Remarketing vs. Retargeting: Are They the Same or Different?

Remarketing and retargeting are both digital marketing strategies that aim to re-engage people who have interacted with your website. However, remarketing uses direct channels, while retargeting uses paid ads. This guide explains the difference and how to use them together for the best results.

If you’re struggling to understand the difference between remarketing vs. retargeting, you’re not alone.

The terms are often used interchangeably, but they are technically different. Understanding their differences — and when to use each — will help you make better strategic decisions about your own marketing.

Below, HawksEM Lead Strategist Ian Dawson helps break down the similarities and differences, along with how to know which one’s right for your biz.

Remarketing vs. retargeting: key differences

Remarketing re-engages past customers through direct channels, while retargeting targets users who’ve visited your website or app through ads.

Here’s a closer look at the key differences between the two strategies:

What is remarketing?

Remarketing is the strategy of re-engaging existing customers and people who have previously shown interest in your brand using direct channels, including:

• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• SMS (messaging via texts to cellphones)
• Social media

Audience: Typically, the target audience for remarketing is people who have some type of established relationship with your brand. This includes:

• Past customers
• Email subscribers
• Social media followers
• People who have engaged with your brand through other channels

Goal: To deepen customer relationships and foster a sense of brand loyalty by getting people to re-engage with the brand and, ideally, get repeat purchases.

Benefit: Not only does remarketing help businesses increase conversion rates, brand recall, and brand loyalty, but it’s also very cost-effective. Since you are reaching out to users who are already familiar with your brand, the customer acquisition costs are lower than if you were trying to bring in new customers.

What is retargeting?

Retargeting is a marketing strategy that involves using online ads to target users who have previously interacted with your website without making a purchase.

Audience: Retargeting is often used to target people who have shown some interest in your brand but don’t necessarily engage regularly or with any amount of depth.

These can be people who have browsed your site or interacted with a piece of content but didn’t convert.

Goal: Retargeting campaigns focus primarily on increasing conversions. The goal is to keep your brand visible through continued exposure and encourage users to return to your site to make a purchase.

Benefit: Retargeting PPC ad campaigns offer higher conversion rates and more cost-effective reach since the people you’re targeting are already familiar with your brand and offers.

Continued exposure to retargeting ads can also help increase brand awareness and recognition.

How remarketing works

Remarketing uses data from people who have “opted in” to create personalized messages or more targeted content. This data can come from past purchases, email list signups, or other website engagement.

Because remarketing uses first-party data (rather than ad pixels), it is especially valuable for privacy-compliant, owned-channel engagement.

It often uses automation or dynamic content to tailor messages based on user behavior, such as abandoned carts or past purchases.

How retargeting works

When a visitor lands on your web page, a cookie is set on their browser, which allows you to retarget them and show ads for your brand after they’ve left your website.

Typically, this involves placing retargeting ads on social media platforms or display ads on third-party sites through the Google Display Network — reminding them about the brand or product and encouraging them to re-engage.

Here’s an example of a retargeting ad placement after viewing a pair of pants on Madewell’s website:

(Image: Madewell Facebook retargeting ad screenshot)

When to use remarketing vs. retargeting

Both retargeting and remarketing are powerful strategies to help you connect with people who have already shown an interest in your brand. However, they work best in different scenarios.

When to use remarketing

Remarketing works best when you want to re-engage a previous customer or lead who has interacted with your brand before using owned channels like email or SMS.

Because SMS and email campaigns use first-party data, it’s easy to segment audiences and deliver highly personalized messages.

Common examples include cart abandonment emails, win-back campaigns, and upsell or cross-sell sequences based on past purchases or behavior.

Here’s an example of remarketing through an abandoned cart email from Prose, a custom haircare company:

(Image: Prose remarketing email screenshot)

The email acknowledges that the user has already visited their site and learned about their products. Now, it encourages them to take the final step to purchase the product.

When to use retargeting

Retargeting works best when your goal is to drive conversions.

Use it to reach website visitors who have shown an intent but haven’t taken the final step — such as people who abandoned their cart, viewed your pricing page, or reached out and interacted directly with your team but didn’t convert.

Retargeting keeps your brand top of mind and nudges high-intent users back into the funnel through paid ads.

