Documentation
Learn how to set up retargeting on ad:personam. Re-engage users who clicked on previous campaigns or triggered tracking points with flexible time windows and match logic.
Retargeting lets you re-engage users who have already interacted with your brand — whether they clicked on a previous campaign or triggered a conversion pixel on your website. On ad:personam, retargeting is configured during Line Item setup and offers two complementary methods: Campaign Retargeting and Tracking Point Retargeting.
For audience-based targeting using third-party segments, see Targeting — Audience Segments. For the complete campaign setup process, refer to the Campaign Setup Guide.
Accessing Retargeting
In the Line Item setup wizard, navigate to Step 6: Targeting. At the top, select Retargeting from the radio group.
The retargeting interface presents two independent sections, each with its own enable toggle:
- Campaign Retargeting — target users based on interactions with your previous campaigns
- Tracking Point Retargeting — target users based on conversion pixel or tracking point activity
Both methods are opt-in — they are disabled by default and only activate when you toggle them on. You can enable one or both simultaneously to create layered retargeting strategies.
Campaign Retargeting
Campaign Retargeting lets you target users who clicked on ads in your previous campaigns. This is useful for re-engaging interested users who did not convert on their first interaction.
How to Set Up Campaign Retargeting
- Enable the toggle — switch on Campaign Retargeting in the retargeting panel.
- Select campaigns — browse your advertiser's existing campaigns and select one or more. Use the search field to filter by name or ID.
- Choose targeting mode:
- Include — show ads only to users who clicked on the selected campaigns
- Exclude — hide ads from users who clicked on the selected campaigns
- Configure the time window — define how recently the user must have interacted.
Time Window Options
The time window controls how far back the system looks for user interactions:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| At Any Time | Include users who clicked at any point in the campaign's history. No time restriction. |
| During Last | Include only users who clicked within a specific recent period (e.g., last 7 days, last 24 hours). |
| More Than | Include only users whose last click was more than a specified period ago — useful for lapsed-user campaigns. |
When During Last or More Than is selected, you also configure:
- Amount — the numeric value (e.g., 7, 30, 48)
- Time Unit — Days or Hours
Example
To retarget users who clicked on a summer sale campaign within the last 14 days:
- Enable Campaign Retargeting
- Select the summer sale campaign
- Set targeting mode to Include
- Set time window to During Last → 14 Days
Tracking Point Retargeting
Tracking Point Retargeting targets users based on their activity on your website or landing page — specifically, whether they triggered one of your advertiser's tracking points (conversion pixels).
How to Set Up Tracking Point Retargeting
- Enable the toggle — switch on Tracking Point Retargeting.
- Set the condition — define the targeting rule using two dropdowns:
- Condition — select one of four matching rules
- Scope — choose between selected tracking points or all tracking points
- Select tracking points — if using "selected tracking points" scope, browse and check the specific tracking points you want to target.
- Optionally add tracking filters — apply additional filter criteria to refine which tracked events qualify.
- Configure the time window — same options as campaign retargeting (At Any Time, During Last, More Than).
Condition Options
The condition dropdown determines the logical relationship between the user and the selected tracking points:
| Condition | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Has visited all | Target users who triggered every selected tracking point. Use for multi-step conversion funnels. |
| Has visited any | Target users who triggered at least one of the selected tracking points. Use for broad retargeting pools. |
| Has not visited all | Exclude users who triggered every selected tracking point. Use to avoid targeting fully converted users. |
| Has not visited any | Exclude users who triggered any of the selected tracking points. Use to suppress all converted users. |
Scope Options
| Scope | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Selected tracking points | Apply the condition only to the tracking points you manually select from the list. |
| All tracking points | Apply the condition to every active tracking point on the advertiser account — no manual selection needed. |
Time Window
The time window for tracking point retargeting works identically to campaign retargeting:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| At Any Time | No time restriction — all historical tracking point activity counts. |
| During Last | Only consider tracking point triggers within a recent period. |
| More Than | Only consider tracking point triggers older than a specified period. |
Note: Time window settings are available when using include conditions (Has visited all / Has visited any). Exclude conditions (Has not visited all / Has not visited any) do not support time window settings.
Tracking Filters
If your advertiser has tracking filters configured, you can optionally add them to further refine your retargeting audience. Tracking filters apply additional criteria to the tracked events — for example, filtering by specific page URLs, product categories, or custom event parameters.
Example
To retarget users who visited your pricing page but did not complete a purchase in the last 30 days:
- Enable Tracking Point Retargeting
- Set condition to Has visited any with scope selected tracking points
- Select the "Pricing Page View" tracking point
- Set time window to During Last → 30 Days
Then add a second rule (or use campaign-level exclusion) to suppress users who triggered the "Purchase Complete" tracking point.
Combining Campaign and Tracking Point Retargeting
You can enable both retargeting methods simultaneously on the same Line Item. When both are active, they work together to define your retargeting audience.
Common combination strategies:
- Broad recovery — Campaign Retargeting on "Include" to reach past clickers, plus Tracking Point Retargeting on "Has not visited any" (purchase pixel) to exclude converters.
- Sequential messaging — target users who clicked a previous awareness campaign and also visited a specific product page.
- Lapsed users — Campaign Retargeting with "More Than 30 Days" to reach users who showed interest but have gone cold.
Key Considerations
- Retargeting is opt-in — both methods are disabled by default. Enable them explicitly when your strategy requires it.
- Cookie dependency — campaign retargeting and tracking point retargeting rely on cookie-based user identification. Coverage is lower on browsers with restrictive cookie policies (Safari, Firefox).
- Tracking point setup required — tracking point retargeting only works if you have active tracking points on your advertiser account. Set these up before configuring retargeting rules.
- Time windows matter — shorter windows target more recent, higher-intent users. Longer windows cast a wider net but may include less engaged users. Test different windows to find the optimal balance for your campaign.
- Budget impact — retargeting audiences are typically smaller than broad audience segments. Ensure your Line Item budget and flight dates are realistic for the expected audience size.
Related Articles
- Targeting — Audience Segments — select third-party DMP segments for prospecting
- Campaign Setup Guide — full walkthrough of the Line Item setup wizard