Glossary entry

What is Retargeting?

Retargeting is showing ads to users who already engaged with your brand but didn't convert. Same idea as remarketing - the terms are used interchangeably. Healthy accounts spend 20 to 40% of paid budget on retargeting and earn 50 to 70% of trackable conversions from it.

Retargeting vs. remarketing

No meaningful difference. 'Remarketing' is Google's preferred term, 'retargeting' is the industry term. Both refer to ads served to users with prior engagement signals.

Channels worth retargeting on

Meta and Google together cover most of the convertible audience. TikTok retargeting matters for video-led brands. Display network retargeting is the cheap layer for awareness reinforcement.

Retargeting is best paired with sequenced creative

Don't show the same ad to a homepage visitor and a checkout abandoner. Sequence: education for top of funnel, social proof for middle, discount or urgency for bottom. CPA on sequenced retargeting beats flat retargeting by 30 to 50%.

How Unled Network helps

Managed Campaigns designs full retargeting funnels with sequenced creative. Creative Production ships the per-stage assets. iOS-resilient via email backup and Conversion API.

Frequently asked

How much budget should go to retargeting?

20 to 40% of total paid budget. Higher in mature accounts, lower in pure cold-traffic acquisition.

Did iOS 14 kill retargeting?

Wounded it. Conversion API and modeled conversions restore most of the lost performance on Meta. Google was less affected.

Can I retarget with no website cookies?

Yes - CRM uploads, email engagement, and video view audiences all work without site cookies.

How long should the retargeting window be?

Match buying cycle. Ecommerce: 7 to 14 days. SaaS demos: 30 days. B2B research: 60 to 90 days.