Tips for successful remarketing

Here are just a few tips to help you get started with your remarketing campaigns:

• Segment your audience: Group your audience based on behavior. For example, you might send an upsell email to all of the people who have used your product in the last three months.
• Personalize messaging: Use the data you have (from past purchases or viewed products, for example) to personalize your messaging. For example, you can include images of products the customer has viewed on your site to re-engage their interest.
• Perfect your timing: Timing is important in remarketing campaigns. For instance, when it comes to abandoned cart sequences, make sure you send them within 24 hours of the shopping cart being abandoned.
• Offer incentives: When you can, offer incentives to encourage people to return to your website. This could be anything from free shipping or exclusive offers to discounts and coupons.
• Try a variety of channels: While email is a popular remarketing channel, it’s not the only one. Try using social media, SMS, or even direct mailers to see which channels offer the best results.
• Use a call-to-action (CTA): To tell your audience exactly what you want them to do through your content and a clickable CTA button.

As with any marketing campaign, measure the results of your remarketing efforts. Use the data you collect to make decisions about future campaigns.

Tips for successful retargeting

Now, let’s look at some retargeting strategies for effectively reaching potential customers with ads:

• Optimize based on the platform. Create your retargeting ads with the platform in mind — Google Ads will have a different strategy than Facebook ads.
• Use dynamic retargeting. Dynamic retargeting allows you to show ads that feature products or services the user has previously viewed. This makes the ads more relevant and increases your chances of conversion.
• Set frequency caps. You don’t want to give your audience ad fatigue. Set frequency caps to limit the number of times a person sees your ad so you can continue to create a positive brand perception.
• Optimize your ads for mobile. Mobile-friendly ad copy, landing pages, and images that follow the proper specs make them more appealing to the massive audience that browses on mobile devices.
• Refresh your ad creative. Regularly update your ad creative — both copy and images — to keep the messaging fresh and interesting for people who have not yet clicked on your ads.
• Measure and optimize. Track performance metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, to understand what’s working.

How to use remarketing and retargeting together

While remarketing and retargeting have slightly different goals, brands should use both strategies to re-engage customers and potential leads across the customer journey.

At the top of the funnel, retargeting can help you recapture the attention of first-time customers.

They may not be ready to buy yet, so serving ads that offer value — like a lead magnet or educational content — can help nurture them without pushing for an immediate conversion.

“A common retargeting mistake can occur when a marketer targets the user at the wrong stage of their decision-making process,” Dawson cautions.

“A campaign can seem ineffective when a user is shown action-taking ad copy during their information gathering phase.”

Retargeting can be used again at the bottom of the funnel to influence a final sale.

Retargeting ads can be used together with abandoned cart emails (remarketing) to encourage the person to return to the site and finish their purchase.

Remarketing campaigns can be used throughout the funnel to provide more ongoing personalized communication.

While the retargeting ads remind the lead of your brand, the remarketing messages can help leads get to know your brand better and start to foster a relationship.

Should my business use one or both?

Retargeting and remarketing are not just for ecommerce retailers trying to sell more products.

They can also be effective when used by B2B brands with longer sales cycles and higher price points.

“Leveraging both retargeting and remarketing is essential in the B2B space,” Dawson explains.

“Where an ecommerce purchase can be nearly instantaneous, a B2B capital expenditure purchase or SaaS contract can take up to a year to close. During that time, purchase stakeholders will be researching. And they may forget their purchase options.”

Dawson has used retargeting to offer whitepaper downloads to nudge and nurture a lead along the sales funnel and remind them of his B2B client and their unique selling propositions (USPs).

For the same client, he’s used remarketing to connect with existing customers regarding upgrades or expanded product versions. This resulted in increased adoption and new upselling opportunities.

The takeaway

While remarketing and retargeting are sometimes used interchangeably, they have important differences that impact which strategy you might use in your business.

However, their shared goal is to re-engage leads and customers to influence a conversion.

Using both together to connect with site visitors at every stage of the buyer’s journey is the best way to cover all your bases and make sure your brand is actively in front of the people who are most interested in buying from you.

Need support with your retargeting or remarketing strategy and campaigns? The team at HawkSEM is here to help you every step of the way. To get started, contact us.

This article has been updated and was originally published in May 2024.