It’s good strategy to periodically review your retargeting campaigns to make sure you’re hitting your volume and performance goals. An important part of that is setting the right Targeting Lookback Window for each of your audiences.
This post discusses targeting windows, why they’re important, and how to set or change them in SharpSpring Ads.
What is a Targeting Lookback Window? How is it different from Audience Duration?
A “Targeting Lookback Window” is a campaign setting determines how far back in time to target users for that campaign. This is similar but different from an audience’s “Duration”, which is a setting at the audience level that determines how long users will remain within an audience once added.
Duration lets you figure out how big your audiences should get. Should users stay in them for 5 days? 10 days? 30 days? 90 days? Targeting Lookback Windows let you choose which users to target within a given audience for a given campaign: Users added within 10 days? 30? Having both settings is unique to SharpSpring Ads and gives marketers a great deal of flexibility. You can easily make adjustments to your targeting without destroying the data stored in your audiences.
Targeting Lookback Windows are not to be confused with Conversion Lookback Windows, which let you decide how to attribute conversions from your campaigns.
Why are Targeting Lookback Windows important?
Targeting Lookback Windows play a substantial role in your campaign’s impression volume and spend, as well as performance metrics like click-through rates (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), and adjusted cost-per-acquisition (aCPA).
If you’d like to increase your campaign’s reach, consider lengthening its windows. That’ll allow you to retarget its audience for greater lengths of time and increase your impression volume. However, keep in mind that your CTR may start to drop if you set too long of a window.
If your campaign’s reach is limited by your budget – or if you’d just like to give a boost to your CTR, CPC, or aCPA numbers – consider shortening your lookback windows. This will eliminate impressions you’re serving to your most distant visitors. As you free up budget to retarget your most recent and engaged visitors, you should begin to see more clicks and conversions in your campaigns.
How do I set my Targeting Lookback Windows?
When creating or editing a campaign, your first task is to select the audiences you’d like to retarget, and set your Targeting Lookback Windows for each audience. In the box labeled “Targeting”, look for the “Lookback Window” fields and enter a value for each audience you’d like to target or exclude:
You can set Targeting Lookback Windows for a specific number of hours, days, or months. If you’re new to retargeting, or have recently started retargeting a brand new audience, we recommend starting with a window between 30 and 60 days to get a feel for performance.
Targeting Lookback Windows work for exclusions, too. In the example above, we’ve created a cart abandonment campaign that excludes customers who’ve made purchases. If you’d like to exclude your customers from your campaign for a specific amount of time before potentially retargeting them for repeat purchases, you can use a window to achieve that goal.
For more information on Targeting Lookback Windows and campaign setup, check out our knowledge base.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our Customer Success Team. If you’re new to SharpSpring Ads, try it for free and get a $100 credit toward your first retargeting campaign.
