Best Practices for Retargeting for B2B SaaS & Services

The Basics Of Retargeting For B2B SaaS

Retargeting is a powerful marketing strategy that can lead to game-changing results with your ad campaigns.

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So powerful in fact, that some people have increased their conversion rates by 150%.

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How does something like retargeting generate such BIG results?

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It’s all about creating a personalized experience that informs, delights, and ultimately persuades your audience to buy what you’re selling. 

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However, today’s shoppers have endless B2B SaaS solutions to choose from. So they’re unlikely to pick your brand without first exploring the competition—which means you need a way to re-engage and reel them back in.

Hence retargeting.

The challenge is that there are many elements to it, and like anything else, getting the results you’re looking for requires you to develop a solid understanding of what it is and how it works.

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This article is part of a series that provides you with everything you need to use B2B retargeting ads effectively.

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What Is Retargeting Anyways?

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Imagine you’re shopping online for headphones, you find the perfect pair, maybe add them to your cart or even the checkout page. But then, life happens. An unexpected meeting or viral cat video pulls you away, and those headphones slip your mind.

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A few days later, while searching for something on Google, you see an ad featuring those same headphones—only now they’re 15% off! That timely reminder (and that sweet deal) brings you back to the site, and this time, you complete the purchase.

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While this is a simplified version of how it works, if used correctly, it’s an approach that allows you to recapture people’s attention and move them into a desired action.

How Effective Are B2B Retargeting Ads?

Most people don’t whip out their credit cards on their first visit to your website (especially when shopping for B2B solutions). They generally need time to think about their problem, learn and compare various solutions, and align with their team before committing and completing a transaction. 

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The challenge is keeping your brand top of mind as your potential customers go through their customer journey, which is precisely what retargeting is for.  

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By delivering valuable information at the right place and time, you create more interactions between users and your brand. These touch points act as enticing signposts that guide your customers along their journey and lead them to your solution. 

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Types of Retargeting Audiences

Retargeting is all about being selective about who you show your ads to. This depends on your campaign objectives and your criteria for qualifying audiences. But to actually be effective with your ads you need to understand your target audience. To do this, you need to track and study their behavior.

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When it comes to tracking and targeting specific users, there are two primary approaches:

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Event or Website Visitor Retargeting Audiences

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Think of this as placing a tracker on your website visitors. When someone visits your site, a pixel—typically a snippet of JavaScript—tags their browser by placing a cookie. As they browse the web, the pixel signals ad platforms to display targeted ads based on their activity.

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You can also set parameters that retarget website visitors and show them ads based on the pages they visited or an event (an event refers to an action like a click or submitting a lead form).

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This approach makes tracking quite convenient. However, there are limitations you may find yourself dealing with like:

• Ad Blockers and Privacy Settings: Many users now use ad blockers or have privacy settings that prevent cookies or pixels from tracking their behavior, which can completely stop your ads from showing.
• Limited Context: Pixels only track on-site behavior, providing no insights into user intent or actions outside your website, which limits how precise you can be with your targeting.

List-Based Retargeting

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Rather than using a tracking code, list-based retargeting relies on your customer data. With it, you can create lists that only include users who fit your criteria and upload them to ad platforms like Facebook or Google. 

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Both methods have their strengths, and the choice often depends on your goals and resources. Pixel-based retargeting allows you to cast a wider net with less effort, while list-based retargeting is more of a manual approach, it provides deeper personalization and control.

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Once you’ve got your tracking down, you begin to implement your strategy.

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Note: You can use a variety of platforms to retarget your audiences. If you’re using Google Ads, our blog, Guide to Retargeting Campaigns in Google Ads, has everything you need to get started!

Segmenting Audiences For Your Retargeting Campaign

Not all visitors are on the same journey. To create a customer experience that guides them effectively to a sale, you need to determine who is more likely to be open to the interaction. 

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From there, it’s about organizing your visitors based on their level of intent so that you can provide them with valuable information that aligns with their needs. 

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Business To Customer (B2C) Audiences

For B2C audiences, you can gauge intent based on how much time a user spends on your website and the number of pages they visit. You can also qualify site visitors further by looking at the specific pages they visited and how they engaged with them. 

