Meta Ads remarketing for online stores: 3 practices that work
Contents · 9 sections
In 2017 I spoke at eCommCongress about Facebook remarketing for online stores and then wrote the first version of this article. Back then it all came down to an installed pixel, a few audiences and some creativity. Results were impressive and ads were cheap.
Since then Facebook became Meta, iPhones started asking users whether they want to be tracked, Europe introduced strict consent rules and AI took over much of the targeting. Remarketing is still one of the most profitable campaigns for any online store, but it is done differently. Here is what Meta Ads remarketing looks like in 2025.
What is remarketing and why does it matter?
Remarketing (or retargeting) means advertising to people who have already interacted with your business: visited the site, viewed a product, added it to the cart or bought before. Most visitors to an online store do not buy on their first visit, and remarketing is how you bring them back.
Meta is still where much of your audience is: at the end of 2024 its apps were used by 3.35 billion people every day.
What has changed since 2017?
- iOS 14.5 and tracking. Since April 2021 iPhone apps must ask users whether they can be tracked. Many say no, and the pixel sees less and less.
- Conversions API. Meta's answer is a server-to-server connection where your store sends events directly. According to Meta, using it together with the pixel lowers cost per result by 13% on average.
- AI takes over targeting. Advantage+ shopping campaigns passed a 20-billion-dollar annual revenue run-rate at the end of 2024. Since early 2025 Meta has been testing a new generation of Advantage+ sales campaigns with automation switched on by default.
- Fewer manual settings. Detailed targeting exclusions were removed, and from 31 January 2025 old campaigns using them stopped delivering. Excluding custom audiences, such as past buyers, still works.
- Dynamic ads are now called Advantage+ catalog ads, and retargeting with them works through catalog audiences.
- Europe is different. Since 12 November 2024 users in the EU can choose a free version with "less personalised ads" or an ad-free subscription, which shrinks remarketing audiences.
The foundation: pixel, Conversions API and consent
- Meta Pixel and Conversions API work together and send the key events: ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout and Purchase, with value and currency.
- Your cookie banner complies with GDPR and the pixel loads only after consent.
- Your product catalogue is connected to the site, stock and prices update automatically and images are good.
- Event Match Quality in Events Manager is good. The more data you send (for example hashed email), the better Meta recognises customers.
Practice 1: Abandoned cart
Create an audience of people who added a product to the cart in the last 3 to 7 days but did not buy. Show them exactly the product they left and give them a reason to return: free delivery, a small time-limited discount or reviews from other customers.
In 2017 a campaign like this brought us 51 orders worth almost 5,000 euro for around 14 euro of ad spend. Such ratios are rare today because ads cost more and audiences are smaller, but abandoned cart remains the highest-ROI campaign.
Practice 2: Repeat purchase and cross-sell
If you sell products that run out, such as cosmetics, perfume, pet food or supplements, remind customers in time. In 2017, in our perfume store, we targeted people who had bought in the last 60 days but excluded those who had bought in the last 54, catching the window when the perfume was running out. The result was 34 orders worth about 2,400 euro for almost 58 euro of ad spend.
Today the same logic works even better with customer lists uploaded from your store or CRM, plus cross-sell offers.
Practice 3: Advantage+ catalog ads
Dynamic product ads were our most successful campaign in 2017, with more than 2,000 orders and almost 18,000 euro in sales over three months. Their successor is Advantage+ catalog ads: Meta automatically shows each person the products they viewed and similar ones.
What is new is that the best results often come from combining remarketing and prospecting in one Advantage+ campaign and letting the algorithm allocate the budget, while you monitor how much goes to existing customers.
Creatives in 2025
- vertical videos for Reels and Stories, including UGC from real customers;
- catalog ads with overlays: price, discount, free delivery, rating;
- reviews and social proof;
- different messages for different stages: reminder, discount, guarantee, deadline.
Watch frequency. If the same people see your ad dozens of times a week, you will annoy rather than convince them.
How to measure results
Meta's reports include assisted sales, so do not compare them directly with Google Analytics. Compare total store revenue with total ad spend, test with holdout groups when the budget allows, and track revenue from new versus returning customers.
What it looked like in 2017
Good luck!
Petar Dyaksov
Entrepreneur, investor and managing partner at SEOMAX, with more than 15 years of experience in e-commerce and digital marketing. He builds businesses in technology and e-commerce, invests in companies and supports entrepreneurs. Speaker, trainer and mentor at dozens of conferences, seminars and entrepreneurship programmes.
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