What is Retargeting?
Showing ads to people who have already visited your site, added to cart, or engaged with your content. Retargeting audiences convert 3-10x better than cold prospecting audiences.
Retargeting audience segments
Not all retargeting audiences are equal. Segment by intent level: cart abandoners (highest intent, 3-10x conversion rate vs. cold), product page viewers (medium intent), homepage visitors (low intent), and social engagers (variable intent). Each segment deserves different creative and different bid levels. Cart abandoners get urgency messaging and product-specific creative. Homepage visitors get brand introduction and social proof. Treating all retargeting the same wastes budget on low-intent visitors.
Retargeting windows
The optimal retargeting window depends on your purchase cycle. Impulse purchases ($10-30): 1-7 day window. Considered purchases ($50-150): 7-14 day window. High-consideration ($200+): 14-30 day window. Beyond your window, the visitor has likely moved on. Exclude purchasers from retargeting (they already bought). Exclude visitors who bounced in under 5 seconds (they were not interested). These exclusions can cut retargeting spend by 20-30% while improving ROAS.
Dynamic vs. static retargeting
Dynamic retargeting shows the exact products a visitor viewed or added to cart. Static retargeting shows generic brand creative. Dynamic outperforms static by 2-3x for ecommerce because it recreates the specific purchase intent. Meta and Google both support dynamic product ads from your catalog feed. For brands with 50+ products, dynamic retargeting is essential. For brands with fewer than 10 products, static retargeting with strong creative works well.