Retargeting is a relatively new form of advertising, that makes it possible to show ads to people who have performed a specific action on your website, as they browse other websites. You’ve probably noticed this whenever you’ve gone to make a purchase online, and gone back to e.g. Facebook. Notice how you suddenly see the product all over the Facebook sidebars? That’s retargeting in action.

If not used properly, it’s an easy way to blow through thousands in your marketing budget, without a customer shown for it. However, when setup correctly and optimised for conversions, it can deliver a fantastic ROI. BareMetrics generate $650 in lifetime value for every $6 they spend on retargeting.

The key thing to bare in mind when considering a retargeting campaign is “do we have an easily understood value proposition?”. If the answer is yes, retargeting will work well given time. If your value proposition is complex, and takes a lot of explanation, it’s probably not going to work.