Retargeting Strategies in eCommerce: Recapture lost customers and boost your conversions

Here are some retargeting strategies for eCommerce to increase your store’s profitability.

We invest significant amounts of money in driving traffic to our websites. We focus on organic methods like SEO, paid traffic with PPC, influencer collaborations, and content creation. All with one main goal: to maximize sales.

That’s why it’s surprising how often we forget a fundamental marketing principle, a universal axiom: acquiring a customer is more expensive than retaining one.

10 Retargeting Strategies in eCommerce

With this in mind, we’ve created a concise guide—a series of tips and tactics you can use in your eCommerce store through retargeting.

To clarify, retargeting is a digital marketing tactic that involves re-engaging with a potential customer who has previously interacted with your brand. This is typically done through channels like display ads, social media advertising, or email marketing.

Now, let’s dive into 10 retargeting strategies for online stores.

#1 – Cart Recovery

This is a classic: once a user has progressed through the purchase funnel and added items to their cart, the buying process has already begun.

At this stage, you’ve captured their attention, stimulated their interest, converted it into desire, and they’re taking action. This lead is much “warmer” than one captured from scratch.

Hence, cart recovery campaigns—usually through email—are common, serving as a reminder: “You have items in your cart.” Depending on how aggressive you want to be, you can also offer discounts to encourage customers to complete the purchase.

#2 – Retargeting Focused on Specific Products

If a visitor browses a product page, they’re already signaling some level of interest. They might not be ready to add it to their cart yet, but it has caught their attention.

Retargeting by displaying this product in other contexts—such as while they read online news or scroll through social media—rekindles their interest and attracts them back to your store more effectively than a generic brand ad.

An interesting variation is implementing this strategy with your store’s wish lists. Users often save items they’re interested in but not ready to buy, making them prime targets for retargeting later.

#3 – Dynamic Retargeting with Related Products

This is an intriguing variation of the previous strategy, showing users interested in one product other related options. This can stimulate strategies like cross-selling or upselling via retargeting campaigns.

#4 – Retargeting for Inactive Users

There are countless reasons why a past customer may stop buying from your online store. You can either accept this reality or use strategies to reactivate them.

Retargeting, combined with email marketing, allows you to create a flow of messages that keep your brand top-of-mind. Personalized promotions or discounts can further incentivize reactivation.

You can also use segmentation to encourage active users to buy more frequently—for example, moving customers who purchase every three months to a monthly buying cycle.

#5 – Retargeting Based on Internal Searches

Searches performed on your eCommerce site are a goldmine for understanding customer interests and, more importantly, how they search for products.

With this data, you can craft highly personalized retargeting campaigns, showcasing products tailored to their search behavior in other contexts.

#6 – Seasonal Retargeting

Ideal for extending the impact of major seasonal campaigns.

Here’s an example: imagine you’ve made a significant investment during Black Friday. What happens to all the traffic you captured during that event? Don’t let it go to waste—use retargeting to re-engage with these potential customers in the following weeks.

#7 – Geolocated Retargeting

A useful segmentation criterion for retargeting campaigns is a user’s geographic location, even if you don’t have a physical store.

Online stores with international reach can boost specific product lines with localized promotions.

You can also personalize actions based on the user’s browser language, tailoring campaigns to their origin or current location.

#8 – Retargeting on social media

Social media remains one of the most popular online spaces for users. Over the years, these platforms have become increasingly business-friendly.

Each platform offers its own advertising tools, audience targeting features, and tracking pixels, allowing you to create retargeting campaigns based on user interactions with your profiles and posts. When combined with influencer partnerships or social proof, this strategy becomes incredibly effective.

#9 – Behavioral Retargeting on Your Website

A visitor’s behavior on your site reveals a lot about their needs. By interpreting this behavior, you can sell more effectively, with a personalized approach.

For instance, you can activate retargeting for users who spend more than a certain amount of time on a specific page. This indicates genuine interest, even if they didn’t proceed to the next step in your conversion funnel.

#10 –Retargeting in Email Campaigns 

Not all retargeting campaigns need to happen directly on your eCommerce site. Emails can also be used to generate segments for future retargeting.

If you have an email marketing strategy, you can retarget users who opened your emails but didn’t take action. For example, if someone opened an email about a promotion but didn’t buy, you can show them ads featuring a second version of that offer or related products.

These 10 strategies are just examples. The key is to combine creativity with retargeting in your eCommerce store. Doing so can lead to spectacular results.