How is retargeting different from user acquisition?

Ad Platforms

What is Retargeting?

Retargeting serves ads to users who have previously interacted with your app or website, re-engaging lapsed users or moving near-converters down the funnel.

Retargeting: Full Definition

Retargeting (also called remarketing) is an advertising strategy that serves ads specifically to users who have previously interacted with your product, visited your website, installed your app, started but abandoned registration, made a previous purchase, or lapsed after a period of inactivity.

In mobile app retargeting, the primary use cases are: reactivating churned users who installed but stopped using the app, converting users who installed but never completed a key event (tutorial, first purchase, subscription start), and upselling existing users to higher-tier features or products.

Mobile retargeting requires custom audience capabilities from the ad platform, either Meta's Custom Audiences (loaded via SDK events, CRM uploads, or MMP integration) or in-app retargeting networks like AppsFlyer Audiences, Liftoff, and Remerge.

Why Retargeting matters

Retargeting users who already know your product requires less persuasion than acquiring new users, and typically achieves 3–8x lower CPA than prospecting campaigns. Reactivating a churned user who completed onboarding is significantly cheaper than acquiring and onboarding a new one. Most efficient UA strategies allocate a portion of budget to retargeting as the highest-ROAS layer of the paid mix.

Frequently asked questions

UA (user acquisition) targets new users who have never installed your app. Retargeting targets existing or lapsed users who already have a relationship with your product. Both use paid advertising but target different audiences with different messages and typically achieve different efficiency levels.

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