56-retargeting-plan-global

name	56-retargeting-plan-global
description	Use when warm audiences need a plan — retargeting tiers by intent and recency, a different message per tier, frequency caps, attribution windows, lookalike seeds, exclusion rules, and a first-party data base that survives iOS ATT and cookie deprecation. Trigger on 'retargeting', 'remarketing', 'warm audience', 'custom audience setup', 'retarget cart abandoners', 'my retargeting pool is too small'. Also use when the user says people visit once and never come back. Not for — cold prospecting audiences, see `51-audience-research-global`; the pixel and events that feed these audiences, see `53-tracking-setup-global`; email win-back flows, see `14-email-marketing-global`; raising budgets, see `55-scaling-ads-global`.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.1","category":"performance"}
license	MIT
triggers	["retargeting","remarketing","warm audience","custom audience","lookalike audience","retarget cart abandoners","my retargeting pool is shrinking","win back past customers"]
output	File .md — retargeting strategy: audience tiers, message framework per tier, first-party list plan, lookalike brief, frequency caps, and exclusion rules
related	["product-marketing-context-global","51-audience-research-global","53-tracking-setup-global","55-scaling-ads-global","05-ad-copy-global","52-account-structure-global","14-email-marketing-global","16-marketing-psychology-global"]

Retargeting Plan (Global)

Retargeting is a conversation with people who already know you. The message must differ completely from cold ads: handle objections, do not reintroduce the brand. Never serve the same ad to cold and warm audiences.

Information gathering

Ask up to 4 questions:

1. Which platforms and which offer are being retargeted? Meta / Google / TikTok / YouTube / Pinterest / email and SMS?
2. What event data already exists? Video views, page engagement, landing page visits, add to cart, checkout started, form submits, purchases. If none, run 53-tracking-setup-global first and let data accumulate.
3. How large are the current warm pools, and how large is the first-party list? Pixel audience size plus email/SMS/CRM list size.
4. Budget, and what is the main objection? Price, trust, timing, or "not now"?

Principles

1. Message intensity follows audience heat. Hotter audiences get the offer and urgency; cooler audiences get trust and value.
2. Shorter window means hotter audience means stronger message. Someone who visited yesterday is not someone who watched a video last month.
3. First-party data is the durable base, not pixel audiences. Post-iOS ATT and with third-party cookies deprecated, pixel-built retargeting pools are materially smaller and decay faster than they used to. Email, SMS, and CRM lists you own do not disappear when a browser changes policy. Build the plan on owned lists and treat pixel audiences as an accelerator.
4. Always exclude converters. Do not waste impressions on people who already bought, unless there is a genuine upsell.
5. Frequency caps are mandatory. High-frequency retargeting produces irritation and negative feedback, which raises costs.
6. Retargeting is 10-20% of budget (repo operating standard is 15%). The pool is finite; volume comes from cold.
7. Seed quality beats seed size. A lookalike from purchasers beats a lookalike from viewers.
8. Consent applies to every uploaded list. Custom Audience and Customer Match uploads require documented marketing consent, hashed data, and removal on opt-out — see the consent section in 53-tracking-setup-global.

Workflow

1. Build the durable first-party base first

Before designing pixel tiers, confirm these exist:

Asset	Why it matters