Remarketing Campaigns That Convert: A Complete Guide

Only 2-4% of website visitors convert on their first visit. What happens to the other 96-98%? They leave—and often never return. Remarketing (also called retargeting) brings them back by showing targeted ads across the web to people who've already visited your site.

At Silver Spider Media, remarketing campaigns consistently deliver 2-5x better conversion rates than cold traffic campaigns at 50-70% lower cost per conversion. In this comprehensive guide, we'll show you how to build remarketing campaigns that turn lost visitors into customers.

Understanding Remarketing

What is Remarketing?

Remarketing shows ads to people who've previously interacted with your business:

• Visited your website
• Watched your videos
• Engaged with your social media
• Opened your emails
• Used your app

How It Works:

1. Visitor comes to your website
2. Browser cookie tags them
3. They leave without converting
4. They see your ads across Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and millions of other websites
5. They click your ad and return to convert

Why Remarketing Works

Familiarity Builds Trust: People need 7-13 touchpoints before buying. Remarketing provides those touchpoints.

Higher Intent: Someone who's visited your site is 70% more likely to convert than cold traffic—they're already familiar with your brand.

Overcome Objections: Use remarketing to address concerns, showcase reviews, offer guarantees, or provide additional information.

Cost-Effective: Remarketing CPCs are 50-70% lower than cold traffic because audiences are pre-qualified.

When we implemented comprehensive remarketing for Eden Gardens NI—targeting visitors who viewed their portfolio but didn't enquire—they generated 47 additional conversions at £12 per lead compared to £28 from cold traffic.

Types of Remarketing

1. Standard Remarketing (Display Ads)

Show display ads to past visitors across Google Display Network (2+ million websites):

Where Ads Appear:

• News sites
• Blogs
• YouTube
• Gmail
• Mobile apps

Best For:

• Brand awareness
• Broad audience reach
• Visual storytelling

Typical Performance:

• CTR: 0.5-1.5%
• CPC: £0.15-£0.60
• Conversion rate: 2-8%

2. Search Remarketing (RLSA)

Adjust your Google Search ads for people who've visited your website:

Strategies:

• Bid higher for past visitors on existing keywords
• Target broader keywords only for past visitors
• Show different ad copy to returning visitors

Best For:

• Recapturing high-intent visitors
• Competitive keywords where CPC is high

Example: For new visitors searching "accountant Belfast," you might not bid. For past website visitors searching the same term, you bid £4.50 because they're pre-qualified.

3. Social Media Remarketing

Facebook/Instagram:

• Target website visitors
• Video viewers
• Engaged audience members
• Lead form openers who didn't submit

LinkedIn:

• B2B remarketing to past website visitors
• Target by job title for qualification
• Higher cost but better quality for B2B

Best For:

• Visual storytelling
• Social proof through engagement
• Mobile-first audiences

4. Video Remarketing (YouTube)

Target people who've:

• Visited your website
• Watched your YouTube videos
• Searched for keywords on YouTube

Best For:

• Building emotional connection
• Explaining complex services
• Showcase before/afters

5. Email Remarketing

Upload email lists to ad platforms:

• Target customers with upsells
• Re-engage inactive subscribers
• Cross-sell related services

Customer Match (Google) or Custom Audiences (Facebook)

Audience Segmentation Strategies

Effective remarketing requires precise audience segmentation. Here's our framework:

Segmentation by Page Visit

Homepage Visitors:

• Awareness stage
• Not service-specific
• Show brand message, multiple services

Service Page Visitors:

• Interest in specific service
• Show that specific service prominently
• Include testimonials, pricing

About/Team Page Visitors:

• Evaluating trust/credibility
• Show team credentials, reviews, certifications

Portfolio/Case Studies Visitors:

• Evaluating quality of work
• Show more examples, results data

Pricing Page Visitors:

• High intent, considering purchase
• Address objections, offer consultation
• Add urgency (limited availability)

Blog/Resource Visitors:

• Early research stage
• Nurture with educational content
• Longer remarketing window (90+ days)

Segmentation by Engagement Depth

Shallow Visitors (1 page, under 30 seconds):

• Low intent, might be accidents
• Lower budget allocation
• Broad awareness messaging

Moderate Engagement (2-4 pages, 1-3 minutes):

• Medium interest
• Service-specific messaging
• Testimonials and proof

High Engagement (5+ pages, 5+ minutes):

• Very high intent
• Direct offers, strong CTA
• Higher bid multipliers

Cart/Form Abandoners:

• Extremely high intent
• Aggressive remarketing
• Special offers, urgency

Premium CNC Cut & Design segments by engagement. Visitors who viewed 5+ pages and spent 7+ minutes see aggressive remarketing with 15% first-order discounts. They convert at 34% vs. 6% for all visitors.

