Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is an incredibly effective digital marketing strategy for bringing back lost visitors to your website in order to increase brand awareness, engagement, and ultimately conversions. Studies show that an average of 97% of first-time website visitors leave without converting. Retargeting helps you reconnect with that audience by showing them targeted ads as they browse other sites and platforms.
Implementing a sound retargeting strategy can deliver outstanding returns for brands of all sizes. Here are 11 top-rated retargeting tools on the market today that can take your brand‘s awareness and conversions to the next level:
Adroll
Founded in 2007, Adroll is one of the veterans in the retargeting space. Their platform offers robust capabilities for dynamic retargeting across channels like display, social, email marketing, and more.
Key features include:
- Cross-channel retargeting (web, social, in-app, etc)
- Automated bidding to optimize campaign performance
- Flexible segmenting options to target audiences
- Detailed analytics and campaign reporting
- Dedicated account management
Adroll is a great choice for mid-size to large companies looking for an all-in-one remarketing solution. Pricing starts at $499/month for their Grow plan.
Criteo
Criteo focuses specifically on commerce marketing, making it ideal for ecommerce brands. They offer automated personalized retargeting to help companies convert more lost visitors into customers.
Standout features of Criteo include:
- Product and category-level retargeting
- Recommendation engine for suggesting relevant products
- Customizable storefronts to display products
- Predictive bidding to determine ideal ad prices
- Average ROAS of over 20x for clients
Pricing for Criteo begins at a $750 monthly minimum spend, making it suitable for larger online retailers.
Wunderkind
Trusted by brands like Microsoft and Slack, Wunderkind incorporates sophisticated AI and machine learning into their retargeting campaigns. Their self-optimizing campaigns respond dynamically to each user.
Notable aspects include:
- Behavior-based customer segmentation
- Automated testing and optimization
- Advanced 1:1 personalization
- Seamless integration with ESPs like Mailchimp
- Average 1200% ROI for clients
Get a custom quote from Wunderkind for pricing information. The extensive automation makes this platform ideal for companies without large in-house teams.
Sizmek
Now owned by Amazon, Sizmek offers an enterprise-level ads solution focused on transparency and performance. Retargeting capabilities include flexible segmentation options and extensive analytics.
Benefits of Sizmek:
- Omnichannel retargeting reaching 99% of inventory
- Real-time campaign optimization
- Workflow automation and AI-powered insights
- Predictive budget pacing and allocation
- An average 10X ROI for advertisers
Work directly with the Sizmek sales team for pricing details. The robust toolset suits firms with large budgets and high volume.
ReTargeter
ReTargeter touts over 1200 active advertisers using their effective remarketing solutions. They make it easy to create targeted segments and then track engagement over time.
Notable ReTargeter functionality:
- Retarget website visitors via display and Facebook
- CRM retargeting using first-party data
- Automated lookalike modeling
- Conversion value tracking
- Detailed demographic analytics
Packages start at $500/month with discounts available for annual commitments. ReTargeter best serves advertisers focused on display and social channels.
Retargeting.biz
Retargeting.biz tailors their platform specifically to ecommerce merchants, incorporating product feeds and shopping behaviors into campaigns. They help turn abandoning site visitors into buyers.
Key options include:
- Automated email follow-up sequences
- SMS remarketing capabilities
- Dynamic discount and coupon functionality
- Product recommendations engine
- Unified dashboard showing all remarketing data
Retargeting.biz offers a free 14-day trial. Contact their sales team for exact pricing information. The tool integrates nicely into existing ecommerce platforms.
Meteora
Meteora stands out for their hyper-local retargeting targeting capabilities. They help brands connect with audiences on sites related to a specific geographical area.
Notable Meteora functionality:
- Geo-based retargeting within 5-mile radii
- Database building for local targeting
- Location lookalike modeling
- Contextual site targeting
- Campaign management and performance tracking
Meteora retargeting starts at $500/month. The location focus makes them ideal for brands targeting local audiences.
Instagram Retargeting Ads
Given Instagram‘s meteoric rise and massive user base, their built-in retargeting capabilities offer huge potential. Dynamic ads let you reconnect with users who‘ve previously engaged with your brand.
Benefits of Instagram retargeting ads:
- Retarget shoppers who viewed products or added items to cart
- Tailor creatives automatically based on products
- Audiences synced straight from your Facebook pixel
- Powerful visual medium for campaigns
- Much lower CPMs compared to Facebook
Instagram dynamic ads are included free with Facebook marketing plans. The platform is extremely effective for ecommerce and visual brands.
Facebook Custom Audiences
As the social media juggernaut, Facebook enables brands to create custom audiences made up of past visitors or customers. Retarget these groups across Facebook and Instagram.
