56-retargeting-plan-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 | Minimum action |
|-------|----------------|----------------|
| Email list with consent | Survives cookie and ATT changes; usable on every platform | Capture email before or during checkout, and on the lead magnet |
| SMS list with consent | High-intent channel in US markets | Explicit opt-in with a documented double confirmation where required |
| CRM with source fields | Connects retargeting to actual revenue | Source, campaign, stage, revenue, opt-out flag |
| Logged-in or account users | Stable identifier across devices | Encourage account creation post-purchase |
| Server-side event stream | Recovers events browsers drop | Conversions API / Events API (`53-tracking-setup-global`) |

If pixel pools are too small to run, the first-party list is what keeps retargeting alive. Upload it as a Custom Audience and Customer Match list, and run email and SMS flows in parallel through `14-email-marketing-global`.

### 2. Audience tiers

| Tier | Audience | Signal | Window | Message direction |
|------|----------|--------|--------|-------------------|
| 1 (hottest) | Add to cart / checkout started | Pixel + server event | 7-14 days | Strong offer, urgency, guarantee |
| 2 | Lead form opened but not submitted, open sales conversation | Pixel, CRM | 3-7 days | Reminder, remove the next-step friction |
| 3 | Landing page visitors who did not convert | Pixel + server event | 14-30 days | Trust, social proof, objection handling |
| 4 | Video viewers above 50% | Platform engagement audience | 14-30 days | Deepen interest, educate, prove |
| 5 | Page and post engagers | Platform engagement audience | 30-60 days | Soft offer, value add |
| 6 | Email / SMS / CRM list | First-party upload | Continuous | Nurture through owned channels, ads as reinforcement |
| 7 | Past customers | Purchase event + CRM | 180 days | Upsell, cross-sell, replenishment, loyalty |

Note on durability: tiers 1-5 are pixel-dependent and will be smaller than the platform-reported estimate suggests. Tiers 6 and 7 are the ones you control. If tiers 1-3 are too small to spend the planned budget, merge them into a single hot tier rather than running several starved ad sets.

### 3. Message framework per tier

- **Tiers 1-2 (about to buy):** offer, urgency, guarantee. CTA: "Complete your order", "Finish signing up". Formats: dynamic product ads, countdown, limited availability, abandoned-cart email plus SMS in sequence.
- **Tiers 3-4 (interested):** objection handling, social proof, soft CTA. CTA: "See how it works", "Read the reviews". Formats: testimonial video, FAQ, comparison, founder explainer.
- **Tiers 5-6 (aware):** value add and soft offer. CTA: "Learn more", "Get the free [resource]". Formats: educational content, case study, newsletter.
- **Tier 7 (existing customers):** upsell, cross-sell, replenishment, member-only pricing. CTA: "Your exclusive offer". Formats: bundle, subscription, referral (see `18-referral-program-global`).

Message-to-audience map to hand to `05-ad-copy-global`:

| Audience | Core message |
|----------|--------------|
| Video viewers 75% | Education plus proof |
| Site visitors, last 3 days | Strong offer plus urgency |
| Page visitors who did not convert | Address the objection plus scarcity |
| Open sales conversation | Personal, last chance |
| Email subscribers, never purchased | First-purchase incentive |
| Past customers | Upsell, cross-sell, replenishment |

### 4. Creative formats

- **Dynamic product ads** (catalog required): re-show exactly what was viewed.
- **Testimonial and review video:** answers "can I trust this".
- **Comparison and FAQ:** answers a specific, named objection.
- **Urgency creative