Segmentation by Recency

1-7 Days:

• Hottest audience
• Highest bids
• Direct conversion focus

8-30 Days:

• Warm audience
• Medium bids
• Mix of value and conversion messages

31-90 Days:

• Cooling audience
• Lower bids
• Re-engage with new content/offers

90+ Days:

• Cold, may have forgotten you
• Very low bids
• Brand awareness, major promotions only

Exclusion Audiences

Equally important—who NOT to show ads to:

Recent Converters: Exclude people who converted in last 7-30 days (unless upselling)

Current Customers: Exclude existing customers (unless retention/upsell campaign)

Irrelevant Visitors: Exclude people who visited careers, help, or other non-commercial pages

Multiple Converters: Cap frequency after someone converts multiple times

Campaign Structure

Campaign 1: High-Intent Conversion

Audience:

• Service page visitors
• Pricing page visitors
• Form abandoners
• High engagement visitors
• Recency: 1-14 days

Creative:

• Service-specific imagery
• Strong offer (discount, free consultation)
• Urgency (limited time, availability)
• Clear CTA

Bidding:

• Target CPA or Maximize Conversions
• Higher budget allocation (40% of remarketing budget)

Expected Performance:

• Conversion rate: 15-35%
• CPL: 50-70% lower than cold traffic

Campaign 2: Consideration Nurture

Audience:

• Service page visitors
• Blog readers
• Multiple page visits
• Recency: 15-45 days

Creative:

• Educational content
• Case studies, testimonials
• FAQ answers
• Value demonstration

Bidding:

• Manual CPC or Enhanced CPC
• Medium budget (30% of remarketing budget)

Expected Performance:

• Conversion rate: 8-15%
• Longer consideration cycle

Campaign 3: Awareness Re-engagement

Audience:

• Homepage only visitors
• Single page visitors
• Recency: 46-90 days

Creative:

• Brand message
• Multiple service showcase
• Special promotions
• New content/offerings

Bidding:

• Maximize Clicks or Manual CPC
• Lower budget (30% of remarketing budget)

Expected Performance:

• Conversion rate: 3-8%
• Re-engagement focus

Creative Best Practices

Display Ad Specifications

Responsive Display Ads (Recommended): Upload assets, Google creates variations

• Headlines (5)
• Descriptions (5)
• Images (15-20)
• Logos (2-5)

Standard Static Sizes:

• 300x250 (Medium Rectangle)
• 728x90 (Leaderboard)
• 160x600 (Wide Skyscraper)
• 300x600 (Half Page)
• 320x50 (Mobile Banner)

Design Principles

1. Brand Consistency Use your brand colours, fonts, logo consistently so people recognize you instantly.

2. Clear Messaging Simple headline stating the offer or benefit—no clutter.

Good: "Get 15% Off Your First Order" Bad: "We're the premier provider of solutions..."

3. Strong Call-to-Action Tell them exactly what to do:

• "Get Your Free Quote"
• "Book Now"
• "Shop the Sale"
• "Download Guide"

4. Social Proof Include trust signals:

• "4.9★ Rating"
• "500+ Happy Customers"
• "Est. 1998"
• Award badges

5. Visual Hierarchy Most important element (offer/CTA) should be most prominent.

Dynamic Remarketing

For e-commerce or businesses with multiple products/services:

Show Specific Products/Services Display ads showing the exact products/services they viewed.

Requires:

• Product feed setup
• Dynamic remarketing tag with product IDs
• Google Merchant Center (for retail)

Performance: Dynamic remarketing converts 2-3x better than generic remarketing for product-based businesses.

Social Media Remarketing Strategies

Facebook/Instagram Remarketing

Audience Creation:

• All website visitors (last 30 days)
• Specific page visitors
• Top 25% time on site
• Specific URL parameters

Campaign Objectives:

• Conversions (if Pixel has data)
• Traffic (driving to landing pages)
• Messages (starting conversations)

Creative Strategies:

• Carousel ads showing multiple services/products
• Video testimonials for credibility
• Before/after visual results
• Limited-time offers

Right Choice Roofing Specialist runs Facebook remarketing showing before/after photos of projects similar to pages visitors viewed. This personalization increased conversion rate from 3.2% to 11.7%.

LinkedIn Remarketing (B2B)

Audience Creation:

• Website retargeting (Insight Tag required)
• Engagement retargeting (likes, shares, comments)
• Lead Gen Form retargeting (openers, non-completers)

Segmentation: Combine website visitors with job title/industry targeting for qualified B2B audiences.

Creative:

• Professional, data-driven
• Case studies, ROI focus
• Thought leadership content

Budget: LinkedIn remarketing costs 40-60% less than cold LinkedIn campaigns but still 3-5x more than Facebook remarketing.

YouTube Remarketing

Audience Types:

• Website visitors
• YouTube channel subscribers
• Video viewers (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)
• YouTube engagers

Ad Formats:

• Skippable In-Stream (before/during videos)
• Non-Skippable (15-20 seconds)
• Bumper Ads (6 seconds)
• Discovery Ads (search/watch pages)

Creative Tips:

• Hook in first 5 seconds (before skip)
• Captions (many watch muted)
• Strong CTA overlay
• Mobile-optimized

Frequency Management

The Frequency Problem

Too Low: People don't notice, no impact Too High: Annoyance, banner blindness, brand damage

Optimal Frequency:

• Display: 3-5 impressions per week
• Social: 2-4 impressions per week
• YouTube: 2-3 impressions per week

Frequency Caps

Set maximum impressions per user:

Display Network: 3-5 impressions per person per day 15-20 per person per week

Social Media: 2-3 impressions per person per day 10-15 per person per week

Pro Tip: Higher frequency caps for high-intent audiences (pricing page visitors), lower for broad audiences (homepage visitors).

