Retargeting: Peach State’s 55% ROAS Boost in 2026

Many businesses invest heavily in attracting new customers, yet often overlook the immense potential of reconnecting with those who’ve already shown interest. This oversight can be a costly mistake, as retargeting offers a highly efficient path to conversion by focusing your marketing efforts on warmer audiences. But how do you turn casual browsers into loyal buyers without breaking the bank?

I’ve seen firsthand how a well-executed retargeting strategy can dramatically shift a company’s bottom line. Just last year, we worked with a regional home improvement retailer, “Peach State Renovations,” based out of Roswell, Georgia. They were struggling with a high bounce rate on their website, particularly for visitors browsing their custom cabinetry section. Their initial ad spend was heavily skewed towards prospecting, bringing in new traffic, but not effectively nurturing those leads. This campaign teardown will walk you through how we implemented a targeted retargeting strategy for them, detailing the specific steps, the creative approach, and the very real results.

Campaign Overview: Peach State Renovations’ Cabinetry Retargeting

Peach State Renovations specializes in high-end kitchen and bathroom remodels. Their average project value is significant, often exceeding $25,000. The sales cycle is naturally longer, involving multiple touchpoints and considerations. Our goal was to re-engage website visitors who showed interest in custom cabinetry but hadn’t yet requested a consultation or downloaded their brochure. We believed retargeting was the key to moving these prospects further down the sales funnel.

Initial Situation & Objectives

• Challenge: High website bounce rate (55%) on cabinetry pages, low consultation request conversion rate (0.8%) from new traffic.
• Goal: Increase consultation requests and brochure downloads from previously engaged website visitors.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Cost Per Lead (CPL) for consultation requests, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), Click-Through Rate (CTR).

Campaign Structure & Budget

We ran this campaign for 10 weeks, from mid-March to late May 2026. The total dedicated budget for retargeting was $12,000. This represented about 20% of Peach State Renovations’ overall digital marketing budget for that quarter, a percentage I generally recommend for businesses with longer sales cycles or higher-ticket items. My experience tells me that dedicating a substantial portion to retargeting almost always yields a higher ROAS than an equivalent spend on pure prospecting.

Strategy: Layered Retargeting Funnel

Our strategy wasn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. We segmented the audience based on their engagement level, recognizing that a visitor who spent 30 seconds on a page needs a different message than someone who spent five minutes and viewed multiple product galleries. This is where many businesses falter; they treat all past visitors the same. That’s like shouting the same generic sales pitch at everyone who walks past your store, regardless of whether they just glanced in the window or spent an hour browsing.

Audience Segmentation & Targeting

We created three primary retargeting audiences using the Google Ads and Meta Business Suite platforms:

1. High-Intent Browsers (30-90 Days): Users who visited 3+ cabinetry product pages or spent over 2 minutes on any cabinetry-related page. Excluded anyone who had already converted (requested a consultation or downloaded the brochure). This was our warmest audience.
2. General Site Visitors (30-60 Days): Users who visited any page on the website but didn’t meet the “high-intent” criteria. This audience was broader, designed to re-engage those who showed general interest.
3. Abandoned Form Fillers (7 Days): Users who started filling out the consultation request form but didn’t complete it. This was a smaller, but incredibly valuable, segment.

We also implemented a frequency cap of 4 impressions per user per week across all platforms. Over-saturation leads to ad fatigue and negative sentiment, a mistake I’ve seen too many times. Nobody wants to feel stalked by an ad.

Creative Approach: Visual Storytelling & Value Proposition

For a business like Peach State Renovations, visual appeal is paramount. We focused heavily on high-quality imagery and video. Our creative strategy varied by audience segment:

• High-Intent Browsers: Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) showcasing specific cabinetry styles they had viewed, coupled with testimonials from local homeowners in areas like Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. The call-to-action (CTA) was a direct “Schedule Your Free Consultation.”
• General Site Visitors: Brand awareness and educational content. We used short video ads (15-30 seconds) highlighting the benefits of custom cabinetry, the design process, and the expertise of Peach State Renovations’ designers. The CTA here was softer: “Download Our Free Design Guide” or “Explore Our Portfolio.”
• Abandoned Form Fillers: A very direct approach. Ad copy acknowledged their previous attempt (“Still dreaming of that new kitchen? Let’s finish that consultation!”) and offered a direct link back to the form, sometimes even including a subtle incentive like “Mention this ad for a complimentary 3D design rendering.”

