What Is Remarketing? How It Works and Why It Still Matters

If you’ve ever looked at a product online only to see adverts for it later while browsing other websites or social media, you’ve experienced remarketing.

Some people find it helpful. Others find it a little intrusive. Either way, there’s a good reason so many businesses use it.

The reality is that very few people become customers the first time they visit a website. They might be comparing prices, researching different suppliers or simply get distracted before making a purchase or enquiry.

That doesn’t mean they’re no longer interested.

Remarketing gives businesses another opportunity to reconnect with people who have already visited their website, helping to keep their brand front of mind while potential customers continue making their decision.

When it’s done well, remarketing isn’t about chasing people around the internet. It’s about reminding people why they visited your website in the first place and giving them a reason to come back.

I’ve worked with businesses across a wide range of industries, and one thing has remained consistent over the years. The companies that get the best return from their advertising don’t just focus on attracting new visitors. They also have a strategy for bringing previous visitors back to their website.

What Is Remarketing?

Remarketing is a digital marketing strategy that allows businesses to advertise to people who have already interacted with their website or brand.

Instead of advertising to a completely new audience, remarketing focuses on people who already know who you are. They may have viewed a product, read one of your blog posts, requested a quotation or simply spent time browsing your website.

Because they’ve already shown an interest, they’re often far more likely to return than someone discovering your business for the first time.

Google Ads is probably the platform most people associate with remarketing, but it’s far from the only one. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Microsoft Ads all allow businesses to reconnect with previous website visitors through targeted advertising.

The aim is simple.

Rather than losing potential customers after one visit, remarketing gives you another opportunity to turn that initial interest into an enquiry or sale.

If you’re planning to use Google Ads as part of your strategy, our Google Ads service can help you build and optimise remarketing campaigns that focus on generating enquiries rather than simply increasing traffic.

Why Do Businesses Use Remarketing?

Most buying decisions aren’t made instantly.

People often compare different suppliers, read reviews, ask for recommendations or simply take time to think before making a decision.

That’s especially true if you’re selling professional services or higher-value products.

Without remarketing, many of those potential customers simply disappear.

Remarketing helps keep your business visible while people continue researching.

One of its biggest advantages is that you’re advertising to people who have already shown an interest in your business. They’ve visited your website, looked at your products or services and are already familiar with your brand.

In my experience, one of the biggest mistakes businesses make is focusing all of their advertising budget on attracting new visitors while completely ignoring the people who have already visited their website.

Those previous visitors are often the easiest people to convert because they’ve already taken the first step.

Of course, getting someone back to your website is only half the job. Once they return, your website needs to persuade them to take action. That’s why remarketing often works best alongside Conversion Rate Optimisation, helping you convert more of those returning visitors into customers.

How Does Remarketing Work?

Remarketing works by creating audiences of people who have visited your website.

Historically, this relied mainly on browser cookies. While cookies still play an important role, modern remarketing campaigns can also use first-party customer data and other consented audience information, depending on the advertising platform.

Once someone visits your website and accepts the appropriate tracking, they can be added to a remarketing audience.

From there, you decide which adverts they should see.

The best remarketing campaigns don’t show every visitor exactly the same advert.

Instead, they divide visitors into different audiences based on what they actually did on your website.

For example, you might create audiences for:

• Visitors who viewed a particular service.
• People who abandoned their shopping basket.
• Customers who have already made a purchase.
• Visitors who requested a quotation.
• People who downloaded a guide or brochure.

This allows you to create adverts that are far more relevant.

Someone who spent ten minutes looking at your pricing page needs a different message from somebody who only visited your homepage for a few seconds.

The more relevant your adverts are, the more likely your remarketing campaigns are to succeed.

This is also why understanding your audience is so important. Before building any advertising campaign, it’s worth carrying out proper keyword research so you understand what your potential customers are searching for and the questions they’re trying to answer at different stages of the buying journey.

Remarketing vs Retargeting

This is probably one of the questions I’m asked most often.

The simple answer is that most marketers now use remarketing and retargeting to mean exactly the same thing.

Google generally refers to these campaigns as remarketing, while some other advertising platforms use the term retargeting.

Historically, there was a slight difference.

Retargeting usually referred to showing display adverts to previous website visitors across websites, apps and advertising networks.

Remarketing often referred to reconnecting with existing prospects through email marketing, such as abandoned basket emails or follow-up campaigns.

Today, the distinction matters far less than it once did.

Whether someone calls it remarketing or retargeting, the objective is exactly the same: reconnecting with people who have already shown an interest in your business and encouraging them to come back when they’re ready to take the next step.

Why Remarketing Works

Very few people buy the first time they visit a website.

Think about your own buying habits.

If you’re making an important purchase, you’ll probably compare several businesses before making a decision. You may visit websites more than once, read reviews, compare prices or simply wait until the timing feels right.

If your business disappears from someone’s mind during that process, there’s every chance they’ll choose one of your competitors instead.

Remarketing helps prevent that from happening.

Rather than relying on people remembering your business weeks later, it gently reminds them that you’re still there when they’re ready to make a decision.

That doesn’t mean showing the same advert over and over again.

Good remarketing feels relevant and useful.

Poor remarketing feels repetitive and intrusive.

The difference usually comes down to how well your audiences are segmented and how relevant your adverts are to the people seeing them.

Types of Remarketing

There are several different types of remarketing available, and choosing the right approach depends on your business, your audience and what you’re trying to achieve.

Display Remarketing

Display remarketing is probably the type most people recognise.

