A visitor opened the service page, then the pricing page, then closed the site. Maybe they got busy, wanted to ask a partner, or opened a competitor's site to compare. Many visitors to company websites leave without asking for anything on the first visit, which is normal when the decision involves money or commitment. Remarketing shows these people your ads over the following days, on Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
How does remarketing work?
A tag on your website records visitors, and the platform groups them into an audience you can show ads to. On Google it's the Google tag connected to your Google Ads account or to GA4. On Meta it's the Meta Pixel. You set the audience rules: who visited which pages, over what period, and who to exclude.
Set up the tags before you need them, because the audience only starts filling from the moment they're installed. If GA4 is set up properly, as described in setting up Google Analytics 4 and conversion tracking, you can build audiences there and link them to Google Ads.
How should you segment your website visitors?
Segment them by what they looked at, since that tells you how far along they are in their decision. Someone who read a blog post is still learning about the problem. Someone who opened the pricing page or started the inquiry form was close to buying.
| Segment | What it means | The right message |
|---|---|---|
| Only read an article | Looking for information | More useful content, or a guide to download |
| Visited a service page | Knows what they need | Past work and how you work |
| Visited pricing or started the form | Close to deciding | An answer to a common objection, or a time-limited offer |
| Added to cart and didn't buy | Hesitating at the last step | The same product, with delivery and payment made clear |
Exclude people who already inquired or bought from your acquisition ads, since there's no point paying to convince someone who's already convinced. If you sell products people buy more than once, give existing customers their own campaign with a different message, such as a product that complements what they bought or a reminder that a renewal is due.
How long does a visitor stay in a remarketing audience?
You choose the duration, based on how long your customers take to decide. Meta allows website visitor audiences of up to 180 days, and Google Ads allows longer. A product bought within a day or two suits a short audience. A B2B service that takes months to decide suits a longer audience with calmer messages.
With small audiences, such as a B2B company site with few visitors, the audience may be too small for the platform to serve the ad. In that case, combine several pages into one audience or extend the duration.
You can also build audiences from outside the website. On Meta, from people who watched a large part of one of your videos or engaged with your Instagram account. In Google Ads, from people who watched your YouTube videos. These people know you and usually respond to your ads more than an audience that has never heard of you.
What do you say to someone who visited and didn't inquire?
Answer the likely reason they didn't inquire. The visitor has already seen your first ad and your website, so repeating the same message gives them nothing new. Think about the questions that stop people from ordering: Is the price right? Can this company be trusted? How long will it take? What if I don't like the result? Make each ad answer one of them.
- The visitThe tag records which pages they opened
- The audienceBy page and duration, with customers excluded
- The messageAnswers why they didn't inquire
- The returnTo the same page they left
- MeasurementInquiries from this audience and their cost
How do you avoid annoying people and running into privacy problems?
Cap how many times the same person sees the ad, and rotate your ads every so often. An ad that follows someone ten times a day leaves a bad impression of the company. Google display campaigns let you set a frequency cap, and on Meta you can watch the frequency metric in your reports.
State in your website's privacy policy that you use cookies for advertising, since Google's policies require this of anyone using remarketing. If your business is in a sensitive area like health, both platforms restrict personalized ads there, so review their policies before setting anything up.
How do you know remarketing is working?
Measure the inquiries that came from remarketing audiences and what they cost, in campaigns kept separate from your new-customer campaigns. If you mix the two in one campaign, results will look better than they are, because people who already know you inquire more easily. If your first campaigns aren't bringing in the right visitors to begin with, start with Facebook and Instagram ad targeting.
We set up tags, audiences and remarketing campaigns on Google and Meta as part of our digital marketing service. Send us your website link, and we'll tell you whether the tags are installed and which audiences you can start with.
Questions our partners ask
What's the difference between remarketing and retargeting?
The two terms are usually used to mean the same thing: showing ads to people who have interacted with your website or accounts before. In its own interface, Google uses the term "your data segments".
What audience duration is right?
It depends on how long the buying decision takes. A product bought within a day needs a short duration, and a B2B service decided over months needs a longer one. Try more than one duration and compare.
Is remarketing allowed for every type of business?
Not entirely. Google and Meta restrict personalized ads in sensitive categories such as health, so check the platform policies if your business is in health care or treatment.
Written by the Visual Innovate team, the people who build, host and follow up systems, websites and apps for our clients in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt.
