Does the Same Ad Keep Following You?

A few years ago, I was still in college and had very little knowledge of how programmatic digital display advertising worked. Let alone, that everything I looked up for Christmas presents could be retargeted back to me regardless of what site I was on later.

This created quite the dilemma for me when my husband exclaimed that “it seems like PS4’s are following me everywhere!” after I had spent days researching the best deal. Luckily for me, I quickly deleted the browser cookies and avoided ruining the surprise.

Fast forward to now understanding how programmatic digital display strategies work, and I get quite the laugh about that memory. Working with retargeting strategies, I have seen firsthand how retargeting can be one of the most successful strategies digital display campaigns can use. With many clients having most of their conversions coming from retargeting.

How exactly does retargeting work?

Well, first a user visits your site, this might be from an ad or just directly searching for the product. After the user reaches your site, their browser stores a small piece of code known as a pixel, causing their browser to be “cookied.” The user may then leave the site after not completing a purchase, only to be served ads for your product later. Then for the 30 days following them reaching your site, you can serve ads that continue to encourage them to visit your site and convert. During those 30 days, if they revisit your site but don’t convert the cycle of retargeting restarts allowing you to reach them for another 30 days. Retargeting can be one of the most successful strategies to use programmatically since it allows you to target people that have already expressed interest by interacting with your ad.