Retargeting (Retargeting (Remarketing))
Retargeting shows ads to people who already interacted with your brand — site visitors, product viewers, cart abandoners — to bring them back.
Retargeting (also called remarketing) serves ads to warm audiences: people who visited your website, engaged with your content, watched a video, or started but didn't complete a purchase. Because these users already know your brand, retargeting ads convert at significantly higher rates than cold prospecting ads.
Common retargeting segments include site visitors (last 30 days), product viewers, cart abandoners, past purchasers (for upsells) and video viewers (50%+ watch time). Each segment receives tailored messaging — a cart abandoner sees the exact product they left behind, while a video viewer sees a deeper-funnel pitch.
Retargeting budgets are typically 10–20% of total ad spend. The audience is small but high-intent, so CPAs are usually 2–5× lower than prospecting. The main risk is over-frequency — keep frequency caps tight to avoid annoying warm leads.
Related terms
Targeting
Targeting is the process of defining which users see your ads, based on demographics, interests, behaviours or custom data.
Lookalike Audience
A lookalike audience is a targeting option that finds new users who resemble your existing customers, based on platform data signals.
Ad Frequency
Ad frequency is the average number of times a single user sees your ad within a given time period.
Attribution Window
An attribution window is the period after an ad interaction during which a conversion is credited to that ad — e.g. 7-day click.