I’ve been discussing the advantages of maximizing audience utilization lately, particularly through customized pixels that generate new website user audiences. The key advantage is segmenting audiences into specialized groups for targeted marketing—going beyond just a site visit in the last month.

A frequent follow-up question I receive is a variation of: “That’s helpful, but what do I DO with this? What audiences should I build using these advanced techniques?” Honestly, I can’t specify which audiences would be beneficial for your specific business. Every business is unique; creating a tailored strategy ideally requires an individual consultant or account manager to thoroughly examine your business and online marketing.

However, my inability to address your specific business doesn’t mean I can’t assist you. I can suggest potential remarketing lists to provide SOME guidance. In fact, I can share 95 possible remarketing lists. Let’s explore high-level categories to consider when building lists, along with examples for each group.

Remarketing Lists Based on Page Views

These are the most prevalent remarketing lists used today. They’re the origin of lists resembling:

From here, numerous actions are possible based on the pages visited on your website. Advertisers’ biggest mistake is neglecting to thoroughly consider the value of each page and the different user intents each visit signals.

For example, a user visiting four pages, including a pricing page, is likely more purchase-driven than someone who only visits your homepage before leaving. Their motivation differs from, say, someone visiting your careers page—whom you might want to exclude from advertising to prevent wasted spending.

Consider these lists for page visits, for both potential targeting and exclusion:

• Homepage
• Pricing Page
• Thank You Pages
• Jobs/Careers Pages
• Features Pages
• Category Pages
• Product Pages
• Reviews Pages
• Returns Policy
• Blog
• FAQs
• Contact Us
• Find Store Pages
• Privacy Policy
• Legal Terms
• Support Section
• About Us
• Plans Pages
• Company Culture Page
• Materials Sourcing
• Work Showcase Pages
• Case Studies
• Resources Pages
• Product/Company Brochure
• Personalized Tool/Calculator
• Make an Appointment Page
• Partner Companies

Remarketing Lists Based on Site Engagement

Page visits are one aspect, but what about user actions on those pages? Engaging with a tool or photo gallery signifies higher engagement than just viewing the page.

Consider your website. What user actions don’t lead to another page where you could create a URL rule as above? If none, that’s fine, and this section might not be immediately relevant. But if there are, consider this when building lists.

For example, a user browsing these options pages might be more inclined to purchase some chocolate treats.

Though slightly more complex than page URL lists, these audiences are achievable with a little effort setting up custom events and custom triggers within the channels and Google Tag Manager.

Examples of lists leveraging user engagement beyond page views:

• Click to Call
• Video View
• Tool/Calculator Use
• Scroll Depth
• Time on Site
• Number of Pages Visited
• Engage with Photo Gallery
• Open Lightbox/iFrame
• Download PDF
• Outbound Link Clicks
• Form Submission
• View of Page Element
• Chat Messenger Engagement
• Expand Hidden Text
• Page Errors

Remarketing Lists Based on Social Engagement

Lack of website visits doesn’t equate to zero interaction. Almost all businesses maintain a social media presence (as they likely should), and engagements there can be as valuable as, if not more so than, website visits.

These engagement audiences reside within each platform’s audience manager, typically separate from website audiences:

Lists based on social media engagement, rather than website interaction:

• Facebook Page Likes
• Facebook Post Likes
• Facebook Post Saved
• Facebook Message Sent
• Facebook Call to Action Click
• Lead Form Open
• Lead Form Submission
• % of Video View
• Complete Video View
• 3-10+ Second Video View
• Instagram Profile Visit
• Instagram Post Engagement
• Instagram Message Sent
• Instagram Post Saved
• Pin Click
• Pin Comment
• Pin Save
• Pin Closeup
• Event Responses
• Event Engagements
• Instant Experience Engagement
• Link Clicks in Instant Experiences

Remarketing Lists Based on Customer Uploads

These are potentially the “easiest” lists to compile. Take user data (name, email, phone, etc.), create a file, upload it to the platform, and voila! You have a static retargeting list. However, customer uploads can have nuances, just like URL visitors.

List segmentation ideas for customer upload retargeting:

• All Customers
• Open Opportunities
• Open SQLs
• Open MQLs
• Good Quality Leads
• Bad Quality Leads
• One Time Buyers
• Customers w/ 2+ Purchases
• High ROI Purchasers
• Low ROI Purchasers
• Enterprise Clients
• Small Business Clients
• Job Title Segmentation
• Gift Buyers
• Purchasers for Self
• Parents
• Decision Makers
• Purchase Influencers
• Monthly Subscribers
• Annual Plans
• Cancelled Subscriptions
• Newsletter Subscribers
• Returned a Purchase
• Made an Exchange
• Single Brand Purchasers
• Cross-Brand Purchasers
• Multi-Year Clients
• Referrers of New Business
• Used Coupon Code

Remarketing Lists Based on Time Constraints

Consider the duration within your audiences. Each platform has its limit for retargeting someone via cookies—currently, Google Ads’ maximum is 540 days, while most others are 180 days.

However, the maximum duration doesn’t necessarily mean you should utilize it. Not every audience needs to be targeted for the maximum time allowed. Eventually, they might tire of your ads or become unprofitable.

Instead, develop what I call time funnels for your audiences. Analyze and understand the value of someone in the first seven days, then the next seven, and maybe the following 14, and so on. How do they compare in performance and value? When does someone become unprofitable?

Using these findings, create remarketing audiences with the parameters discussed earlier but with varying cookie lengths for further optimization opportunities.

Test Out Your Remarketing Lists for Better Results

While not exhaustive, this list provides a starting point for identifying valuable segments within your company. Reflect on your business, analyze data, and understand what works best for you and resonates with your customers. It’s a win-win situation.