What is Remarketing and How Does it Work?

What is Remarketing and How Does it Work?

Remarketing is the art and science of bringing back people who already showed interest in your brand. Someone visits your site, views a product, maybe even loads up a cart, then leaves. That attention is valuable. Remarketing keeps the conversation going with tailored ads or emails that speak to what they saw, what they did, and what they might do next.

It works because intent is already there. You are not shouting into the void. You are tapping on the shoulder of someone who recognised your offer and just needs a timely nudge.

What is Remarketing

Remarketing, sometimes called retargeting, is a set of tactics that show ads or send messages to past visitors or customers. The audience is built from real behaviour. Think of it as repeat marketing that is both selective and personal.

• A visitor reads your pricing page and leaves. You later show them a search ad when they Google a related term.
• A shopper views three shoe models. A few days later they see a carousel showing those exact shoes, with current pricing.
• A subscriber adds items to a cart but bails. An email arrives reminding them what they left behind.

All of that is remarketing. It narrows your spend to people who raised their hand in some way.

How remarketing works behind the scenes

At a technical level, remarketing runs on small pieces of code and identifiers.

• Cookies store a unique ID within the user’s browser. This ID ties together page visits and events on your site.
• Tracking pixels or tags load when a page or email is viewed. They log what happened and can set or read cookies.
• Platforms hold audience lists keyed to those IDs. When the same person is active on a partner site or logged-in app, the platform can match them to your list.

Advertisers install tags from Google, Meta, LinkedIn and others. These tags record events like product view, add to cart, lead form open, video view, checkout start, and purchase. The platform then lets you build lists and show ads to those people later.

Consent matters. More on that shortly.

Main types of remarketing

Not all remarketing looks the same. Here is a quick overview.

These formats can run side by side. Many businesses see their best results when search lists and dynamic product ads support each other.

Where it fits in the customer funnel

Remarketing usually kicks in after the first contact. Someone has visited a page, watched a video, or interacted with a post. That person is now a warm prospect. Your job is to keep the momentum.

• Awareness: new people learn you exist. No remarketing yet.
• Consideration: users browse and compare options. Ads recall exactly what they viewed and why it matters.
• Decision: late-stage nudges help, like social proof or a time-bound offer.
• Post-purchase: remarketing can promote refills, upgrades, accessories, or education that reduces churn.

A common pattern: about 98 percent of first visits do not convert. Remarketing is designed to save a portion of that missed opportunity.

Why marketers invest in remarketing

The upside is clear when done well.

• Higher conversion rates: you are speaking to people who already showed intent.
• Better return on ad spend: smaller, more qualified audiences often deliver outsized revenue.
• Precision: segmentation by behaviour allows creative that speaks to the exact stage a person is in.
• Cross-device reach: platforms can recognise people logged in across mobile and desktop, keeping your brand present at the right moments.
• Efficient spend: bids and budgets can be ring-fenced for high-value lists, avoiding waste on broad, low-intent segments.
• Brand recall: steady, respectful exposure keeps you in the shortlist during longer buying cycles.

Building a campaign: setup and segmentation

Start with instrumentation. Add your platform tags through a tag manager to the right pages and events. Common events include:

• View content or product view
• Add to cart
• Initiate checkout or start trial
• Lead form open or submit
• Purchase or subscription

Once data is flowing, build audiences with clear rules. A few useful segments:

• All site visitors last 30 days
• Product viewers who did not add to cart
• Cart abandoners last 7 days
• High-value customers in the last 180 days
• Pricing page visitors
• Video viewers who watched 50 percent or more

Keep list durations aligned with buying cycles. A fast-moving retail item might use 7 to 14 days. B2B software might run 60 to 180 days.

Message and creative strategy

Personal relevance is your advantage. Use it wisely.

• Match message to intent. Pricing page visitors might need clarity on value and proof. Cart abandoners might respond to reassurance around returns, shipping, or support.
• Reflect what they saw. Dynamic ads work because they echo the exact product or category viewed.
• Rotate formats. Pair image ads with short video, carousels with single-image reminders, and text-led search ads with visual display units.
• Keep load light. Faster ads get more impressions and clicks. Compress images and keep video snappy.
• Refresh regularly. Creative fatigue arrives fast within small audiences. Plan a rotation every 2 to 4 weeks for evergreen campaigns.

A small touch of social proof helps. Reviews, ratings, or a customer quote can boost confidence without shouting.

Bidding, budgets, and frequency

Remarketing lists are finite. Respect that limit and protect user experience.

• Frequency caps: set daily and weekly caps so people do not feel stalked. A typical starting point is 2 to 3 impressions per day on display, 1 to 2 per day in social feeds.
• Recency windows: bid highest on the most recent visitors. A 1 to 3 day audience often converts best. Step bids down for 4 to 7 days, then 8 to 30 days.
• Device modifiers: increase bids on the device where conversion rates are stronger, but watch cross-device paths before drawing conclusions.
• Budget separation: keep remarketing in its own campaigns. This protects it from being outbid by prospecting and preserves measurement clarity.
• Exclusions: always exclude recent purchasers from cart recovery lists. Also exclude low-fit visitors when possible, like those who bounced within 3 seconds.