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For instance, a high-intent user will check out a specific product and maybe add an item to their cart, but for whatever reason, they don’t hit “buy.” Meanwhile, a user with medium-intent will click around, scroll through pages, and then leave. 

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Business To Business (B2B) Audiences

B2B is a different game—it doesn’t have the luxury of carts. B2B solutions are typically more complex and expensive. There are often more variables to consider and more than one decision-maker to win over, which results in a customer journey that is longer and more nuanced. 

Audiences You Need To Exclude 

Creating a list of audiences you don’t want to retarget is crucial because it ensures you don’t waste ad spend targeting the wrong people. 

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Who should you exclude?

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For starters, there’s no need to retarget current customers because they’ve already converted. In terms of intent, you don’t want to be sending ads to people who aren’t interested. These are the low-quality visitors, like people who spent less than three seconds on your site and didn’t engage with anything. You’ll also want to exclude employees, partners, or irrelevant groups who aren’t real prospects. 

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Channels To Retarget 

Just as you have different segments of your audience, there are multiple channels you can use to keep your brand on their radar. 

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Social Media Ads

‍Whether it’s LinkedIn for professional audiences or Facebook for more casual, interest-based targeting, social media platforms offer a wide range of targeting filters. 

B2B SaaS companies often see great results on LinkedIn, where you can reach decision-makers directly based on job title or industry.

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Display Ads

‍By leveraging networks like the Google Display Network (GDN), you can show eye-catching ads to users as they browse across millions of websites. 

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Search Ads

‍Search retargeting allows your brand to reappear for people who’ve visited your site (or engaged with your content) whenever they search related keywords on Google or Bing. 

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Email Retargeting

‍For leads who’ve already opted into your email list, email retargeting can be a direct way to deliver personalized offers, case studies, or demos. This channel is especially helpful when nurturing high-intent prospects who just need that final push—or a little extra proof—to commit.

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Video Ads

Video platforms like YouTube let you retarget viewers with short, engaging clips that highlight your software in action. If your product benefits from a quick demo or a compelling success story, a well-crafted video can leave a lasting impression.

Be sure to test different channels, measure your results, and fine-tune your approach to see which platform hits the mark for your B2B SaaS solution.

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Creating Retargeting Content that Resonates With Your Audience’s Needs

Now that you know who you’re targeting (and who to leave out), it’s time to design ads that catch their eye, win their trust, and gently nudge them toward conversion. Because let’s face it: simply following people around the internet with the same bland ad isn’t going to cut it—especially for B2B SaaS solutions, where multiple decision-makers and complex use cases come into play.

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Here are a few essentials to keep in mind:

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Personalize for Different Levels of Intent

A first-time visitor is miles apart from someone who’s been on your pricing page. So, you want to customize your messaging accordingly. 

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High-intent audiences respond better to ads highlighting special offers or demos, while medium-intent visitors may need educational content like how-to guides or whitepapers to see the bigger picture.

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Testimonial ads with quotes from people who’ve enjoyed success with your solution are also a great way to demonstrate social proof and build trust.

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The key is to speak to their specific pain points and offer bite-size value. You want to address the core issues your prospects are facing. Maybe they’re looking to scale faster or cut operational costs. You want to show them how your solution tackles their biggest obstacles head-on. 

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A little empathy can go a long way toward earning that click.

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Visual Consistency & Branding

While you need to personalize your ads for your prospects, you also want to maintain your brand’s image. 

Ensure your colors, fonts, and overall branding stay consistent across all your retargeting ads. This consistency helps build recognition and trust, especially if your prospects are seeing multiple touchpoints across different platforms. 

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Think of each ad as a puzzle piece fitting into a larger brand experience.

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Use Clear And Actionable CTAs

The best ad in the world won’t perform if people don’t know what to do next. Keep your calls to action short, clear, and compelling. Phrases like “Start Your Free Trial,” “Watch Our Demo,” or “Get a Custom Quote” make it obvious what the next step is—and why they should take it.

If you want to read up a little more on how to create ads that convert better, check out our blog, How to Write Google Ads Copy for B2B SaaS and Services: A Complete Guide.

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Creating retargeting content that resonates is about more than just looking good—it's about guiding each prospect through their buyer journey in a way that feels helpful rather than pushy. By putting yourself in their shoes, you properly address their challenges and make the path forward clear and smooth.

