Retargeting
Retargeting and CRM audience advertising
Retargeting is the easiest ad to make look good. It shows ads to people who were already interested, then takes credit when they buy. We set it up to recover the sales that would otherwise slip away, and we check that it does.
Why retargeting needs a CRM
Pixel-based retargeting treats every visitor the same. Someone who read your price page twice and someone who left after three seconds land in one audience. So do patients who already booked, who then see an ad for the appointment they have on Thursday.
A CRM changes that. Each lead has a stage: new, contacted, qualified, booked, came in, paid. Those stages become audiences on Meta (custom audiences), Google (Customer Match) and LinkedIn (matched audiences), and each stage gets its own message, or no ad at all.
The same stages tell the platforms who actually bought. Lookalike audiences can then be seeded with customers, and bidding learns from the leads that turned into revenue.
Who sees what, and where
| Who | What they see | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Visited a service page, no lead | The answer to the question that page raises: a price, a process, a FAQ | Meta, Google display, YouTube |
| Started the form, did not finish | Usually no ad. Our booking form saved name and phone at the first step, so your team calls | Phone or WhatsApp |
| Qualified, not yet booked | Proof: reviews, the doctor, the show flat, a customer story | Meta, YouTube |
| Booked, did not come | A reminder and an easy way to rebook | WhatsApp or SMS first, ads after |
| Customer | No acquisition ads. A recall or an upsell when it is due | Email, WhatsApp, Meta |
The audiences we build
Site visitors by intent
Grouped by page and recency: price pages this week, articles this month, each with its own window.
Viewers and engagers
People who watched most of a video or engaged with your profile on Meta, TikTok or YouTube.
CRM stage lists
Exported from Napexy CRM by stage, hashed before upload and refreshed as leads move on.
Exclusions
Customers, booked patients, staff and job applicants kept out of campaigns they do not belong in.
Lookalikes from buyers
Seed lists built from qualified leads and customers, so the platforms go looking for more people like them.
How we measure retargeting
Retargeting reports always look good, because the people in them were close to buying. The question is how many would have bought anyway.
Incremental bookings
Bookings from retargeted audiences compared with a held-out share that saw no ads, when volume allows a test.
Frequency
Views per person per week. Past a point an ad annoys more than it reminds.
Cost per recovered booking
For no-shows and stalled leads, what it cost to bring each one back.
Audience health
Size and freshness of each audience, and how many exclusions are working.
Frequently asked questions
Is retargeting creepy?
It can be, when one ad follows someone for a month. Short windows, frequency caps and messages that answer a real question keep it useful. Showing an ad for a treatment someone already booked is the fastest way to look careless.
What is the difference between retargeting and remarketing?
None in practice. Google calls it remarketing, most other platforms call it retargeting. Both mean ads aimed at people who already interacted with you.
How long should someone stay in a retargeting audience?
As long as the decision takes. A few days for an emergency dentist, weeks for an implant, months for a flat. We set the window per service, from the time between first visit and booking in your CRM.
Does retargeting still work without third-party cookies?
Browser-based audiences shrink as cookies and tracking get restricted. CRM lists, engagement audiences on the platforms and server-side events do not depend on third-party cookies, which is why we build on them.
Should we retarget people who already bought?
Not with acquisition ads. For recalls, renewals or a second purchase, email and SMS or WhatsApp usually reach them more cheaply, with ads as a backup.
Last updated · By the Napexy team
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