I am a firm believer that dynamic creative optimization is non-negotiable for e-commerce or product-heavy businesses. The ability to automatically show users the exact products they viewed dramatically increases relevance and, consequently, conversion rates. According to a 2024 eMarketer report, companies utilizing DCO see an average 2x improvement in CTR compared to static ads. Our results for Peach State Renovations certainly supported this finding.

What Worked & What Didn’t

The Wins

• Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) for High-Intent Browsers: This was our clear winner. The personalized touch of showing exactly what they were looking at, combined with a strong CTA, yielded exceptional results.

  Audience Segment	Impressions	CTR	Conversions (Consultations)	CPL	ROAS
  High-Intent Browsers	180,000	2.3%	55	$80.00	5.2x
  General Site Visitors	250,000	0.7%	12	$416.67	1.1x
  Abandoned Form Fillers	50,000	1.8%	5	$300.00	2.5x

  (Note: ROAS for consultation-based businesses is an estimate based on average project value and closing rates.)

• Video Content for General Site Visitors: While the direct conversion rate for consultations wasn’t as high, these videos significantly boosted engagement metrics (view-through rates, time on site for returning visitors) and softened the audience for subsequent interactions. We saw a 15% increase in branded search queries from users exposed to these video ads.
• Urgency in Abandoned Form Filler Ads: The direct, “don’t miss out” messaging combined with a subtle incentive proved effective in recapturing lost leads.

The Challenges & What Didn’t Work as Well

• Early Broad Targeting: Initially, we included a “past purchasers” audience, thinking we could upsell them. However, for custom cabinetry, repeat purchases are rare within a year or two. This audience showed very low engagement and wasted about 5% of our budget before we paused it. It’s a reminder that not all existing customer segments are suitable for every retargeting campaign.
• Generic Image Ads for General Visitors: We tested some static image ads for the general site visitor segment. Their CTR was abysmal (around 0.2%) compared to the video ads. People want engagement, especially if they’re not yet highly motivated. Static images just didn’t cut it for this stage of the funnel.
• Lack of Offer in Mid-Funnel: Our initial ads for general site visitors were purely informational. We found that adding a clear, low-commitment offer (like the “Free Design Guide”) significantly improved CTR and subsequent engagement. Without it, the ads felt a bit aimless.

Optimization & Learnings

Based on the initial performance, we made several critical adjustments:

1. Budget Reallocation: We shifted 60% of the retargeting budget towards the “High-Intent Browsers” audience, 30% to “General Site Visitors” (with a focus on video and specific offers), and maintained 10% for “Abandoned Form Fillers.” This allowed us to double down on what was clearly working.
2. Creative Refresh: Every two weeks, we rotated new testimonials and project photos for the DPA ads to keep the content fresh and prevent ad fatigue. For general visitors, we introduced A/B tests on video intros and different calls to action for the design guide. I always recommend testing at least two variations of your creative; you’d be surprised what resonates best.
3. Landing Page Optimization: For the “Schedule Consultation” CTA, we refined the landing page to be cleaner, faster, and mobile-responsive. We reduced form fields from 8 to 5, which immediately saw a 10% increase in form completion rates. This isn’t strictly retargeting, but it’s a critical component of ensuring your ad spend isn’t wasted.
4. Exclusion Lists: We diligently updated our exclusion lists to ensure anyone who converted was removed from the retargeting audience. There’s nothing more annoying than seeing an ad for something you just bought or signed up for. It’s a basic hygiene factor that many marketers overlook.

This campaign demonstrated that retargeting isn’t just about showing ads to past visitors; it’s about showing the right ads to the right past visitors at the right time. By segmenting audiences, tailoring creative, and continuously optimizing based on real-time data, Peach State Renovations saw a substantial improvement in lead quality and overall marketing ROI. Their estimated ROAS of 3.5x for this specific retargeting slice was significantly higher than their prospecting campaigns, which hovered around 1.8x. This is why I’ll always advocate for a robust retargeting strategy – it’s often the highest-converting piece of your digital marketing puzzle.

Implementing a sophisticated retargeting strategy requires diligent audience segmentation and a commitment to iterative creative testing to maximize your ad spend and nurture leads effectively.