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Key Retargeting Statistics You Should Be Tracking

While creating a buyer’s persona and tracking visitor behavior can give you an idea as to what may benefit your audience, knowing what actually works often comes down to some trial and error. 

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Regardless of the ad type, you should always track performance and refine your approach as necessary. Tracking the proper metrics helps you optimize your strategy, measure its impact, and ensure you’re spending your ad budget wisely.

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Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Click-through rates reveal how effectively your ads capture attention and drive action. A strong CTR indicates that your creatives and messaging are resonating, while a low CTR suggests that fresher designs, better targeting, or clearer calls to action might be needed.

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Click-Through Conversions

While click-through rate measures initial engagement, click-through conversions reveal how many of those clicks actually lead to a desired action—such as filling out a form or starting a free trial. 

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A strong click-through conversion rate indicates that your landing page and offer resonate with users once they arrive. If you notice a high CTR but few conversions, it may be time to re-evaluate your post-click experience, from landing page design to messaging, to ensure every click has the best chance of turning into a conversion.

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View-Through Conversions (VTC)

Another crucial metric to track is view-through conversions. This is especially true for retargeting, as the users you’re targeting are already familiar with your brand—they may just skip your ad altogether and head straight to your site. Plus, VTCs offer a more complete view of your campaign’s impact by tracking users who saw your ad but converted later through other channels. 

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Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Lastly, you need to track your cost per lead. This calculates the cost of converting a lead into a customer by dividing total ad spend by the number of attributed conversions. A low CPL signals an efficient campaign, while a high CPL indicates it may be time to refine your targeting or improve your ad creatives.

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Focusing on these metrics can help you measure success and make informed adjustments to maximize the effectiveness of your retargeting efforts.

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Case Study: Getting BIG Results by Retargeting With Reddit Ads

At InterTeam, we implement retargeting in virtually all of our ad strategies—in some cases, it’s the highest-performing element in our campaign strategy.  

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Working with Rise Vision, we had a ton of success with it, significantly enhancing their campaign's performance.

Here are some of the results:

• 937,478 impressions on less than a third of the budget
• Cost per sign-up reduced by 63%
• Cost per lead is down by 77%

We focused more on retargeting because the campaign was less successful with top-of-funnel ads, refining our audiences, content targeting, and ad creatives. 

If you want a more in-depth review of our work, you can get the full story of “6X ROI on Reddit Ads for B2B SaaS Company” here. 

Creating A Full-Proof B2B Ad Strategy

Retargeting is a critical part of any successful digital marketing campaign. By focusing on the right platforms, crafting targeted audience strategies, managing exclusions, and optimizing campaigns, you can create an ad strategy that engages the right people at the time.

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Need help putting together an effective ad strategy for your B2B Saas Brand? For a free account audit and strategy that will bring more business—book a call today!

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FAQS

What’s the difference between pixel-based and list-based retargeting, and how do I choose the right one for my B2B SaaS business?

Pixel-based retargeting places a small code (pixel) on your site, which tags visitors’ browsers and shows them ads later. It is simple to set up but sometimes blocked by privacy settings. 

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List-based retargeting uses your existing customer data (like email lists) for tighter control over who sees your ads. Deciding which is best depends on your goals, resources, and how precisely you need to target. Many B2B SaaS companies benefit from a blended approach to cover all bases.

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Why is retargeting so crucial for B2B SaaS solutions, and how does it help keep potential customers engaged throughout their journey?

B2B solutions often have longer sales cycles with multiple decision-makers involved, so simply attracting a visitor once usually isn’t enough. Retargeting helps you stay in front of potential buyers, offering relevant content or reminders at every stage of their journey. Over time, these touchpoints build trust, address concerns, and ultimately guide them closer to choosing your solution.

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How do I measure the success of my retargeting campaigns, and which key metrics should I track to ensure I’m getting results?

Focus on metrics like click-through rate (CTR) to gauge how engaging your ads are, view-through conversions (VTC) to see if people come back later on their own, and cost per lead (CPL) to track how efficiently you’re turning prospects into actual leads. Keeping an eye on these data points helps you spot what’s working, make timely adjustments, and drive consistent improvements in your retargeting strategy.

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