What is retargeting and how does it work?

Retargeting is advertising shown specifically to people who already visited a website or app but didn’t complete a desired action, using a tracking pixel placed on the site that adds visitors to a custom audience list the advertiser can then target with follow-up ads across the web or social media. Because retargeted visitors have already shown interest by visiting the site, retargeting can perform well because it reaches people who have already shown interest, although results vary than cold ads shown to people with no prior interaction, since the audience is already partway through the consideration process rather than being introduced to the brand for the first time.

Most retargeting platforms allow segmentation based on specific behaviour, such as showing one ad to someone who viewed a product page but didn’t add it to cart, and a different ad (perhaps with a stronger offer or urgency) to someone who added an item to cart but abandoned checkout, since these represent different stages of purchase intent.

Retargeting does have a practical limit called ‘frequency capping,’ since showing the same ad too many times to the same person tends to produce diminishing returns or even brand fatigue, so most campaigns cap how often an individual sees a retargeted ad within a given period.