How to Use Custom Audiences for Retargeting in Display Ads

In the competitive world of digital advertising, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns offer businesses the chance to drive immediate results and engage their target audience effectively. While targeting the right audience is key to any campaign's success, the real magic happens when you can retarget users who have already interacted with your website or ads. This is where custom audiences and retargeting come into play, particularly when using display ads.

Custom audiences allow you to refine your target audience and deliver more personalized ads based on their behavior. With the right approach, you can significantly improve your conversion rates, increase your return on investment (ROI), and maximize the impact of your campaigns. In this post, we'll dive into how to use custom audiences for retargeting in display ads and why this strategy is essential for success.

What Are Custom Audiences in PPC?

Custom audiences are groups of people created based on specific criteria, such as their past behavior, interests, demographics, or engagement with your brand. In PPC advertising, especially within platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads, custom audiences help you target and retarget individuals who have already shown interest in your products or services.

Custom audiences can be segmented into several categories, including:

• Website Visitors: Users who have previously visited your website.
• Engagement with Ads: Users who have interacted with your ads but didn’t convert.
• Customer Lists: Users who are part of your CRM database or email list.
• App Activity: People who have interacted with your mobile app.

By using these segments, you can tailor your display ads to specific groups of people, ensuring that your ads are relevant and engaging. This kind of focused advertising can significantly improve your ad performance and conversion rates.

Why Use Custom Audiences for Retargeting?

Retargeting is a strategy that involves showing ads to people who have already interacted with your website, app, or content but haven’t yet completed a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. This strategy is incredibly effective for increasing conversions, as it targets an audience that has already demonstrated interest in your brand.

Here are several reasons why using custom audiences for retargeting in display ads is so powerful:

1. Higher Conversion Rates: Users who have interacted with your website or brand are more likely to convert compared to those who haven’t. Retargeting these individuals with display ads reinforces your brand’s message and nudges them toward taking action.

2. Increased Brand Awareness: Even if a user doesn't convert on their first interaction, seeing your ads multiple times helps increase brand recognition and recall. Retargeting ensures that your brand stays top-of-mind, which is crucial for future conversions.

3. Cost-Effectiveness: Retargeting ads generally have a lower cost-per-click (CPC) because you're targeting users who are already familiar with your brand. Additionally, you're not wasting your budget on people who have no interest in what you're offering.

4. Personalization: Custom audiences allow you to create highly personalized and relevant ads. For instance, you can target users who abandoned their cart and show them ads with a special offer to encourage them to complete the purchase.

5. Better Use of Data: By leveraging your existing audience data—whether it’s from your website, social media, or CRM system—you can create a more effective PPC strategy. This data-driven approach ensures that your ads are reaching the right people, at the right time, with the right message.

How to Create Custom Audiences for Retargeting in Display Ads

Creating custom audiences for retargeting requires a few steps, but the effort is well worth it in terms of the potential to increase your ROI. Below is a general outline of how to set up custom audiences for display ad retargeting:

1. Install Tracking Pixels on Your Website

The first step in creating custom audiences is to install tracking pixels on your website. A tracking pixel is a small snippet of code placed on your web pages that collects data about users' actions.

For example, Google Ads uses the Google Ads pixel, while Facebook has the Facebook Pixel. These pixels help track visitors who interact with your site and allow you to create retargeting custom audiences based on their behavior.

2. Define Your Audience Segments

Once the tracking pixel is installed, you can begin defining your audience segments. There are various options for segmenting your audience, depending on the actions users have taken on your site. Here are a few examples:

• All Website Visitors: Target anyone who has visited your website.
• Specific Page Visitors: Target users who visited specific pages, such as product or service pages.
• Cart Abandoners: Target users who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase.
• Lead Form Abandoners: Target users who started filling out a lead generation form but didn’t submit it.
• Engaged Users: Target users who engaged with your content, such as viewing a video or clicking on an ad, but didn’t convert.

3. Upload Customer Data (Optional)

If you have an existing customer list, such as email subscribers or CRM data, you can upload this information to your advertising platform to create custom audiences. This allows you to retarget existing customers or leads who haven’t completed a desired action.

4. Set Up Retargeting Campaigns

Once your custom audiences are set up, it’s time to create your display ad campaigns. Within platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, you can select the custom audiences you’ve created as your target audience. You can then craft your display ads to specifically address the needs and behaviors of that audience.

For example, if someone abandoned their cart, you could create an ad offering a discount to encourage them to return to your site and complete the purchase. The more personalized and relevant your ads are, the more likely they are to convert.

5. Monitor and Optimize Campaigns

After your campaigns go live, it’s important to continually monitor and optimize your ads. Track key metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost-per-conversion to understand how well your retargeting efforts are performing. If you notice that certain segments are not converting as well as others, consider tweaking your ad copy, visuals, or targeting criteria.

Best Practices for Retargeting with Custom Audiences

To get the best results from your custom audience retargeting campaigns, keep these best practices in mind:

• Frequency Cap: Set a frequency cap to avoid overwhelming users with too many ads. If users see your ad too often, it could lead to ad fatigue or even annoyance.
• Create Compelling Offers: Ensure your display ads offer something valuable, such as a discount, free shipping, or a limited-time offer, to incentivize conversions.
• Test Different Creatives: Experiment with various ad designs, copy, and calls-to-action to see what resonates best with your audience.
• Segment Audiences for Better Relevance: The more segmented your audience, the more personalized you can make your ads. For example, you might show different ads to users who visited a product page versus those who added items to their cart.
• Timing is Key: Be mindful of when to show retargeting ads. For example, you might want to wait a few days after a user abandons their cart before showing them a reminder ad.

Conclusion

Using custom audiences for retargeting in display ads is a powerful PPC strategy that can significantly increase your conversion rates, improve your ROI, and help you maximize the potential of your ad spend. By targeting users who have already shown interest in your brand, you can deliver personalized, relevant ads that drive meaningful actions.

To make the most out of custom audience retargeting, work with a trusted Digital Marketing services company like Flexsin that specializes in Paid Media Advertising. They can help you set up and optimize your PPC campaigns, ensuring that you're reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time.