One of the most consistent observations in digital marketing is that most people who visit a website for the first time do not take the desired action on that visit. Retargeting is the advertising technique developed to address this — reaching people who have already shown interest in a business after they leave the website, to encourage them to return and convert.
Retargeting — also called remarketing — works by placing a tracking pixel on a website that records visitor actions and allows advertisers to serve targeted ads to those visitors on other platforms they subsequently use. Because retargeted audiences have already demonstrated interest in the business, they typically convert at a higher rate than cold audiences. Campaigns can be customised to show different messages to people who visited different pages or took different actions.
Retargeting is most effective when the follow-up message is relevant to the specific action the visitor took — an ad for a product someone viewed is more persuasive than a generic brand ad. It works best as a complement to other acquisition activity rather than a standalone channel. Our guide to retargeting for UK businesses covers how to set up and run campaigns that improve overall marketing efficiency.