After someone visits your website, they may begin seeing your adverts while browsing other websites, reading online news or watching YouTube. These adverts help keep your business visible while they’re still researching.

The aim isn’t to bombard people with adverts. It’s simply to remind them that your business is still there when they’re ready to make a decision.

Search Remarketing

Remarketing can also be used within Google Search campaigns.

Rather than treating previous visitors the same as everyone else, you can adjust your bids or tailor your adverts specifically for people who’ve already visited your website.

This can be particularly effective because someone returning to search for the same product or service has often moved further along the buying journey.

Dynamic Remarketing

Dynamic remarketing takes things a step further.

Instead of showing a generic advert, it displays the exact product or service someone previously viewed on your website.

If you’ve ever looked at a hotel, pair of shoes or piece of furniture online and then seen adverts featuring that exact item later, you’ve seen dynamic remarketing in action.

For ecommerce businesses, this can be one of the most effective forms of remarketing because the advert remains highly relevant to the individual viewing it.

Social Media Remarketing

Google isn’t the only platform offering remarketing.

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all allow you to create audiences based on previous website visitors and customer interactions.

In my experience, social media remarketing works particularly well when combined with a wider Facebook Ads Management strategy. People often spend far longer browsing social platforms than they realise, making them an ideal place to reintroduce your business to potential customers.

Email Remarketing

Remarketing doesn’t always involve paid advertising.

Many businesses use email campaigns to reconnect with people who’ve already shown an interest.

Examples include:

• Abandoned basket reminders.
• Follow-up emails after downloading a guide.
• Quotation reminders.
• Product recommendations based on previous purchases.
• Renewal reminders.

Because these people have already engaged with your business, email remarketing often produces excellent results when it’s relevant and well timed.

Segment Your Audiences Properly

One of the biggest mistakes I see is businesses placing every website visitor into one large remarketing audience.

Not everyone is at the same stage of the buying journey.

Someone who has read a single blog post shouldn’t receive the same adverts as somebody who almost completed a purchase.

The better you segment your audiences, the more relevant your advertising becomes.

For example, you could create separate audiences for:

• Visitors who viewed specific services.
• People who abandoned a basket.
• Existing customers.
• Previous enquiries.
• Visitors who viewed your pricing page.
• People who downloaded a guide or brochure.

Each audience can then receive adverts that make sense for where they currently are in the buying process.

That generally leads to better click-through rates, more conversions and a stronger return on your advertising budget.

Best Practices for Remarketing Campaigns

Like any digital marketing strategy, remarketing works best when it’s planned properly.

Here are some of the approaches I recommend.

Keep Your Adverts Relevant

One generic advert rarely works for every audience.

Tailor your messaging based on what people have already viewed and where they are in their decision-making process.

The more relevant your advert feels, the more likely someone is to click it.

Don’t Overdo It

We’ve all experienced adverts that seem to follow us everywhere.

That’s one of the quickest ways to damage a brand.

Most advertising platforms allow you to limit how often someone sees your adverts, helping you stay visible without becoming irritating.

Review Your Audience Duration

Not every customer makes a decision at the same speed.

If someone typically buys within a few days, they probably don’t need to remain in your remarketing audience for several months.

On the other hand, businesses with longer sales cycles may benefit from keeping audiences active for much longer.

The right audience duration depends on your customers and how long they usually take to make a decision.

Exclude Existing Customers Where Appropriate

Unless you’re promoting repeat purchases or additional services, there’s usually little point continuing to advertise the same product to someone who’s already bought it.

Removing converted customers from your campaigns often improves efficiency and reduces wasted spend.

Test Different Adverts

Don’t assume your first advert will be your best.

Experiment with different:

• Headlines.
• Images.
• Calls to action.
• Offers.
• Landing pages.
• Audience segments.

Small improvements across each area can make a significant difference to campaign performance over time.

Don’t Forget Your Landing Pages

Remarketing brings people back to your website.

What happens next is just as important.

If your landing page isn’t convincing visitors to make an enquiry or purchase, you’re paying for additional traffic without improving your results.

That’s why I often recommend combining remarketing with Conversion Rate Optimisation. Small improvements to your landing pages can have just as much impact as improvements to your advertising campaigns.

Privacy, Cookies and Consent

Remarketing has changed over the last few years.

Privacy regulations and browser changes mean businesses need to be much more transparent about how visitor data is collected and used.

That doesn’t mean remarketing no longer works.

It simply means you need to ensure your website has appropriate consent mechanisms in place and that you’re using customer data responsibly.

Google, Meta and other advertising platforms all provide guidance on how remarketing audiences should be created, so it’s worth reviewing their latest recommendations before launching a campaign.

Is Remarketing Still Worth It?

Absolutely.

People are spending longer researching before making decisions than they did a few years ago.

They’re comparing suppliers, reading reviews and returning to websites multiple times before finally making an enquiry or purchase.

Remarketing allows your business to stay visible throughout that process.

When combined with a well-managed Google Ads campaign, strong landing pages and useful content, it remains one of the most effective ways to improve enquiries and maximise your advertising budget.

If you’re new to remarketing, I’d also recommend reading our guide to the best remarketing tools, which compares some of the most popular platforms available today.

You may also find our Keyword Research Guide useful, as understanding what your audience is searching for makes it much easier to build effective advertising campaigns.

If you’d like help planning or managing your remarketing campaigns, get in touch today. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to improve existing campaigns, we’ll help you reconnect with the visitors who are most likely to become your next customers.