Smart bidding can work well once you have steady conversions. Early on, manual or target CPA bidding with tight controls can be safer.

Measuring success

A few metrics matter most with remarketing.

• CTR: often 2 to 5 times higher than prospecting on the same channel. A very low CTR can signal stale creative or poor audience fit.
• Conversion rate: watch both click-through and view-through assisted conversions. Set a clear attribution window and be consistent.
• CPA or cost per conversion: should trend lower than prospecting. If not, your segments may be too broad or your offer too weak.
• ROAS: critical for e-commerce. Track both direct and assisted revenue from remarketing campaigns.
• Frequency and reach: if frequency rises while conversions stall, expand audiences, refresh creative, or reduce caps.
• List growth: slow growth often points to weak tagging, cookie consent drop-off, or low traffic.

Create a simple reporting view by segment. Cart abandoners should outperform product viewers. Pricing page audiences should outperform general visitors. If the order reverses, review your definitions and creative.

Privacy, consent, and life after third-party cookies

Remarketing depends on tracking. That makes consent and transparency non-negotiable.

• Provide a clear privacy notice that explains remarketing and how to opt out.
• Use a consent banner that lets people accept or reject marketing cookies. If they say no, do not add them to lists.
• Keep personally identifiable information out of tags. Use hashed IDs if you upload customer lists.
• Honour regional rules. GDPR in the EU and state-level laws in the US set high standards.

For New Zealand organisations, the Privacy Act 2020 and the Information Privacy Principles focus on purpose, collection, and disclosure. Be clear about why you collect data, keep it secure, and give people an easy way to contact you or opt out. While cookie banners are not mandated the same way they are in the EU, many NZ sites follow similar consent practices when using overseas ad platforms.

Third-party cookies are being phased out in many browsers. That shifts remarketing toward:

• First-party cookies set through your domain
• Server-side tagging and conversion APIs
• Customer lists from CRM with hashed emails or phone numbers
• Contextual and interest-based signals that do not rely on third-party cookies

Plan now so your core audiences remain addressable and compliant.

Common mistakes that drain performance

Avoid these traps.

• One-size-fits-all creative: a single generic ad for all visitors leaves money on the table.
• Overlong lookback windows: pushing the same product for 180 days can irritate customers and erode brand trust.
• No exclusions: targeting existing purchasers with first-time offers wastes spend and can create awkward moments.
• Thin tagging: missing events means poor segmentation and weaker dynamic ads.
• No cap: showing 20 impressions a day can lead to ad fatigue and negative brand lift.
• Weak landing pages: the ad can be relevant, but if the page is slow or mismatched, conversions suffer.

A quick audit every month keeps issues small and cheap to fix.

Practical playbooks for different models

Every business type can adapt remarketing to its cycle.

Retail and e-commerce

• Dynamic product ads within 1 to 7 days of product view
• Cart recovery emails at 1 hour, 24 hours, and 72 hours
• Post-purchase ads for accessories or refills at 14 to 30 days

SaaS and B2B

• Pricing and trial-start visitors in a 7 to 30 day list, with case studies or ROI calculators
• LinkedIn or programmatic placements aimed at matched accounts
• Lead nurture emails that mirror ad messaging and address risk

Local services

• Remarketing search ads for high-intent keywords, limited to a 15 km radius
• Social proof creative highlighting ratings, warranties, and quick booking
• Frequency caps to keep exposure respectful in smaller markets

Creative ideas worth testing

Small creative tweaks can deliver big lifts.

• Use the exact product name and image, not a generic category shot
• Add a line that addresses friction: free shipping, easy returns, NZ-based support, phone number
• Swap static images for a 6 to 10 second motion graphic
• Try value-based headlines for pricing page audiences: “How teams cut onboarding time by 43 percent”
• Feature user-generated content or a short testimonial
• Run a seasonal refresh with colour changes and new hooks, even if the offer is unchanged

Test no more than two variables at a time so you can read results clearly.

A simple rollout plan for the next 30 days

Week 1

• Install tags through a tag manager
• Define core events and test with a debugger
• Draft privacy policy updates and deploy consent banner

Week 2

• Build audiences: all visitors, product viewers, cart abandoners, recent purchasers
• Prepare creative for each segment, including at least two variants
• Set frequency caps and recency tiers in your campaigns

Week 3

• Launch on one or two channels only
• Use conservative budgets and watch diagnostics
• Fix any disapproved ads, broken links, or feed issues

Week 4

• Review early results by segment
• Shift budget toward the best-performing lists
• Refresh the weakest creative with new copy or visuals

Keep the cycle going. New segments, fresh creative, and tight controls keep remarketing effective without becoming intrusive.