Timing and Duration

Remarketing Window

How long to remarket after someone visits:

For Services with Short Sales Cycles (Emergency Services, Low-Cost):

• 1-30 days primary window
• Stop after 30 days

For Services with Medium Sales Cycles (Most Local Services):

• 1-60 days primary window
• Light remarketing 61-90 days

For Services with Long Sales Cycles (High-Ticket B2B, Major Projects):

• 1-180 days remarketing window
• Maintain presence throughout consideration period

Dayparting

B2C Services: Peak performance: Evenings (6-10pm), Weekends Lower bids: Business hours

B2B Services: Peak performance: Business hours (9am-5pm, Mon-Fri) Pause or reduce: Evenings, weekends

Measuring Success

Key Metrics

Reach and Frequency:

• Impression share: Are you reaching your audiences?
• Frequency: How often are people seeing ads?
• Unique users: How many individuals reached?

Engagement:

• CTR: 0.7-2% good for remarketing
• Engagement rate: Likes, shares, comments

Conversion:

• Conversion rate: 2-3x higher than cold traffic
• Cost per conversion: 50-70% lower than cold traffic
• View-through conversions: People who saw ad but didn't click, then converted

ROI:

• ROAS: 4:1-10:1 typical for remarketing
• Customer acquisition cost
• Lifetime value of converted customers

Attribution Challenges

Remarketing often assists conversions without getting credit:

View-Through Conversions: Someone sees your display ad, doesn't click, but later searches your brand and converts. Display ad was influential but doesn't get click-based credit.

Multi-Touch Attribution: Use Google Analytics' multi-channel funnel reports to see full customer journey.

Advanced Strategies

Sequential Remarketing

Show different messages based on where someone is in the journey:

Day 1-3: Brand awareness, soft sell Day 4-7: Value proposition, social proof Day 8-14: Direct offer, urgency Day 15+: Last chance, aggressive offers

Cross-Platform Remarketing

Coordinate remarketing across platforms:

• Google: Display ads, Search remarketing
• Facebook/Instagram: Social remarketing
• YouTube: Video remarketing
• LinkedIn: B2B remarketing

Seeing consistent messages across platforms reinforces brand recall and increases conversion probability.

Combining with Email

Email + Remarketing Sync:

• Email sequence Day 1: Send welcome email
• Remarketing Day 2-7: Show supportive display ads
• Email sequence Day 7: Send follow-up email
• Remarketing Day 8-14: Intensify remarketing
• Email sequence Day 14: Last chance email
• Remarketing Day 14-21: Final remarketing push

This coordinated approach increases conversion rates 40-60% vs. email or remarketing alone.

Common Mistakes

1. Remarketing to Everyone the Same

Problem: All visitors see same generic ads Fix: Segment by page, engagement, recency—customize messaging

2. Ignoring Frequency Caps

Problem: Bombarding people with 20+ ads daily Result: Annoyance, ad fatigue, brand damage Fix: 3-5 impressions/week maximum

3. Remarketing Forever

Problem: Still showing ads to someone who visited 6 months ago Fix: Set realistic windows (30-90 days for most businesses)

4. Not Excluding Converters

Problem: Keep showing acquisition ads to people who already converted Fix: Exclude recent converters (or shift to upsell campaigns)

5. Weak Creative

Problem: Generic "Visit our website" ads Fix: Specific offers, compelling value propositions, clear CTAs

When we restructured remarketing for Bourne Accounting—implementing segmentation by service interest, frequency caps, and sequential messaging—their remarketing conversion rate jumped from 4.1% to 13.8% whilst cost per lead dropped 61%.

Budget Allocation

Remarketing in Overall Paid Strategy

Ideal Split:

• 50-60%: Cold acquisition campaigns
• 30-40%: Remarketing campaigns
• 10%: Testing/experimental

Remarketing should complement, not replace, cold acquisition—you need new traffic to remarket to.

Minimum Budget

Effective Remarketing Minimum: £300-£500/month dedicated to remarketing

Below this, audiences are too small and fragmented to deliver optimal results.

Get Professional Help

Remarketing requires sophisticated audience management, creative rotation, and ongoing optimization. Professional management typically delivers 2-3x better ROAS than self-managed campaigns.

At Silver Spider Media, we build comprehensive remarketing strategies integrated with your cold traffic campaigns. Our clients see remarketing conversion rates 3-5x higher than cold traffic at 40-60% lower cost per conversion.

Our remarketing services include:

• Audience strategy and segmentation
• Cross-platform campaign setup
• Creative development (display, social, video)
• Frequency management and optimization
• Integration with email marketing
• Advanced attribution reporting

Discover our remarketing services or get a customized quote.

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Ready to recapture lost visitors and dramatically increase conversions? Contact us for a free remarketing strategy session.