Advertising directed specifically at people who have already interacted with a brand — visited a website, viewed a product, abandoned a cart — rather than a new, previously unreached audience.
Why it matters
Retargeted audiences typically convert at meaningfully higher rates than cold audiences, since they've already shown some level of interest — making retargeting one of the more efficient forms of paid media, budget for budget.
In a sentence
"We retarget anyone who viewed the pricing page but didn't sign up within seven days."
Related terms
- Antonyms: Prospecting (advertising to a new, previously unreached audience, as opposed to people who've already engaged).
- Often confused with: These two terms are largely used interchangeably today; historically, "remarketing" more specifically referred to Google's ad product for this purpose, while "retargeting" was the more general industry term.
- Synonyms: N/A (the terms are synonyms of each other).