Remarketing / Retargeting: Definition & Example

What is remarketing?

Remarketing, often used interchangeably with the term retargeting, refers to the process of displaying ads again to someone who has already visited a website but did not complete the desired action.

Either they viewed a product but didn’t buy it, or they looked at a service page but didn’t submit an inquiry. They are then targeted again with a relevant ad on other websites or on social media.

With traditional website-based retargeting, consent is generally required so that the visitor can be recognized later.

Do you sometimes find yourself followed by an image of a product across the web? If so, you’ve likely been the target of retargeting at some point.

Where did retargeting originate?

Retargeting evolved in the late 2000s and 2010s, when cookies made it possible to recognize website visitors and target them more effectively. It quickly became an important form of digital advertising, as it allowed marketers to reach people who had already shown interest. With stricter data protection regulations and increasing browser-based tracking restrictions, remarketing has become more difficult. However, the basic principle remains significant.

Why is remarketing important?

Not everyone who sees a product for the first time buys it right away. Some do their research, some compare options, and others postpone their decision and never return.

Remarketing capitalizes on this interest before that initial contact fades away. By targeting people who have already shown interest, you can run more effective—and more cost-efficient—ad campaigns than if you were targeting complete strangers.

Advantages

Remarketing targets people who are already interested and can therefore be more effective and cost-efficient than advertising to strangers.
It can reignite lost interest.
Retargeting keeps a company top of mind during longer decision-making phases.
It can also be targeted—for example, only toward people who have viewed a specific page but haven’t completed the desired action.

Challenges

In traditional website-based retargeting, remarketing generally requires that visitors have consented to being tracked, which is not always the case. If a prospect is bombarded with ads too frequently or for too long, they can quickly be perceived as intrusive and annoy the potential customer. There is also the risk of targeting people who have already made a purchase or submitted an inquiry, which wastes budget.

Example

A prospective customer visits the website of an industrial compressor supplier and looks at a specific model. Shortly afterward, they leave without submitting an inquiry.

In the days that follow, they encounter a subtle ad from this supplier on a trade portal, which reminds them of the model and its benefits.

Now that his company is entering the decision-making phase, the supplier has remained in his memory thanks to its repeated presence. There is a chance that an inquiry will now be submitted that did not occur during the first visit.