Advertising and social media
Remarketing
in Google Ads
Many people do not buy on their first visit. Remarketing shows them your ad over the following days and weeks, while they are still weighing up the decision.
Why it pays to reach people who have visited your website
Someone who has been on your website already knows your brand, has seen your offer and has taken some action. The ad reminds them of something they left unfinished, instead of introducing your company from scratch.
The decision to buy a service is rarely made on the first visit: people compare several companies, put the matter aside and come back when it becomes urgent. Remarketing increases the chance that they will see your ad at that moment.
Audience lists by decision stage
A common mistake is a single “all visitors” list and one ad for everyone. Someone who compared the terms of your offer is closer to a decision than someone who read a blog post and left after a few seconds. That is why we build lists that match the stages of the decision and write a separate message for each one.
Not excluding people who have already bought. For a month the customer sees an ad for a product they already have at home. The budget is wasted, and the first contact after the sale starts with irritation.
- Visited a service page but did not send the form
- Started filling in the form and stopped
- Added a product to the basket and did not complete the order
- Compared the terms of the offer, so they are choosing a provider now
- Read the blog: we show them a softer message
- Already bought: we exclude this list or use it for cross-selling
Frequency: the line between a reminder and harassment
Without a frequency cap, the same person can see an ad dozens of times a week. Such frequency rarely increases the chance of a purchase, but it easily damages the brand's image.
We set frequency caps and time windows that match the buying cycle. For a service bought once every few years, the window is long and the frequency low. For an abandoned basket in a shop it is the other way round: the ad shows intensively for a few days, then stops.
Consent and privacy
Remarketing relies on data about user behaviour, so it requires the user's consent. The consent banner must be correctly connected to tracking: someone who has not agreed to personalised advertising should not be added to a list.
We check this before the campaign launches: whether the tags respond to the choice made in the banner and whether a refusal actually blocks adding the user to a list. A list collected without consent exposes the company to problems under data protection law.
What to show in a remarketing ad
The audience already knows the brand, so simply repeating the name and slogan adds little. Something concrete works better: completing the order, the delivery time, the quote form someone started to fill in.
For services it helps to remove concerns, for example by stating that the first consultation is free or that the service can be cancelled. Concerns like these are often what stopped someone from sending the form the first time.
Where remarketing ads appear
We run Google Ads remarketing in three places, and each works differently. The Display Network means banners on partner sites: wide reach, but less attention from the viewer. YouTube lets you show video to people who have visited your website. In Search, the ad reaches them when they type in queries related to your industry.
This last option is easy to overlook. Someone who looked at your offer and a week later types a general industry query is close to a decision. For people on the list we raise bids in the Search campaign so that the ad shows to them in a higher position.
What the remarketing budget depends on
We usually run remarketing as part of a wider Google Ads account, alongside campaigns that bring in new traffic. The upper limit of the budget is set by the size of the lists, that is the number of people visiting your website: with low traffic there is no one for the ad to reach, so a large budget cannot be put into it.
Billing works as in other Google Ads campaigns: you pay from your own ad account, usually per click on the Display Network and in Search.
Remarketing looks good in reports because it reaches the people closest to a decision. We assess it together with the acquisition campaigns, because they are what bring people onto the lists. Without them remarketing would have no one to go back to.
Dynamic remarketing for shops
For shops we run dynamic remarketing: the ad shows the specific products someone viewed, instead of a general brand ad. This requires a correct product feed and events that pass the product ID, which is the same infrastructure as Google Shopping.
It is especially useful for abandoned baskets: the ad shows the product, its photo and its price. The data must match the shop, because an ad for an unavailable product or one with an out-of-date price puts people off the shop.
Matching the time window to the buying cycle
Default remarketing settings suit a shop better than a service business. In a cosmetics shop the decision is made within a few days, so a thirty-day window makes sense. For a large job, such as replacing a roof or implementing an ERP system, the decision takes months and thirty days is not enough.
We set the length of the window based on how long a decision takes in your industry, and vary the message over time. Someone who visited your website yesterday remembers the offer. Someone from three months ago needs a reminder of what your company does.
Working together
How we work together, step by step
Tracking and lists
We configure events and build audience lists that match the stages of the decision.
Creatives and caps
We prepare a separate message for each list and set frequency caps.
Optimisation
We watch which list brings in enquiries and orders, and move the budget there.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
A list must have a minimum number of users before Google starts showing ads to it, and the threshold depends on the placement. With low traffic the lists may be too small, and it is better to work on your website's visibility first.
It can be, if no caps are set. With a sensible frequency and people who have already bought excluded, the ad is about something the viewer was genuinely interested in.
We price it individually, usually as part of managing your Google Ads account. The ad budget depends on the size of the lists, which means on your website traffic. We will check free of charge whether remarketing makes sense with your traffic.
Yes, on Facebook and Instagram, see Facebook Ads. The logic is the same; what differs is how audiences are built and which formats are available.
As long as a decision takes in your industry: a few days for an impulse purchase, up to six months for a large job. Google Ads lets you keep a user on a list for up to 540 days, but a longer window needs a different message, because by then the viewer may have forgotten about your company.
Related services
What else may be useful
Your city
Google Ads remarketing in your city
For each of these cities we have a separate page describing the local market and how we work with companies there.
Let's reach the people who have visited your website
We will check free of charge how many people leave your website without getting in touch and whether remarketing makes sense for you.