Ecommerce Retargeting Best Practices

One challenge businesses—and ecommerce brands in particular—face is:

Turning visitors into long-term customers!

You’re not the only ecommerce brand facing this challenge. In a world where customers hold the purchasing power, you need creativity and strategy to build a website that stands out. 

Fortunately, there’s retargeting, a digital marketing tactic you can use to make the most of your visitors’ activity and nurture prospects for as long as you plan to stay in business.

Ready to learn how to engage prospects and customers using retargeting?

In today’s article, we’ll take a closer look at what retargeting means and how it works. We’ll also share eight ecommerce retargeting best practices you can start implementing right away. Ready to learn more?

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What is retargeting, and how does it work?

Retargeting is a marketing method brands use to stay visible to visitors who have bounced from their websites. Think of it as a second chance—although the number of opportunities doesn’t stop there. You can retarget visitors three, four, five, or even unlimited times (unless they reject cookies or unsubscribe from your lead list).

For example, if a visitor adds a subscription plan to their shopping cart but abandons it before paying, you can retarget them with a discount to encourage them to complete their purchase.

If they still don’t take action, you can retarget them again and again until they become customers—or until you realize they aren’t the right prospect.

In short, retargeting gives you additional touchpoint opportunities so you can continue nurturing leads toward conversion, no matter where they are in the funnel.

Here’s how it works 

Retargeting usually focuses on bringing audiences who have bounced back to your website through paid ads. You can create retargeting campaigns to win back former customers, convert leads who have shown interest, and warm up cold prospects. 

But there’s a technical component, with two options you can choose from.

The first option is called pixel-based retargeting

With pixel-based retargeting, you place an unobtrusive piece of JavaScript (a “pixel”) in a lead’s browser. If they bounce from your website, the cookie notifies your retargeting platform to show the prospect ads based on their website activity.

You can retarget your website visitors when they log in to their social media accounts. Download the code snippet from each social network and add it to your website (you should ask a developer for help if you’re unfamiliar with this). 

You can then set up a retargeting ad campaign—those ads that follow you around the internet—for each social media channel where you want to run ads. Your website visitors will see the ads when they log back in to their social media accounts. 

To take advantage of pixel-based retargeting, don’t forget to use a cookie consent tool to comply with important privacy laws.

The second option is called list-based retargeting

List-based retargeting only works after you’ve built a contact list. Upload this list of email addresses to your retargeting campaign, and your retargeting platform identifies those contacts across its network to show them specially tailored ads.

Although list-based retargeting isn’t as common as pixel-based retargeting, keeping an up-to-date customer list is essential for any business exit strategy. It can increase your business’s valuation because it lets you provide prospective buyers with a list of contacts who are already familiar with your brand.

7 retargeting best practices for ecommerce brands

Now that we’re clear on what retargeting is and how it works, let’s look at eight retargeting best practices you can start implementing right away.

1. Run A/B tests to avoid wasting time and money on ads that don’t work

Running ad campaigns can drain even the most flexible budgets. But if you test and refine your campaigns first, you can save yourself the trouble of launching countless unsuccessful ads.

Enter A/B testing—a simple practice where you take an ad, change one variable, and then test the original version against the slightly modified version. 

To make A/B testing as seamless as possible, leave the copywriting to a professional content writing service and invest in A/B testing tools.

When looking for a content writing service, find a team that specializes in ad copywriting. When deciding which A/B testing tools to invest in, look for ones with a strong support team that can step in and help if you run into a challenge.

2. Choose the ad channels your prospects use most often

Some businesses try to cover as many ad channels as possible, but this can get expensive if your audience simply isn’t there.

In other words, if your audience spends its time on Instagram and YouTube, stick to showing ads only on those channels. You might have a few stragglers on other channels too, but if most of your audience isn’t there, running ads can lead to unnecessary financial losses.

3. Interest-based retargeting

Have you ever seen an ad on Google or social media and immediately knew you had to click “buy”?

The reason is simple. You were probably shown an ad for something you’d shown interest in before.

Whether it was an audiobook you’d been considering as a birthday gift or a project management tool you’d been thinking about trying, the ad was just the push you needed.

And that’s why interest-based retargeting is so effective.

For example, if you sell memberships for satellite TV packages, start by identifying your audience segments and then use behavioral heat maps to see what interests them. You can then reach out through automated direct messages or emails, or add them to an interest-based retargeting campaign.

4. Website activity-based retargeting

Another compelling form of retargeting uses website activity.

Have you ever browsed a particular page on a website and then received ads or emails based on what you viewed on that page?

That’s website activity-based retargeting at its best.

And it works for two reasons:

You’re retargeting based on time spent.

You’re retargeting based on actions taken (prospects may have clicked your software links, read your blog posts, or subscribed to your mailing list).

Both reasons give you the perfect opportunity to retarget because prospects have already invested time in your brand.

When retargeting based on website activity, get specific by segmenting leads according to:

• How long they stayed on a particular page.






• The actions they did—or didn’t—take on a specific page.






• The specific offers they viewed.






• The pages they visited.






• Forms they completed.

5. Pain point-based retargeting

Finding out what drives your audience to take action and then retargeting based on their pain points is a great way to solve problems—which is why you’re in business.

Here are a few ways to uncover your audience’s pain points:

• Survey prospects after they bounce from your website to ask why they left and what might have made them stay longer.






• Monitor prospects’ activity and purchasing habits.






• Use a social listening tool to see what prospects are saying about you on social media.






• Collect and analyze consumer behavior data.






• Email your prospects and ask which core pain points you can help solve.






• Ask leads through social media posts.

Then, use retargeting campaigns with specific messaging to show leads that you understand the pain points you’re solving.

For example, let’s say prospects are struggling to find a cybersecurity webinar that’s both educational and engaging.

In this case, make sure your retargeting campaigns highlight any cybersecurity webinar options that are insightful and engaging. Bonus points if you can include social proof so prospects can read what other satisfied customers have to say about your webinars.

6. Retargeting with a freemium model

A freemium model is a strategy that helps prospects build trust and get a sense of what it’s like to be your customer.

Basically, you retarget leads who bounced by offering them a free trial of a best-selling product, a free sample, or a free limited-time subscription.

For example, if you sell digital courses, you could let leads try your new course for 14 days before asking them to sign up for a monthly subscription.

7. Abandoned cart retargeting

Possibly the easiest—and one of the most important—retargeting strategies is targeting abandoned carts.

After a lead abandons their cart, make sure you immediately add them to an automated email marketing series and a sequential cart abandonment ad campaign.

With each sequential ad or email, sweeten the deal a little more to encourage them to complete their purchase with a discount or promo code.

If discounts and promo codes aren’t enough to win them over, you may need to focus on nurturing an emotional connection first. You can do this by humanizing your copy, sharing your brand story, and building trust with user-generated content.

If all else fails, the issue may not be the price or the connection, but the offer itself. You can survey prospects or take a closer look at their purchasing behavior to see which types of offers they value and buy most often.

In conclusion, retargeting is crucial for staying visible to visitors who have bounced. From staying top of mind to taking advantage of low-cost opportunities, retargeting campaigns are the second, third, and fourth chances you’ve been looking for.