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Retargeting · Google, Meta, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn

They left. They're coming back.

Most visitors leave without buying. We follow up with the ones worth chasing — the right ad, on the right channel, a set number of times — and we stop the moment they buy.

Session · #48213 Tue 14:02
14:02 Landed from Google /linen
14:04 Viewed products ×3
14:07 Added to basket £249
14:09 Checked delivery 3 days
14:09 Left the site ✕
Basket left behind £249.00
Audience · cart abandoners
Window · 0–3 days
Next · Instagram, tomorrow 08:12
Reels Athlete Workout
Audio Cover
On Runningon_running
Cloudtilt all day. Engineered for effortless walking and city commuting with Helion™ superfoam ⚡ #OnRunning #Cloudtilt
Original Sound · On Running Global Beats
Shop Cloudtilt Collection
What they see next
97 in 100 Visitors leave without buying on a typical first visit
+64% Sales from returning visitors · example client
−47% Cost per sale against cold prospecting
7 channels One set of audiences, synced everywhere
— 01 · Where 100 visitors go

Three buy. We work on the rest.

Not every visitor is worth an ad. We sort them by how far they got, and spend where the intent is.

100 visitors · one typical day Budget follows intent →
48 bounced 31 browsed 12 6 3
48 Bounced One page, under ten seconds. Often the wrong visitor. Light touch or none
31 Browsed Read a few pages and didn't pick a product yet. Guides and reviews
12 Viewed a product Knows what they want. Hasn't decided on you. Dynamic product ads
6 Added to basket One step away. Usually stopped by price, delivery or timing. Highest bids, fast
3 Bought Paying to sell to them again tomorrow is wasted money. Excluded · cross-sell later
— 02 · The loop

They left. We bring them round again.

Retargeting is a circle, not a chase. Five steps, one exit: the moment they buy, they're out.

1 Visits 2 Leaves 3 Sees your ad 4 Comes back 5 Buys
The result Nearly-buyers, buying. Buyers leave the loop
01 Visits Day 0 They find you from an ad, a search or a post. The pixel starts the clock.
02 Leaves Day 0 97 in 100 go without buying. Most weren't saying no, just not yet.
03 Sees your ad Days 1–14 A reminder, then reviews, then an offer, on the apps they already use.
04 Comes back Days 3–6 Straight to the product they looked at, not your home page.
05 Buys Stop And leaves the loop straight away. No ads for things they already own.
— 03 · The recency clock

Intent fades. So does the bid.

Each audience has a window. Someone who left a basket an hour ago is worth far more than someone who read a blog post last month.

Audience Day 0 Day 1 Day 3 Day 7 Day 14 Day 30 Day 90–180 Bid
Cart abandoners High intent
Reminder + delivery offer +60%
Product viewers Medium intent
Dynamic product ads +30%
Content readers Low intent
Guides, reviews, social proof Base
Recent buyers Excluded
No ads — nothing to sell them yet Off
Past customers Repeat
Win-back and cross-sell +15%
— 04 · The follow-ups

Pick a channel. See what they see.

The same audiences, shown the right format for where they are scrolling, watching or searching.

G Google Search RLSA Past visitors search again — we bid higher and show a tailored ad.
f Facebook feed Catalogue The exact products they looked at, pulled from your feed.
IG Instagram Stories Full-screen A quick reminder between their friends' stories.
▶ YouTube In-stream Short reviews and demos that answer the last objection.
D Display and Gmail Dynamic Product banners across news sites, apps and inboxes.
T TikTok Video Creator-style follow-ups for younger audiences.
in LinkedIn B2B Case studies and demo offers for accounts that visited pricing.
Google Search · remarketing list
Zara Fashion
Modern minimalism meets artisanal Scandinavian craftsmanship. Tap below to explore our Fall 2026 Home Furniture collection without leaving Facebook.
Living Room Hero
Velvet Sofa
Minimal Chair
Oak Table
Ceramic Lamp
+24
4.1K
268 comments105 shares
Facebook · catalogue ad
Lip Gloss Model
Which finish do you wear every single day? ✨
Swipe Up to Shop Fenty Glow
Instagram · story ad
Coding boot camp advertisement
Ad1 of 2 · 0:14
Become a Senior Engineer in 2026
bootcamp.dev · Fast Track Admission
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YouTube · in-stream ad
  • SponsoredHearth & Loom
    Your linen is still in your basket
    3 items · £249.00 · Free delivery in 3 days
    Stonewashed linen duvet cover setLinen pillowcase pairWaffle linen throwReturn to basket
  • Northside Coffee09:14
    Your weekend blend is back in stock
    Single-origin Ethiopia, roasted on Thursday and posted the same day.
  • Fieldwork Outdoors08:02
    Autumn layers, 20% off this week
    Fleece, merino and waterproofs for colder mornings.
  • Paper Planes TravelYesterday
    3 weekend trips under £150
    Edinburgh, Porto and Bruges, all from London.
  • Brightmile BooksYesterday
    Your October reading list
    Five new releases we think you'll like.
  • Tallow & Co.23 Sept
    Candles for darker evenings
    Cedar, fig and smoked vanilla. Back for autumn.
Display and Gmail · dynamic ad
Nike VaporMax 2026 Sneaker
LIVE
FollowingFor You
Nike Creator+
Album Art
♫
@nikerunningSponsored

