Retargeting marketing? What is it all about?
Imagine you are daydreaming about going on holiday.
Technology is so beautiful. It’s easy to take a quick break and surf over to a vacation planning site.
Check out promotions or discounts for trips during your vacation days.
You are JUST LOOKING, right?
You end up not buying and continue daydreaming at work. Later on, when you get home and log into Facebook, Boom!
There you see Ads from the sites you visited earlier on.
Reminding you of the pages you visited and encouraging you to take action.
That is Retargeting Marketing in action!
Retargeting marketing is a subsection of remarketing. Despite all the efforts you’ve put into launching your online business, you have a few seconds to convince and convert your visitors into customers.
The average conversion rate is about 4%. Meaning 96% of visitors leave the average website without buying or converting to customers.
It’s sad, but it’s the truth.
That’s why business owners, with the help of digital marketers, are striving to drive more traffic to websites.
However, you cant focus only on building traffic.
And miss out on opportunities to convert the existing traffic into valuable sales.
This is where retargeting marketing comes into play.
#Retargeting can boost Ads response up to 400 times. #Digitalmarketing #Inboundmarketing Click To Tweet
Like the example above, retargeting marketing is a technology that uses a code to anonymously “follow” your audience all over the Web. This code, or pixel, is invisible on your site and pixels all of your visitors ( if correctly installed)
For instance, when a visitor leaves your site without buying, you can reconnect with them.
Or retarget them by showing relevant ads (related to what they were checking on your site) while they are;
- Browsing the Internet,
- On Facebook,
- Using mobile apps,
- On YouTube,
- On Pinterest,
- Or searching on Google.
Today, these platforms provide high-tech retargeting marketing solutions. They allow you to show specific ads to previous visitors, including highly-targeted ads for those who have visited specific cart pages on your website.
There are two types of retargeting marketing.
A. Onsite Retargeting Marketing
Onsite retargeting focuses on the behavior of the visitors on your site. The focus is on their behavior.
If it indicates they are ready, there’ll be some additional messages;(usually, if they read to a particular section of the page) will be, typically, in a popup overlay displayed to them.
The goal of onsite retargeting is to convert visitors who are trying to leave your website.
Providing them with additional incentives to sign up or complete their purchase – right before they exit your site.
This type of retargeting marketing strategy can either be:
1. Click-based: By using this approach, you can monitor a visitor and display a pop up when triggered by clicks on specific parts of the page.

2. Timed-based: This is triggered when a visitor spends significant time on your page. Or is inactive for a while. It helps to re-engage the visitors with your content.
3. Scroll-based: There are many tools available like Hotjar, for example, that assist in monitoring how far a visitor has scrolled down a page. A trigger popup will appear to grab the attention of an active visitor without disturbing them on your site.
B. Offsite Retargeting Marketing
This, on the other hand, targets individuals who have not been on your site.
It focuses on people with similar traits to your previous customers.
This is an opportunity to get them to your site through your existing sales funnel.
You achieve that by:
- Targeting these individuals who search or interact with similar web pages like your customers.
- Targeting based on interactions with distributed content (i.e., a Facebook page or an app) or with a competitor site.
#FacebookAds increases engagement when added to your #retargeting campaign. #digitalmarketing Click To Tweet
Why Do You Need Retargeting Marketing?
1. Cost-Effective
Off-site retargeting marketing takes place when the visitors leave your site and are browsing the net. It is a cost-effective way to spend your advertising budget. It focuses your Ads on those who are familiar with your brand or have recently shown an interest in it.
That’s why most digital marketers experience a higher ROI from it than from other digital channels.
2. Track The Behaviour Of Your Visitors
Onsite retargeting helps to track the behavior of your visitors and detects when they are about to exit your site without converting (buying, subscribing, or taking the desired action.)
Or
If their behavior indicates, they might need some additional content.
3. Brand Awareness
Studies prove that it takes about seven impressions from your brand for a customer to build loyalty and trust and further take action.
By using retargeting marketing strategies, you can reduce the time it takes for your prospects to build brand awareness and make a buying decision.
Even if they do not convert or buy, it helps to increase your brand awareness in your visitor’s minds during the buyer’s journey until they decide to become paying customers. Brand awareness is huge for every business growth, and retargeting marketing offers benefits in this area.
4. Increases Conversion
Onsite retargeting marketing can be used together with your traditional remarketing strategy to generate more leads and sales.
A high percentage (Up to 25% ) of retargeted visitors will respond to your message and convert. Some may buy immediately, while others may sign up for your mailing list – and later convert into paying customers.
Scenario:
A visitor who signs up via one of your onsite retargeting marketing ads has a higher chance of returning to your site later on.
But.
