Running a retargeting ads campaign can dramatically increase conversion rates and your return on investment (ROI). This is because it gets visitors who already have been to your website to return. Retargeting ads, also referred to as re-marketing, keeps your brand in the forefront of interested consumers, enticing them to come back for more.
When done correctly, running retargeting ads is a powerful marketing tool. To help you run the best retargeting campaign, here are some of our best practices.
Frequency Caps
Just because someone visits your site once or twice, it doesn’t mean they want to see a barrage of your ads everywhere they go online. It’s important to avoid overexposure as this can cause ad fatigue. When this happens, people may ignore your ads, or worse, begin to have a negative association with your brand.
To avoid this issue, you should set a frequency cap. This will limit the number of times a person in your target audience will see your ads. Remember, not everyone in your target audience will be in the same place in their purchase journey so it is key that you be strategic with how and when you serve your ads. A good general best practice would be to run 17 to 20 ads per user per month, though each retargeting ads campaign and brand is unique. 
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Audience Segmentation
Using audience segmentation helps you tailor your retargeting ads campaign messages to users who are in different stages of the purchase funnel. To do this, simply place different retargeting pixels on different pages of your site. This allows you to retarget visitors by showing them the products they viewed or related products. Further, audience segmentation allows you to target visitors by how much time they spend on your site (behavior) and how long it has been since they last visited your site (time).
Use Burn Code
When targeting those who have not yet made a conversion, you don’t want to show ads to those who have already converted. Nothing is worse than seeing ads for something you have already purchased. To exclude converted users from this target audience, simply insert a “burn pixel” on your thank you page to untag visitors who have made a purchase.
But also don’t forget to cross-sell or upsell. This is when you use a retargeting campaign to introduce converted visitors to other products they might be interested in based on what they previously bought.
Setting View-Through Conversion Windows
Remember, not all online advertising will drive clicks, but that doesn’t mean your ads aren’t having a positive effect. Just seeing a retargeting ad can increase brand awareness and recall, even leading to later purchases. View-through conversions measure the time it takes a person from seeing one of your retargeting ads to making a purchase, giving you richer ad performance data. The standard window setting is 30 days, so start there and then adjust as needed.
A Few Other Tips
- Fine tune your targeting with setting demographic, geographic and contextual targeting variables. Don’t waste your valuable impressions on people who actually aren’t relevant to your campaign.
- Much like basic targeting campaigns, remember to also A/B test your retargeting campaigns to make sure you are using the best performing version of your ad.
- Same as with basic ad campaigns, rotate your ads to avoid ad fatigue.
Conclusion
When done right, running retargeting ads is a powerful tool in your advertising toolbelt. Remarketing campaigns can boost sales, increase brand recall and even encourage converted users to make additional purchases.