How Retargeting Ads Boost Ecommerce Sales

Remarketing is often the misunderstood middle child of performance marketing. Let’s break a couple of myths🔨 🎯 One size fits all fits probably no one:  I’ve seen many companies burn money on campaigns that don’t recognize that every section of their audience has their own motivations. Why, if I had a penny for every time I visited a site with no intent to purchase their product at all, only to spot a “Schedule a Demo Today” ad by them on whichever site I visit, I’d probably be the richest guy in SaaS! I read somewhere that 84% of users either ignore or are put off by retargeting ads! Shows how important it is to get it right. Start doing these things: - Segment visitors by page depth (1 page vs 3+ pages) - Track time-on-site thresholds (>2 min = higher intent) - Create separate campaigns for pricing page visitors vs. blog readers Tailor your content based on your audience’s behavior and stage in the buyer journey (URL path visitors, action completers, cart abandoners) 🎯 Retargeting works like a mosquito coil:  Retargeting is not plug and play, and it typically doesn’t stop with one level. Retarget for all customer stages. Not only demo and trial signups. This insulates your prospects from leaving the funnel midway. We’ve had cases where we spent thousands of dollars on a retargeting campaign only to make zero sales. But here’s what happened afterward ⭐ : When we triggered another retargeting campaign for the warmer folks from the previous campaign, giving them BOFU content, we made sales. A lot of it! What’s to learn here? You’re unlikely to be bet on with just the first touch point. You have to build that awareness consistently. Create a 3-tier remarketing structure: > Tier 1 (Cold): Educational content, industry reports > Tier 2 (Warm): Case studies, comparison guides > Tier 3 (Hot): Free trials, demos, limited-time offers Build custom audiences for each segment, assign specific content types to each, and implement frequency caps based on ‘bucket temperature’. Also, the focus should also be on increasing the credibility of your company rather than only pushing them towards the CTA. Here's one customized Google + LinkedIn campaign strategy we used for a client recently. What are some retargeting tactics that’s worked for you?

Should you retarget by intent? We ran the test... Most B2B retargeting looks something like this: Someone visits your site, any page at all…and immediately: they’re getting hit with “Book a demo” or “Start your free trial” ads. No nuance. No context. Just one-size-fits-all messaging chasing every visitor around the internet. It’s simple. It’s easy. But also pretty broken. Here’s why: > Not everyone on your site is in the same headspace. > Blog readers aren’t ready to talk to sales. > Product page visitors are curious but not convinced. And people on the demo page? They’re this close but something’s holding them back. Treating all three the same? That’s how you burn ad dollars without actually building pipeline. So we ran a test. One of our clients had a basic retargeting setup. One campaign. One CTA. One generic message. We broke it apart and rebuilt it based on intent. ___________________________ Here’s how we segmented it: Blog readers Top-of-funnel folks in research mode. → We showed them value-first content: guides, checklists, downloads. Product & feature page visitors Mid-funnel visitors sniffing around the solution. → We served ROI calculators, interactive tools, and “how do you stack up” style CTAs. Pricing/demo page visitors Bottom-of-funnel leads with real buying signals. → They saw direct “Book a demo” and “Start your trial” ads with tons of social proof. ___________________________ Here’s what happened over 60 days: Old campaign (one-size-fits-all): > Low click-through rates (~0.4%) > Modest form fill volume > Demo-to-close rates hovering around 17% New segmented retargeting: > 3.1x higher CTR > 2.4x more total form fills > 29% increase in demo-to-close conversion from high-intent segments ___________________________ Better message-match. Cleaner funnel transitions. Better results.

Most people don’t buy the first time they see your offer. Not because they don’t need it. Not because they’re not interested. They just aren’t ready yet. Maybe they got distracted. Maybe they weren’t in the right mindset. Maybe they’re in research mode, just poking around, seeing what’s out there. But here’s where most businesses mess up. They let these people leave and never follow up. They spend all this money driving traffic to their website: • SEO • LinkedIn ads • Content marketing ... and then just hope visitors magically come back. That’s a losing strategy. The solution? Website retargeting. Instead of crossing your fingers, you just… follow up. You show up where they are. • LinkedIn • Facebook • TikTok People need to see you, on average, seven times before making a decision. The first time? They’re just looking. The second time? They remember you. The third time? They start paying attention. By the seventh time? They trust you enough to take action. Now, not all website visitors are the same. Someone who checks out your pricing page is way more serious than someone who just read a blog post. So instead of treating everyone the same, you target based on intent. If they hit your pricing or case study page… → Hit them with an ad to book a call. If they just read a blog post… → Run an awareness ad. Maybe a free resource. If they landed on your site but didn’t do anything… → Show a soft retargeting ad to keep them warm. Most businesses ignore this. They think retargeting isn’t worth the effort. And those same businesses? They’re leaving deals on the table every single day. You’re already spending money on ads. Why let that traffic slip through your fingers when you could be closing the deal with a few extra touches? Found this helpful? Follow Connor Bell for more strategies on turning website traffic into leads—and share this post with someone who’s leaving deals on the table.