Retargeting Statistics Proving It’s Still Going Strong

Perhaps you’re hoping to go to Spain on your next holiday and have started looking up flight prices. The next day, you notice digital ads about traveling to Spain from different airlines while browsing on the web and social media. 

That’s retargeting, folks.

Basically, retargeting focuses on customers who went on your site and didn’t buy anything. By using cookie technology, brands can then retarget those customers by serving them relevant ads to get them to return and make a purchase. 

Retargeting has become the bread-and-butter of online marketing in recent years and continues to be a top marketing strategy. However, this may change as users get more concerned about privacy and block unessential cookies. 

To give you a sense of its use and popularity in 2021, let’s go over some top retargeting statistics below. 

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Why Retargeting is Useful

First of all, retargeting is great for marketers, as most users don’t make purchases on the first go. Specifically, this strategy is useful because:

• 97% of visitors leave and don’t come back to a website.
• On average, websites can only convert 2% of their visitors.
• The average cart abandonment rate per device is 77.24%.

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Retargeting Statistics About its Success

Bottom line: Retargeting is an excellent idea to reach customers because it works.

Here are some statistics that highlight its success:

• Retargeting ads have a click-through rate that’s 10 times greater than regular display ads. 
• Conversion rates for retargeting can reach up to 150%. 
• Retargeting works to reduce cart abandonment by 6.5%. It can also boost online sales by nearly 20%. 
• Retargeting has a whopping 1,046% efficiency rate. 
• Web traffic can rise by 700% through retargeting.

• B2B retargeting greatly outperforms B2C by 402% in conversions per impression.
• Retargeting used in combination with other types of advertising can increase the likelihood of a sale by 50%.
• Retail uses retargeting strategies the most at 27%, while tech uses it at 10%, finance 8% and travel 4%.
• eCommerce enjoys a 128% up in conversions, while financial services has an average 147% increased conversions.
• The average revenue-per-visit for repeat customers is 497% higher than ordinary shoppers.
• Click-through rate is reduced by nearly 50% after five months if the same set of ads is used.
• The ideal ad frequency is about 17 to 20 ads per user per month.
• Retargeted customers are 8 times cheaper to reach per click.

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Retargeting Statistics Related to Marketer Opinion

Marketers adore retargeting. To start, 59% of marketers ranked retargeting as a top marketing trend in 2020 and 46% believe it’s underused today. At the same time, 91% found it performs the same as or better than search, email, or other display ads.

It’s no wonder that 49% of brands have a dedicated budget for retargeting and 50% will be expanding their budget for retargeting within the next six months.

It’s also interesting to note that marketers are focusing on retargeting in their ad budgets, allocating up to 41% to it. Many marketers want to ramp up efforts, as only 27% are extremely satisfied with the ROI of their retargeting program.

Ultimately, there are several reasons why marketers might use retargeting. 70% use retargeting for brand awareness, 60% for social engagement and 58% for customer retention. Some cite customer service as a top concern, too.

Here are some other interesting statistics about marketers using retargeting:

• 88% are using AI or plan to use it to optimize their retargeting programs.
• 67% use a marketing automation platform to help organize lead generation.
• 77% are worried about ad fraud.
• 30% mention the importance of not placing ads next to hateful or fake content. 

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Retargeting Statistics Related to Consumer Opinion

In addition, user opinion is an essential part of retargeting. As shown above, 37% of users click on ads because they’re drawn to the product. At the same time, three out of five retargeted customers recognize product ads they saw on other sites.

While 47% of shoppers are willing to give up their privacy for a bargain, not all users are happy about ads. 18% are worried about retargeted ads, while 29% are indifferent to them. 

Here are some more retargeting statistics regarding users:

• Retargeted customers click ads at up to three times the rate.
• 29% users say it’s acceptable to retarget on retail sites, while only 12% say it’s ok on YouTube and 9% on Instagram.
• Retargeting is also better for some categories than others. 37% of consumers say it’s ok in the apparel category and 35% for electronics. 
• 53% say one remarketed ad per week is acceptable, while only 19% say twice a week. This rate quickly drops, with 5% being happy with six or more retargeted ads a week.
• Retargeting is most effective 15 to 30 days after a user’s visit. In fact, 39% of consumers accept retargeting within 1 day.

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Retargeting Statistics on Social Media

Retargeting is popular on social media as well. In fact, 54% of marketers think social media platforms are best for retargeting.

Here are some statistics about how retargeting is doing on social media:

• Of the top 1 million sites, 18.41% use Facebook Custom Audiences for retargeting, then Google Remarketing (13.67%), Criteo (3.7%), Bing Universal Event Tracking (3.42%), Twitter Ads (2.14%), and AdRoll (1.64%).
• 67% of marketers use Facebook Exchange for advertising and retargeting.
• Twitter’s Tailored Audience platform is used by 38% of online marketers.
• For B2B marketing, the #1 paid social media platform in 2020 was LinkedIn. 
• Retargeting ads on LinkedIn can increase click-through rate by 30%.

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Retargeting Statistics on Mobile

Even though mobile is a huge source of web traffic, many marketers aren’t sure how to retarget on mobile. Only 54% are currently doing so and mobile conversions are a top KPI goal for 51% of marketers.

Barriers to Mobile Retargeting Adoption

As shown above, there are several barriers to retargeting on mobile. The largest one is not having an app (34%), while the second is not having a mobile site (27%). 

In addition, here are some stats about retargeting on mobile:

• 35% of app conversions result from retargeting.
• 30% of apps with a marketing budget now make use of retargeting.
• Retargeting on apps can boost 50% more paying users.
• 17.5% of apps that use retargeted ads enjoy a 25% conversion rate.
• Mobile retargeting is difficult for marketers, with only 8% saying they were “very successful” and 29% “successful” in retargeting on mobile. 
• Mobile retargeting can increase click-through rates by 48%.
• Retargeting on apps spiked by 10%+ between 2018-2020.

Final Takeaway

While retargeting has seen great success in recent years, it’s still in flux. With changing opinions about cookies and consumers using ad blockers, retargeting may have a rocky future. 

For now, retargeting remains a key method for reaching interested users and getting sales conversions. We’ll keep an eye on these trends, as retargeting may shift over time.

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Further reading:

• Content Marketing Statistics, Facts and Trends
• Voice Search Statistics, Trends, Facts, and Data
• 167+ Internet Statistics, Trends and Facts
• How Many Websites Are There Around the World?
• 135+ Mobile Marketing Statistics
• 100+ Video Marketing Statistics, Facts and Trends

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