Imagine walking into your favorite coffee shop, ordering your usual latte, and just as you’re about to leave, the barista hands you a coupon for your next visit. You hadn’t asked for it, but they knew you’d appreciate it. This personal touch is what drives both remarketing and retargeting in the digital marketing world—keeping businesses top of mind for consumers, often without them realizing it.
But what’s the difference between remarketing and retargeting? Both terms are often used interchangeably, and while they share common goals, they have key distinctions that can make or break your marketing strategy.
What Is Retargeting?
Retargeting focuses on bringing back visitors who’ve interacted with your website but didn’t convert. It primarily works by using cookies to track visitors, allowing you to display relevant ads to them across different platforms as they browse the web. Ever notice ads for products you checked out on one website mysteriously following you on another? That’s retargeting at work.
The idea behind retargeting is to re-engage users who may have shown interest but didn’t take action. It’s designed to push them further along the sales funnel. These ads are typically seen on social media, Google search, and third-party websites, offering a subtle reminder that the product or service they were browsing is still available.
What Is Remarketing?
Remarketing, on the other hand, takes a more direct approach, often using email as its weapon of choice. Remarketing focuses on re-engaging existing customers or users who are already on your mailing list. This could be people who abandoned a shopping cart, signed up for a newsletter, or completed a previous purchase.
A typical example of remarketing would be an email sent to a customer who didn’t complete their checkout process, gently reminding them about the items they left behind. These emails may include incentives, like discounts, to encourage conversion.
While both strategies aim to re-engage potential or existing customers, remarketing is usually more personalized, targeting specific individuals based on their prior behavior or engagement with your brand.
The Key Differences Between Remarketing and Retargeting
1. Medium
Retargeting predominantly uses display ads, while remarketing relies more on email marketing.
2. Audience
Retargeting is more about reaching new users who haven’t fully engaged, while remarketing focuses on existing customers or leads.
3. Tactics
Retargeting works through cookies and paid ads; remarketing leverages the customer data you’ve already gathered to send personalized messages or offers.
4. Goal
Retargeting seeks to increase brand exposure and drive users back to your site, while remarketing is about closing the deal or re-engaging a lapsed customer.
How They Complement Each Other
While these two strategies differ in approach, they work best when combined. Think of retargeting as the net that casts a wide reach, reeling in people who show interest, while remarketing is the hook that gets them to commit to a purchase or take action.
You could, for example, use retargeting ads to drive people back to your website after their initial visit, and follow up with remarketing emails if they still don’t convert after revisiting your site. In this way, both strategies work hand in hand to create a seamless marketing journey.
Which Strategy Should You Use?
The answer depends on your goals. If you’re trying to engage with potential new customers and push them further down the sales funnel, retargeting may be your best bet. If you’re looking to re-engage existing leads or loyal customers with personalized offers, remarketing could be more effective.
In many cases, a hybrid approach will yield the best results, where retargeting nurtures top-of-the-funnel leads and remarketing takes over for those more likely to convert.
The Future of Remarketing and Retargeting
With the rise of privacy concerns and the phasing out of third-party cookies, both remarketing and retargeting will need to evolve. Advertisers will have to rely more on first-party data and consent-based strategies to engage users. This means that future efforts will be increasingly personalized, consent-driven, and context-aware, making both tactics more sophisticated.
Conclusion: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Remarketing and retargeting may seem like two different strategies, but they’re two sides of the same coin. Both aim to keep your brand relevant in the minds of potential customers, but they do so in different ways. Where retargeting casts the net wide, remarketing hones in on personalized engagement, and together they form a powerful combination.
So, the next time you receive that ad for the shoes you were eyeing or an email reminding you about an abandoned cart, you’ll know exactly what’s going on. And in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, the more personalized the message, the better the result.
