Retargeting
Retargeting (or remarketing) is the strategy of showing ads to people who already interacted with the brand: visited the site, watched a Reel, abandoned a cart or clicked an earlier ad. It is the funnel phase with the highest conversion rate and the best ROAS in paid media.
What is Retargeting?
Retargeting (called remarketing on Google Ads) is the set of strategies to re-engage people who already had some contact with the brand, showing them specific ads to move them to the next funnel stage.
Return is higher because these people are already "warm": they know the brand, expressed interest, or came close to buying. In e-commerce, retargeting often represents 20% to 30% of spend and 40% to 60% of attributed sales.
Types of audience for retargeting
- Site visitors (last 7, 14, 30, 90 days)
- People who visited product X page (without buying)
- People who added to cart but did not finish
- People who started checkout but did not pay
- Past buyers (cross-sell, upgrade, repurchase)
- Instagram/Facebook engagers (liked, commented, saved)
- People who watched more than 50% of a video
- People who clicked an earlier ad
Common windows
- Abandoned cart: 7 days (urgency)
- General visitors: 14 to 30 days
- Buyers: 90 to 180 days (cross-sell)
- Social engagers: 90 to 365 days
Practical example
Retargeting structure of a cosmetics e-commerce:
| Layer | Audience | Message | ROAS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abandoned cart 3d | "Forgot something? +10% off" | 14.2 |
| 2 | Viewed product 7d | "5★ reviews on the item" | 8.6 |
| 3 | Site visitor 14d | "Free shipping over R$ 199" | 5.4 |
| 4 | IG engager 30d | "New collection just dropped" | 3.8 |
| 5 | Buyers 90d | "Refill available" | 9.1 |
ROAS is higher the warmer the audience, but volume is smaller. That's why retargeting never replaces top of funnel — it just converts better what the top delivers.
Best practices
- Configure Pixel + Conversions API so you don't lose data
- Exclude recent buyers from general remarketing
- Vary creatives every 2 weeks (small audiences saturate fast)
- Cap frequency to avoid annoyance
- Offer extra incentive in cart retargeting (shipping, discount)
Common mistakes
- Running only retargeting and watching ROAS collapse because no top is feeding
- Not excluding past buyers: advertising the product the person just paid for (terrible experience)
- Overly long window (90 days for cart makes no sense)
- Same creative as top of funnel. Retargeting needs specific messaging
Related terms
Want to see this in action?
Mais Social shows all your metrics in one place.
Try 14 days free