You’re spending time and money driving traffic to your website, but most of your visitors might leave without converting. That’s not just frustrating; it’s also wasted potential.

Even if people visit your pricing page, engage with your content, or browse your products, many might not take the desired action on their first visit. Without a way to reconnect with these potential customers, your ad campaigns will fall short, and you will miss key opportunities to grow.

This is where retargeting software can prove to be a game-changer.

Retargeting allows you to stay in front of website visitors after they leave.

Whether you’re running display ads through the Google Display Network, video ads on YouTube, or personalized retargeting ads on social media, the right tools allow your business to re-engage visitors across multiple channels and, hopefully, convert them into paying customers.

In this guide, you’ll learn what retargeting software is, how it works, and which platforms can help you get the most out of your advertising budget.

What Is Retargeting Software?

Retargeting software is designed to help your business re-engage people who visit your website but don’t convert.

It works by placing a small code snippet (often called a tracking pixel) on your site. When someone visits, this code collects valuable data, such as what pages they viewed, how long they stayed, and what products they interacted with.

This data is then used to build custom audiences that can be targeted with personalized ads across ad platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram. So, instead of showing a general ad to a cold audience, you’re using historical data and analytics tools to target people who’ve already shown interest in your business.

By using a strong retargeting platform, you can deliver the right messages at the right time, whether that’s a follow-up discount, a reminder about a cart abandonment, or a simple nudge to finish what they started.

Who Should Use Retargeting Software?

Contrary to popular belief, retargeting software isn't just for large enterprises. Retargeting is one of the most practical and effective solutions for any business looking to make the most of its web traffic and advertising budget.

Here’s how it can support different types of businesses and roles:

• E-commerce businesses use retargeting tools to recover revenue from cart abandonment and promote dynamic ads that show visitors the exact products they viewed.
• B2B companies rely on ad retargeting software to stay in front of decision-makers after they visit high-intent pages like pricing or case studies.
• SaaS platforms use it to retarget users who signed up for a free trial but didn’t convert and offer tailored messaging to drive upgrades.
• Agencies and marketing teams use retargeting platforms to deliver better results across client accounts by using custom audiences and multiple channels to improve performance.
• Marketing managers turn to retargeting software to stretch limited budgets and improve attribution through Google Analytics and other analytics tools to track what’s working.

If you're trying to drive conversions, boost brand awareness, or recover traffic that would otherwise be lost, retargeting offers a direct path to ROI.

It's one of the few advertising tools that targets an audience already familiar with your brand, which makes each impression more valuable and each click more likely to lead to revenue.

Targeted Website Advertising vs Generic Advertising

If you’re still running broad ad campaigns without any audience segmentation or behavioral data, you’re likely leaving money on the table. While generic ads may reach more people, they rarely reach the right audience, and that leads to low engagement, wasted impressions, and missed revenue.

Let’s compare the two.

Generic advertising:

• Displays the same ads to everyone, regardless of interest or online behavior
• Often leads to low click-through rates and low conversion rates
• Uses minimal targeting and limited analytics
• Fails to account for where the user is in the customer journey

Targeted website advertising with retargeting software:

• Focuses on users who’ve already visited your website or shown interest in specific products
• Leverages custom audiences based on behavior, such as cart abandonment, product views, or time on site
• Runs personalized retargeting ads across ad platforms like Google Ads and Facebook
• Uses analytics tools to measure performance and refine strategy
• Drives higher ROI by re-engaging warm leads rather than chasing cold ones

Retargeting Ads Is Better Than Generic Advertising

With targeted retargeting campaigns, you can:

• Retarget users who left your site without converting
• Deliver personalized messages using dynamic ads and video ads
• Boost brand awareness by keeping your business visible across multiple channels
• Turn passive interest into real action, helping you drive conversions with greater efficiency

Types of Retargeting Campaigns

Not all retargeting campaigns are created equal. The approach you take should depend on your product, audience behavior, and where visitors are in the buying journey.

Here are the most effective types of campaigns you can run using modern retargeting software.