Notable aspects include:
- Build audiences from your website visitors and CRM contacts
- Lookalike capability expands audiences
- Product and conversion level reporting
- Automated split testing of creatives
- Average ROAS of $2.60 for every $1 spent
Facebook managed pricing starts at $40 per day for smaller brands. Custom Audiences seamlessly integrate Facebook‘s platforms for maximum impact.
Twitter Tailored Audiences
Like other platforms, Twitter lets advertisers create tailored audiences to reconnect with site visitors within their feed. Leverage Twitter‘s unique targeting capabilities.
Key functionality includes:
- Tailor audiences by interests, behaviors, device usage
- Contextually target tweets based on content
- Automated bidding and budget allocation
- Conversion tracking across devices
- Location, gender, language targeting options
Twitter pricing is based on impressions bought. Typical CPM rates range from $2-$8 depending on targeting. Cost-effective way to reach engaged users.
Google Ads Remarketing
As the #1 digital advertising platform, Google Ads offers robust options for advertisers to retarget audiences. Display ads are automatically shown to visitors after they leave your site.
Benefits of Google Ads remarketing:
- Remarket across Google properties like Search, YouTube, Gmail
- Support for dynamic remarketing ads
- Customizable creatives for different audiences
- Conversion value tracking by audience
- An average 16X higher CTR vs other ads
Packs available based on monthly budget, starting at $150/month for newer advertisers. Easy to implement and widely effective due to Google‘s reach.
How to Choose the Right Retargeting Platform
The best remarketing solution for your brand depends on several factors:
Intended channels – Do you want to focus solely on website visitors or also target social media and other channels? Identify where your audiences are.
Level of automation – Some tools handle more optimization automatically while others offer more hands-on control. Assess your in-house expertise.
Budget scale – Entry-level options work best for early testing while enterprises need more advanced capabilities. Price accordingly.
Audience targeting – Think about what visitor segments you want to define and how to best combine first and third-party data.
Measurement – How will you calculate ROI? Opt for tools that track meaningful branding and conversion metrics.
The vendors above give a sampling of leading options across a variety of specialties, budgets, and approaches. Identify which align closest to your brand’s specific retargeting objectives.
Most platforms offer free trials; leverage these to test capabilities first-hand before committing. Focus on tools that make execution straightforward while still providing flexibility to tweak campaigns.
Getting Started with Retargeting
Once you select a retargeting partner, follow these best practices to launch effective campaigns:
Install tracking pixels – Placement allows collecting visitor data from your website and ads. This powers audience creation.
Segment strategically – Divide visitors into granular pools like cold traffic, site searchers, cart abandoners, etc. for specialized targeting.
Test creatives – Experiment with different ad formats, layouts, content styles and calls to action to see what resonates best.
Utilize automation – Enable auto-bidding, updates, and optimization where possible to ease management.
Analyze and tweak – Continuously check performance by segment and adjust targeting or creative to improve KPIs. Optimization is key to ROI.
Expand audiences – Use lookalike modeling to extend reach to new visitors resembling your best existing segments.
Reactivate converted users – Create specific segments for past customers and tailor ads to encourage repeat purchases.
With the right foundations in place from the start, you can rapidly scale retargeting results over time as algorithms refine targeting and creatives. Maintain this momentum by continually testing and enhancing campaigns.
The Power of Retargeting for Brand Building
Combining the targeting insights and distribution scale of platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter and leading retargeters enables brands to reconnect with qualified audiences in a strategic, personalized manner.
Sophisticated automatization ensures campaigns keep pace with real-time trends and user behaviors for maximum impact. The solutions profiled above demonstrate how flexible and multifaceted today’s remarketing ecosystem is. Aligning objectives, budgets and internal capabilities with vendor offerings simplifies getting started.
Converting disengaged visitors into long-term brand advocates requires a nuanced, sustainable effort. Retargeting technology provides the foundation. Building atop it with compelling, relevant messaging and incentives encourages audiences to give your brand a second look. Resulting conversions ultimately determine ROI but also build loyalty and satisfaction over time.
There’s never been a better time to develop an advanced retargeting program thanks to the range of solutions available. Increased competition also raises the stakes to deploy campaigns quickly and effectively. Retargeting done right delivers exceptional returns across multiple facets from visits to awareness to leads and sales. Specifically for online brands, results can easily translate into exponential gains during peak seasons.
Now that options for getting lost visitors back have crystallized, brands must focus resources to maximize this underutilized channel. Immediate returns combined with long-term loyalty dividends demonstrate why retargeting merits significant investment. Choose tools strategically aligning with in-house skills and campaign objectives to take full advantage of these fast-evolving capabilities.
