Why would you even want to retarget someone in the first place? 

It’s a fair question, especially if you’re relatively new to digital marketing or if you’ve been focusing on lower-cost products where the path to purchase is much more direct. 

But if you’re in the business of selling higher-ticket items — like an online course, a membership program, or a comprehensive coaching package — the customer journey becomes much more complex and nuanced.

People Need Convincing, Retargeting Does That

The truth is, most people won’t purchase your course or program the first time they come across it. This is particularly true for higher-ticket offerings.

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When your price point is substantial, potential students need more than a brief introduction to what you’re offering. They need to understand its value, be reassured of its benefits, and be convinced that it’s a worthy investment of their hard-earned money.

In these situations, retargeting can be one of the most powerful strategies to turn a hesitant visitor into a committed student.

Retargeting Ads Keeps the Conversation Going

Retargeting ad campaigns are incredibly effective because they let you stay in touch with potential students who have already shown interest in your course or program but haven’t yet enrolled.

These individuals are on the fence, and it’s your job to guide them from indecision to enrollment.

Say a potential student discovers your course. They click through to your site, spend some time exploring what you offer, maybe even sign up for a free webinar or download a valuable guide.

Then, they leave.

They might be unsure if the course is the right fit, need more time to decide, or are comparing options. This is where retargeting ads come into play.

With retargeting, you keep your course or program front and center in their minds. You can remind them of the value they saw initially, share testimonials from happy students, present case studies showing real results, or highlight any special offers or bonuses.

Each ad is a chance to deepen their understanding of your offer and build trust in your brand.

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Retargeting Ads – A Chance to Talk About Your Brand In-depth

Retargeting isn’t just about pushing for a sale. It’s about engagement and education. A well-executed retargeting strategy allows you to nurture your leads by offering valuable content that addresses their needs and concerns.

For instance, if you’re promoting a membership program, your retargeting ads could feature insightful blog posts, podcast episodes, or highlights from previous coaching sessions.

This approach helps keep your brand at the forefront of their minds while establishing you as a thought leader — someone who truly understands their challenges and has the expertise to offer solutions.

In essence, retargeting ads enable you to craft a journey — a narrative that guides potential students from initial awareness to genuine interest, from contemplation to appreciation, and ultimately, to making a purchase.

For high-value offerings, this nurturing process is a MUST. By consistently and thoughtfully engaging with potential students through retargeting, you’re building a meaningful relationship. 

And in the world of high-ticket sales, building relationships is key.

Exactly Who Should You Retarget?

When building retargeting campaigns on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, most of the time, you’ll find yourself using sources such as your Website, Instagram account, or Facebook page to create your audience base. 

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These sources represent the various touchpoints where potential customers have already interacted with your brand, making them ideal for retargeting efforts.

Your Sources and Meta Sources

See the upper Your sources section and the bottom Meta sources section here. 

The primary difference between these two lies in how data is tracked. Your sources refer to activities that occur off Meta’s platforms, such as interactions on your website. 

In contrast, Meta sources pertain to engagements within Meta’s own ecosystem, such as likes, comments, and follows on your Facebook or Instagram pages.

Because Meta sources are based on interactions that happen directly on Meta’s platforms, you often get more precise tracking data from them.

This is largely due to the data privacy changes that came with the iOS 14 update, which significantly impacted how external data could be tracked. 

As a result, while Your sources like website activity are still valuable, the tracking precision for retargeting is typically slightly lower compared to the data captured directly on Meta platforms.

Does this mean Your sources are less effective? Not at all. They’re just different. 

For example, while your website traffic data might be less precise due to tracking restrictions, it can still provide rich insights into user behavior that’s incredibly useful for retargeting — especially when combined with the more precise tracking of Meta.

Additionally, when setting up retargeting campaigns don’t enable the Reach people beyond your custom audience option. 

If you check this box, you’re basically telling Facebook to expand your audience beyond those who have already engaged with your brand. While this might seem like a way to reach more people, it dilutes the purpose of a retargeting campaign. 

The whole point of retargeting is to re-engage those who have already shown interest in your offers, not to find new, unrelated audiences. So, if you’re going for a true retargeting campaign, always leave this box unchecked.

In this vein, leave the Age and Gender sections alone when you’re setting up your retargeting campaign. 

It might seem intuitive to narrow these settings to target your ideal customer profile, but remember that a retargeting audience is already a finite group of people who have interacted with your brand in some way. 

These individuals have either visited your website, liked a post, or followed your page, indicating a certain level of interest regardless of their age or gender. 

The goal here is to maximize the reach within this already-defined group, so it’s generally best to keep Age and Gender settings as broad as possible. Narrowing these parameters too much could unnecessarily limit your reach and reduce the effectiveness of your retargeting efforts.

Do You Need Different Ads for Retargeting?

Ideally, yes, but it’s all too common for people to be using the same content and creatives they used for their initial prospecting campaigns. 

The logic might seem sound at first — if a creative performed well in reaching new audiences, why not use it again? But this is an approach that undermines the very essence of what retargeting is supposed to accomplish.

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But Is It Retargeting or Increased-frequency Prospecting?

If you’re just repurposing your top-performing ads from cold traffic for your retargeting campaigns, you’re not truly retargeting. Instead, you’re running a cold traffic campaign with higher frequency.

You’re showing the same ad to people who have already seen it, clicked on it, or visited your website. They’ve been there and done that. The issue? These individuals didn’t convert the first time around. Repeating the same ad is unlikely to change their minds.

Consider it from the potential student’s perspective. They’ve already interacted with your ad. They clicked through, explored your course or program, and perhaps even added it to their cart.

Yet, something stopped them from completing the purchase. It could have been a concern about the cost, doubts about the course’s value, or uncertainty about how it fits their needs. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t compelling enough to prompt them to finalize their decision.

Retargeting is Talking More In-Depth about Your Brand

To effectively re-engage these potential customers, you need to address the specific objections or hesitations they might have. 

Using the same copy and visuals as your initial prospecting campaign won’t do the trick as it’s not speaking to their current mindset or addressing the barriers that held them back the first time.

Instead, your retargeting content should focus on new angles and narratives. Think about what might have been missing from your original ad that could have prevented them from converting. 

Was the value proposition unclear? 

Did the original ad fail to fully explain how your course solves a specific problem? 

Was there a lack of social proof or testimonials? 

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Perhaps they need more information about your course’s features or benefits.

If price was a concern, your retargeting ad could highlight a limited-time discount or a flexible payment plan.

If trust was an issue, featuring testimonials or case studies could enhance credibility.

If they were unsure if your course was the right fit, you could offer a satisfaction guarantee or a risk-free trial.

The goal is to create messaging that aligns with their current stage in the decision-making process. Instead of repeating what they’ve already seen, provide new insights, answer their questions, and guide them towards taking action.

This is your opportunity to make a compelling case, now with a better understanding of their needs and objections.

Conclusion

So, if you’re wondering whether retargeting is worth the investment, think about it this way: every time you retarget someone who has already expressed interest in your offer, you’re capitalizing on a warm lead. 

You’re making the most of your marketing efforts by not letting potential sales slip away. In a marketplace crowded with choices, this kind of focused, strategic approach makes all the difference.