Defy gravity with the all-new VaporMax 2026. Ultra-responsive Air cushioning designed for every stride. #AirMax#NikeRunning

Original Sound • Nike Sound Lab • High Energy Beats •
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TikTok · in-feed ad
Modern microservices demand end-to-end visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. Datadog APM correlates distributed traces with real-time logs and infrastructure telemetry to pinpoint bottlenecks in seconds. Start detecting latency anomalies before they impact end users.
Cloud Infrastructure Analytics
👏
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1,842
114 comments·48 reposts
Notification Confirmed!
LinkedIn · sponsored post
— 05 · The storyboard

A short conversation. Then silence.

Each ad answers the next reason they didn't buy. After the last one, we stop.

Day 1 Reminder
"I'll come back to it."
Camera Gear Avatar
Elevate your creative workflow. Swipe through our 2026 flagship lenses & cinema accessories. Now with instant 0% financing for verified creators.
1.9K
94 comments31 shares
Your basket is saved The exact products they left, while the intent is still warm.
Day 3 Proof
"Are they any good?"
Nike Avatar
Defy your marathon personal record with the groundbreaking Air Zoom Alphafly 3. Optimized with dual Air Zoom pods, full-length Flyplate carbon energy return, and ultra-light ZoomX foam cushioning. Experience peak energy return on race day.
Nike Alphafly 3 Running Shoe
5.2K
420 comments118 shares
Loved by real customers Reviews, ratings and short videos from people who bought.
Day 6 Nudge
"It's a bit much right now."
Aroma Coffee
Freshly micro-roasted single-origin beans delivered to your doorstep within 48 hours of roasting. Claim 25% off your first subscription box today.
25% OFF Whole Bean Subscription Box
Expires in 2 days · 1,320 people claimed
Artisan Coffee Roasting
2.1K
114 comments88 shares
Free delivery, this week An offer only when the margin allows it, and only to high-intent audiences.
Day 14 The end
STOP We stop when ✓ They buy — any channel, any device ✓ The window closes ✓ They've hit the frequency cap
Frequency cap
Three ads a day, at most. Usually fewer.
— 06 · Proving it works

Would they have bought anyway?

Retargeting is easy to over-credit. We hold back a slice of the audience and measure the real difference.

Holdout test · 28 days · example client +31% Extra sales caused by the ads

90% of cart abandoners saw our ads. 10% saw nothing. The group that saw ads bought 31% more — that gap is what the budget actually earned, and it's the number we report.

3.1%
Holdout · no ads Would buy anyway
4.1%
Saw our ads Conversion rate
— 07 · House rules

Persistent. Never creepy.

Six rules every retargeting account we run follows from day one.

✓ Buyers are excluded Purchases sync back within hours, so nobody sees an ad for something they own.
✓ Consent first Consent mode v2 and your cookie banner decide who can be followed up.
✓ Caps on every channel Frequency limits per person, per day, across the whole account.
✓ Fresh creative Ads rotate before they go stale, so a reminder never becomes wallpaper.
✓ Safe placements Brand-safety lists and app exclusions keep your ads off low-quality sites.
✓ No double counting One source of truth for sales, so two platforms can't claim the same order.
— 08 · Retargeting questions

Before you switch it on.

What businesses ask us before launching retargeting.

01

How much traffic do we need?

Around 1,000 visitors a month is enough to start on Meta and Display. Search remarketing lists need at least 1,000 people in the list before Google will use them.

02

Won't people find it annoying?

Only if it's done badly. Frequency caps, short windows and buyer exclusions keep it to a handful of useful reminders.

03

Does it still work with cookie consent?

Yes. Consent mode and server-side tracking recover much of the signal, and consented customer lists fill in the rest.

04

How quickly will we see results?

Cart abandoner campaigns usually show returns in the first two weeks. We run a holdout test within the first two months to prove the lift.

— You were about to leave

So we followed up.

Book a free retargeting audit. We'll show you who you're chasing, who you're wasting money on, and what to fix first.

Your basket (1) Saved for you
W Retargeting auditAudience map, frequency check, exclusions review and a 30-day plan. £0
Delivery · within 24 hours Free
Total £0.00
Check out — book my audit →
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