Retargeting

How Does Retargeting Work in Practice?

Most website visitors do not buy on the first visit — in e-commerce, the average conversion rate is 2–3%. Retargeting brings back the remaining 97% by reaching them on other websites or in social media feeds with relevant ads. That makes retargeting campaigns the most efficient in all of online marketing, because they only target users who have already shown interest.

Retargeting works through tracking pixels (e.g., Meta Pixel, Google Ads Tag) embedded on the website. When a user visits the page, a cookie or ID is set. If the user leaves the page without converting, they can subsequently be reached on other platforms with targeted ads. Remarketing is often used synonymously — Google uses the term remarketing, while Meta and the industry tend to speak of retargeting. Technically, the mechanism is identical.

For campaign management, segmentation is crucial: cart abandoners receive different ads than users who only visited the homepage. Frequency capping limits how often a user sees the ad — too much retargeting feels intrusive. Time windows matter: for impulse purchases, 7 days may suffice; for B2B decisions, 30–90 days can make sense. The combination with lookalike audiences extends reach to users with a similar profile.