Remarketing

Remarketing helps brands reconnect with known audiences through personalized follow-up campaigns. In this guide, we’ll break down what remarketing is, how it works, and how it can work alongside a retargeting campaign. For a deeper comparison, read our guide to remarketing vs retargeting.

What is remarketing?

Short definition: Remarketing is an advertising strategy that helps brands re-engage known users through owned data and permission-based channels like email, CRM audiences, loyalty campaigns, and customer-list campaigns.

Rather than reaching a new audience, remarketing focuses on people who have already shared information, interacted with a brand, or become a customer. These campaigns help brands deliver more relevant follow-up messages that drive repeat engagement, conversions, and retention.

How does a remarketing advertising campaign work?

Let’s say Brandon is shopping for a new pair of running shoes. He creates an account with a sporting goods retailer, joins the brand’s loyalty program, and adds a pair of shoes to his cart, but leaves before checking out.

Because Brandon shared his email address and became a known customer, the retailer can use remarketing to follow up with more relevant messages.

Common types of remarketing

Remarketing can take many forms depending on the audience, channel, and business goal. Here are some of the most common types.

  • Email remarketing: Re-engages people who have subscribed, created an account, made a purchase, or shared their contact information through timely emails.
  • Customer-list or CRM-based remarketing: Uses first-party data, like email lists, purchase history, or CRM records, to reach known audiences with relevant campaigns.
  • Loyalty and win-back remarketing: Encourages existing customers to buy again, use loyalty rewards, or return after a period of inactivity.
  • Cross-sell and upsell remarketing: Recommends related products, add-ons, or higher-value options based on previous purchases or interests.
  • App or push re-engagement: Uses push notifications or in-app messages to bring users back after inactivity or encourage a specific action.

How to measure success in remarketing

The best way to measure remarketing depends on what you want the campaign to do. Some campaigns are built to keep known audiences engaged, while others are meant to drive a specific action like a purchase, sign-up, or renewal.

Engagement metrics: When the goal is to stay top of mind and bring people back to your brand, engagement metrics can show whether your message is resonating. Useful KPIs include:

  • Email opens: How often people open your remarketing emails
  • Click-through rate: How often people click from your message to your site, app, or offer
  • Page visits: How often known audiences return to your website
  • App engagement: How often inactive users come back to your app or respond to push notifications

Conversion metrics: When the goal is to drive revenue or another high-value action, conversion metrics can help show whether your campaign is moving people closer to purchase. Useful KPIs include:

  • Sales or conversion rate: How often audiences complete a purchase or desired action
  • Repeat purchase rate: How often existing customers buy again
  • Cart recovery rate: How often abandoned carts turn into completed purchases
  • Sign-ups or renewals: How often audiences restart a subscription, renew a plan, or sign up for a trial
  • Cost per acquisition: How much it costs, on average, to drive each conversion
  • Customer lifetime value: How remarketing contributes to longer-term customer value over time

How to plan remarketing and retargeting campaigns in parallel

Remarketing and retargeting work best when they support the same customer journey: Retargeting can bring people back through paid ads, while remarketing can re-engage known audiences through owned data and personalized follow-up.

  • Coordinate touchpoints to reduce fatigue: Give each channel a clear role so customers are not overwhelmed by too many emails, ads, or reminders at once.
  • Segment lists by behavior, value, and lifecycle stage: Group audiences by signals like cart abandonment, purchase history, loyalty status, or inactivity to make each message more relevant.
  • Align message timing with customer intent: Match your follow-up to where someone is in the journey, whether they just abandoned a cart or haven’t purchased in months.
  • Exclude recent converters from irrelevant campaigns: Remove shoppers who recently purchased from campaigns that no longer apply and move them into a relevant next step.
  • Test messaging, timing, and channel mix: Experiment with different offers, creative, send times, and channel combinations to see what moves each audience forward.

For more ways to strengthen your paid ad approach, explore these retargeting strategies.

Bring known audiences back

Remarketing gives brands a way to turn existing customer interest into continued engagement and action. By using first-party data, audience segmentation, and personalized follow-up, marketers can create more relevant moments that bring customers back and move them closer to conversion.

To learn more, explore how remarketing and retargeting work together and see how Criteo’s retargeting solutions can help you reconnect with high-intent shoppers.