at iTechNotion. Helps founders and ops leaders cut through the hype and ship working agents.

All articles by Sweta Khot
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