If 98% of your traffic were interested enough in visiting your website, it means they’ll likely buy in the future.
Retargeting them with your offers until they buy will be a smart move.
Always consider where each of your visitors is on the buyer’s journey. According to Hubspot, only 4% of your visitors are ready to convert
The other 96% of your traffic isn’t willing to become customers yet.
If your retargeting marketing goal is to get people to buy your stuff or to convert them to paying clients (meaning they are already at the end of your funnel ) you’re probably going to have very little success.
Sure, you might convert about 1% of your traffic, but your message is wrong for the rest of your audience, who are still either in the awareness or consideration stage.
That explains why most of your website visitors are not converting the first time they visit your site. This is because they are probably not ready to buy—no matter how many retargeting marketing ads you put in front of them.
To set up a proper retargeting marketing strategy, stop thinking of retargeting as a follow up to your original advertising message.
Focus more on where your customers are in the buyer’s journey and provide assistance to move them to the next level.
I hope this explains any questions you have about implementing retargeting marketing as a strategy to win more clients.
Are you ready to give it a try? Book A Free Strategy Call.

Wow there is so much behind the scenes that happens when it comes to online marketing and sales. Your post has been very informative. Good read.
That’s right Viveena. There is a lot going on “behind the scenes” in every online marketing success.
iIt’s quite daunting to see that the internet knows all your moves, which sites you have visited etc. Although it’s good for business for marketing purposes it is quite scary that your every search is being monitored and made note of.
I know it can be scary for the consumers. But as a consumer, I like it when I get the reminder especially if it a product or service that I like and want.
this is all so interesting – obviously it happens to me all the time & always wondered how it happened & what it was called – i swear half the time Facebook knows what i’m thinking & ads show up that i don’t even remember ever clicking on?!
Yeah, It happens to me all the time too. Facebook is an excellent example of how most marketer use retargeting to boost sales.
This is really insightful! I am in the process of building of own market place and this will really help to capture customers and also retain them! Love it!
Goodluck in the process. Don’t hesitate to reach out in case you need help.
You are so right! When I first have a thought or idea about something I want, I rarely act right away. It’s usually later after I’ve thought on it and see something that reminds me of it. That’s when I pull the trigger. Capitalizing on this is pure genius
Aha! Now I know why I see ads right after I search for something online. Very smart strategy! Thank you for explaining it! I don’t sell anything at the moment but can definitely see how it would be helpful for a future online boutique!
I can definitely see why this is important! It is kind of amusing even when I search for something and then my ads are all about it. Happened to me once when I searched for flights to Fiji just to know the price. XDD
Great blog post. Goes to show the complexities involved in online marketing. I have a question though, if someone landed on a site and didn’t take action, could it be seen as loosing ad dollars by re-targeting them if they see an ad a second time and didn’t click through? Whats your take on this?
No and Yes depending on what campaigns you are currently running. If you read till the end of the article I did state that you should reconsider what stage your visitors are on the Buyers Journey. Some times retargeting them to take “action” does not necessarily mean Buy or Convert. It could also be a brand awareness campaign in case they are new to your brand.
I prefer ads that are catered to my interests. However, sometimes retargeting marketing freaks me out because I forgot what I searched for and think my computer is reading my mind lol!
I’m new to the digital world and blogging! Reading your article clarified some questions I had and I can be more strategic! Thank you!
Brand awareness is always majorly important. I like too that affordability has been put into the mix!
Wow! I have learned a lot in this. I would love to read more on your site. Thanks for sharing.
I so needed this post. I am in the middle of a rebrand and all of this is wonderful information. Thanks for alll the GREAT tips
Such a helpful post! So many people can benefit from reading this, will definitely share!
I’ve used Google’s AdWords before for retargeting. It was so great to give it a try.
This is a really great article. It amazes me how marketing can be so widespread on the internet. I need to read more on this subject!
I had no idea there was so much to online marketing! I don’t sell anything on my website but I still want my readers to come back and visit again 🙂
Wow! This is a real informational post.
This is very helpful. Sometimes we keep on doing things yet there are no returns, some of the possible reasons may be because of this. Will try to apply some on our business and keep you posted. thanks!
Very resourceful and helpful article. I’m terrible at marketing my services and this is going to be of great help to me.
I found this really helpful , learnt so many thing about marketing which I din’t knew. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
This is a great read especially when you’re feeling a bit lost on all the marketing ideas or if you’re in short of them. Retargeting will be a slow process but a more refined approach.
Helpful tips. Thanks!
Retargeting the target: remarketing the marketing . This is what we often overlook. Surely I would like to implement on my websites.
I like your post, its really mind-blowing
I felt glad while perusing this site. This was actually quite an educational site for me. I truly loved it. This was actually a heartfelt post. You rock!.