Site-Based Retargeting

This is the most common form of retargeting. It tracks your website visitors and delivers retargeting ads based on the pages they viewed or actions they didn’t take.

This approach is ideal for addressing cart abandonment, re-engaging mid-funnel users, and personalizing ads based on on-site behavior.

Search Retargeting

Search retargeting focuses on users who searched for relevant terms related to your product or service but may not have visited your site yet.

Unlike standard search ads, this method allows you to target prospects who’ve demonstrated interest through keywords, even if they’re new to your website. It's a powerful way to reach high-intent users and drive them into your funnel.

Email Retargeting

When someone opens or clicks your email but doesn’t convert, email retargeting allows you to follow up with ads tailored to that behavior.

Integrated with your retargeting software, this helps reinforce messaging across both email and paid media, making your strategy more cohesive.

CRM and List-Based Retargeting

Have a list of leads or past customers? You can upload that list to platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, or LinkedIn and run retargeting campaigns tailored to those segments.

This allows you to stay connected with known contacts, promote upsells, or re-engage cold leads, making it an essential tool for both sales and marketing teams.

Dynamic Retargeting

Dynamic ads personalize the creative shown to each user based on their specific behavior—like the exact product they viewed or added to cart.

This is especially powerful for e-commerce businesses but also effective for B2B or SaaS companies with multiple service tiers. These ads are automated through your retargeting software, using product feeds and behavioral data to create hyper-relevant content.

Video and Social Retargeting

Video ads and social platforms offer rich engagement opportunities, especially for mid-funnel users.

You can retarget people who watched part of your video on YouTube or interacted with your brand on Facebook or Instagram. These retargeting tools allow you to sequence messaging, build trust, and eventually drive the click that leads to a sale.

Each campaign type serves a different purpose. When used strategically, they can work together to retarget users at every stage of the funnel, which can boost conversion rates, increase engagement, and make your ad spend go further.

Top 5 Retargeting Platforms and Tools

Choosing the right retargeting software is critical if you want to scale your ad performance, improve targeting precision, and maximize ROI. Below are some of the most trusted retargeting tools available today, each offering unique features for managing retargeting campaigns across multiple channels.

1. Google Ads / Google Display Network

As one of the most powerful ad platforms on the web, Google Ads gives you access to the full Google Display Network, including millions of websites, YouTube, and mobile apps.

With its comprehensive audience targeting, dynamic creative support, and integration with Google Analytics, it’s a top choice for businesses running high-volume retargeting campaigns.

Key features:

• Access to the full Google Display Network
• Deep integration with Google Analytics
• Dynamic ads and audience segmentation
• Advanced bidding and optimization tools
• Supports search ads, display, and video ads

Best for: Businesses looking to retarget users at scale and optimize spend with analytics tools and real-time performance data.

2. Facebook and Instagram Retargeting

Facebook and Instagram offer highly customizable retargeting tools through Meta’s advertising platform. You can retarget users based on site visits, video ad views, or custom audiences built from email lists or past interactions.

Tools like Facebook Lead Ads also make it easy to generate conversions directly from the platform.

Key features:

• Retarget based on page visits, engagement, or Facebook Lead Ads
• Run personalized video ads, carousels, or static creatives
• Cross-device targeting across Facebook and Instagram
• Powerful segmentation and lookalike audience options
• Supports cart abandonment recovery and promotional reminders

Best for: Visual brands and service providers looking to maintain a strong presence in users' social feeds.

3. LinkedIn Matched Audiences

If your business targets B2B decision-makers, LinkedIn’s retargeting software is especially useful. You can retarget based on company, job title, or industry, making it ideal for high-ticket offers or niche markets.

Key features:

• Retarget by company, industry, job title, or contact list
• Integrates with CRM data and email platforms
• High-quality traffic from verified professionals
• Excellent for targeted ad campaigns and account-based marketing

Best for: B2B companies focused on account-based marketing and professional targeting.

