What Is Remarketing? Function, Types, and Benefits

Remarketing involves creating customized ad campaigns for users who have previously visited your website with the goal of increasing ROI. Previously, this concept was used generically for any action or type of marketing, such as retargeting.

What Is Remarketing?

Remarketing aims to reach users who already know your brand or the products you offer, providing many more opportunities for conversion. It involves creating multiple, increasingly personalized touchpoints to encourage users to move towards conversion.

Its process can be summarized in three basic steps:

Initially, the user visits your website or consumes content from your brand.
The user is tagged with a cookie and added to a remarketing list.
A campaign of ads is then run, targeting only users who are part of that list.

Based on how users are captured for the list and the type of ads shown to them, there are different types of remarketing:

Standard: Display ads are shown to people who have previously visited a website.
Dynamic: Similar to standard remarketing but with the feature of displaying personalized ads based on the products and services users have viewed on the website.
Mobile app: Ads are displayed in mobile applications and mobile websites.
Search ads: These campaigns do not include display ads; they are shown when users visit the website after performing Google searches. This allows precise targeting of users who have both visited your website and continue to search for products and services related to what you offer.
Video: In video remarketing, user capture for the list is not focused on visiting a website but on interacting with videos or YouTube channels. These ads are shown on YouTube itself, as well as on websites and apps.
Email list: Ads are shown to a list of previously collected email addresses.

How Does Remarketing Work?

If you're interested in creating your own remarketing campaigns, you're in the right place. Its operation is straightforward; just follow these steps:

Sign in to your Google Ads account (or the corresponding advertising tool) and obtain your remarketing tag. This tag is an HTML code that you need to insert into all pages of your website before the closing tag.
Create one or more remarketing lists. These lists include users who have taken specific actions on your website, so you can configure them based on your goals.
You can create a list with all visitors to your website in the last month or those who visited a specific page, such as people who added a product to the cart but did not make a purchase.
Start your campaign, choose your audience from the lists you've created, and configure the usual options like language, geographic location, and more.
Create one or more ad variations. If you're starting, experimenting with different creatives using A/B testing is a good option. This way, you can optimize your campaign by selecting the options that best suit your needs.
You're ready to launch your campaign!

Benefits of Remarketing for Your Brand

Personalization of remarketing lists provides numerous options to exploit. Basically, there are two key factors you can play with: user actions and the time that has passed since the action. This allows you to capture users with different interests and at different stages of the buying cycle, offering them optimal personalization.
Expanded reach: Google's display network comprises more than two million websites and apps, and there are also other tools like Facebook Ads that allow you to reach users potentially interested in your brand, wherever they are.
Brand recall: With remarketing, you can ensure that you stay in the memory of your visitors and potential customers, gradually building your relationship with them, always according to their phase in the buying process.
Adaptation to your marketing goals: With various list creation options, user capture locations, and ad display locations, remarketing allows you to adapt to a wide range of situations and different objectives.
Increased conversions: Remarketing makes it possible to reach users when they are most likely to convert, as they have already shown interest in your brand.

How to Improve Your Remarketing Campaigns?

To make the most of this tool, consider these tips:

Reduce ad frequency: You want to ensure your message is understood without overwhelming potential customers. You can use frequency capping tools to ensure the right number of ad impressions per user.
Don't be afraid to create different lists: Personalization is key. Users visit your website for different reasons and are interested in different things. The more variety you have, the better you can target.
Create specific lists for users who have already made a purchase. Consider offering discounts and promotions to make them feel special.
Experiment, measure, and repeat: There are many tools available for analyzing your remarketing campaigns, so use them to continually optimize your strategy.