4. AdRoll

AdRoll is a dedicated retargeting platform that supports display, social, and email retargeting in one platform. It offers AI-powered personalization, dynamic creative, and performance tracking across channels.

Key features:

• Combines display, social, and email retargeting in one platform
• Dynamic ads powered by user behavior and AI
• Detailed attribution and analytics tools
• Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and other e-commerce platforms
• Smart budgeting and performance tracking

Best for: Growing businesses that need a unified platform for cross-channel retargeting ads and data-driven optimization.

5. Criteo

Criteo is known for its robust dynamic ads and product recommendation engine. It uses large-scale historical data to automatically generate personalized ads based on a user’s behavior.

Key features:

• AI-powered dynamic retargeting
• Uses historical data to suggest relevant products
• Global reach and massive ad inventory
• Built-in audience scoring and segmentation
• Designed for large-scale e-commerce businesses

Best for: E-commerce businesses looking for advanced automation and high-level personalization.

Capturify Optimizes Any Retargeting Software You Use

No matter which retargeting software you choose, your results will only be as strong as the data you feed into it.

That’s where Capturify gives you a competitive edge.

Capturify doesn’t replace your retargeting platform; it enhances it. By identifying anonymous website visitors in real time and enriching that traffic with verified contact and company data, Capturify helps you build more accurate custom audiences and launch smarter, more effective retargeting campaigns.

Here’s how Capturify supports and optimizes your existing setup:

• Uncovers missed opportunities by identifying visitors who leave without converting; no form fills required
• Provides accurate data on who your visitors are, what pages they visited, and how long they stayed
• Enriches audience segments with company names, roles, and decision-maker contact details
• Integrates seamlessly with your ad platforms, CRMs, and marketing tools to trigger real-time follow-up
• Improves ad performance by helping you serve targeted ads to users most likely to convert
• Boosts return on ad spend by narrowing in on high-intent audiences, not just broad traffic
• Supports dynamic retargeting with behavior-based segmentation and user-level insights
• Enables smarter optimization by giving your marketing manager access to cleaner, more complete data

Whether you're running display ads, video ads, or search ads, Capturify makes sure you're targeting the right users, not just based on visits but on behavior, interest, and buying intent.

Get started today with 500 free leads!

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FAQs About Retargeting Software

What are retargeting tools?

Retargeting tools are platforms or software solutions that allow you to serve ads to people who have already interacted with your website, product pages, or digital content. These tools help you reach prospects who didn’t convert the first time, often your most valuable target audience.

By showing tailored ads to previous visitors, retargeting tools help keep your brand visible across platforms like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Whether you're promoting offers, reminding users about items left in their cart, or sharing content updates, these tools help recover missed opportunities and boost conversion rates.

What is CRM retargeting?

CRM retargeting is a strategy that uses your customer or lead database to re-engage contacts with targeted ads across platforms.

Instead of relying solely on website behavior, it uses the data stored in your CRM software, such as email addresses, purchase history, or job roles, to reach existing leads or customers with personalized messages.

Example: A B2B company uploads a list of contacts from their CRM into Facebook Ads Manager. They then run a retargeting campaign specifically designed to promote a new feature to that audience. This allows for extremely precise targeting, especially useful in industries with longer sales cycles.

What tool should you use for remarketing?

The best tool for remarketing (also called retargeting) depends on your business goals, budget, and audience. Popular options include:

• Google Ads: For broad reach and powerful integration with the Google Display Network
• Facebook Ads: For engaging visual content and access to detailed audience segmentation
• AdRoll: For managing retargeting campaigns across multiple categories and platforms in one place
• Capturify: For identifying anonymous visitors and turning them into actionable leads before you even retarget them

How to do Google retargeting?

To set up Google retargeting, you'll need a Google Ads account and access to the Google Display Network. Here's a basic outline:

• Install the Google Ads remarketing tag (code) on your website
• Use Google Analytics to build custom audience lists based on user behavior
• Create a retargeting campaign in Google Ads, selecting your audience and ad format (e.g., display, video, or responsive ads)
• Set your budget, duration, and targeting options to reach the right prospects