How to Retarget PPC Visitors Who Didn't Convert

You paid for 100 clicks on Google Ads. Maybe 4-6 became leads. What happened to the other 94?

They’re still out there. Many are still considering hiring a contractor for that same job. They just didn’t call you on the first visit.

Retargeting lets you show ads to those specific people as they browse other websites, scroll Facebook, or watch YouTube. Retargeted visitors are 70% more likely to convert than cold traffic you’ve never reached before.

Why retargeting works for home services

Most home service searches aren’t emergencies. A homeowner notices their AC isn’t cooling as well. They search “AC repair near me,” click a few sites, maybe save a phone number. Then they go back to their day.

The median retargeting conversion rate is 3.8%. Standard prospecting campaigns—people who’ve never heard of you—convert at 1.5%.

That’s more than double the conversion rate for people who already visited your site.

Here’s why:

They already showed intent. Someone searching “HVAC repair [your city]” and clicking your site has a real need. They’re not random internet traffic.

Familiarity builds trust. Home service purchases require letting a stranger into your house. Seeing your brand multiple times before calling reduces the “who are these people?” barrier.

You’re competing with their short attention span. 62% of homeowners hire the first contractor to respond. Retargeting keeps you visible while they’re still deciding.

What the numbers look like

A Salt Lake City HVAC company tracked their lead sources across 661 monthly internet leads. 102 came from retargeting and display ads—about 15% of their lead volume at a cost per lead of $13.91 and an overall ROI of 17:1.

Another contractor ran Facebook and Google retargeting together. Within 90 days: $221,548 in lead value on roughly $26,685 in ad spend. That’s 8.3:1 return.

These aren’t typical results for everyone. But the pattern holds across home service retargeting campaigns: you’re paying to reach people who already raised their hand.

How to set up contractor retargeting

1. Install your tracking pixels

Before you can retarget anyone, you need to mark who visited your site.

Google Ads: Add the remarketing tag to every page. Google provides a snippet you paste in your site header.

Facebook/Meta: Install the Meta Pixel. Same process—snippet in the header, tracks visitors for your ad account.

Combined approach: Many contractors run both. Google Display Network reaches 2 million+ partner sites. Facebook/Instagram reaches people during their scrolling time.

Setup takes 10 minutes per platform if you’re comfortable pasting code. If not, your web developer or marketing person handles it.

2. Build your audience segments

Not every visitor is worth the same retargeting spend.

High intent: People who visited your pricing page, service pages, or started (but didn’t finish) a contact form. These are close to converting.

Medium intent: Homepage visitors who browsed but didn’t dig deep. They’re aware of you but not yet motivated.

Past customers: People who already hired you for a previous job. Target them with maintenance offers, seasonal tune-ups, referral asks.

Service-specific: Someone who visited your “water heater installation” page gets ads about water heaters, not general HVAC messaging.

Start with your high-intent audience. They’re cheapest to convert.

3. Set your frequency and timing

Optimal impressions: Conversion rates increase when users see your ads 5-6 times. Beyond that, returns diminish and ad fatigue sets in.

Retargeting window: 7-14 days after the initial site visit outperforms longer windows by about 30%. Homeowners who don’t hire within two weeks have usually moved on or hired someone else.

Frequency cap: Set a cap of 7-10 impressions per user per day. More than that wastes budget and annoys potential customers.

4. Create ads that remind, not repeat

Your retargeting ad shouldn’t say exactly what your website says. They already saw that.

What works:

• Limited-time offers (“$79 AC tune-up this week only”)
• Social proof (“4.9 stars from 200+ homeowners”)
• Urgency without desperation (“Schedule before the summer rush”)
• The job they were looking at (“Still need that water heater replaced?”)

Use responsive display ads. Google automatically resizes them for different placements. They perform 32% better than static images.

Add video if possible. YouTube retargeting with 30-second service videos has 50%+ watch-through rates. It’s a second impression that builds familiarity.

5. Budget appropriately

Allocation: 10-20% of your total PPC budget should go to retargeting. You’re paying lower CPCs to reach warmer audiences.

Typical costs: Google retargeting CPCs run $0.66-$1.23 on average—much cheaper than competitive search terms like “emergency plumber near me.”

Minimum viable spend: $500-1,000/month in retargeting spend gives you enough data to test and refine.

Common retargeting mistakes

Running retargeting in isolation. Retargeting amplifies your search campaigns. If your initial clicks come from bad keywords or a broken landing page, retargeting just follows up on low-quality traffic.

Generic messaging for all segments. Someone who looked at your AC repair page doesn’t want to see ads about plumbing. Segment your audiences and match the message.

No frequency caps. Showing the same ad 50 times in a week makes people actively avoid you. Cap impressions to prevent ad fatigue.

Ignoring the off-season. CPCs drop 30-40% during slow months. That’s when retargeting is cheapest. Build brand awareness in winter so you’re top of mind when summer hits.

Only retargeting—never recovering. Retargeting shows ads to people who left your site. Lead recovery actually identifies those visitors so you can reach them directly, not just through ads.

Retargeting vs. visitor identification

Retargeting is renting attention. You pay every time someone sees your ad. If they don’t click, you pay again tomorrow.

Visitor identification captures the visitor’s information so you can reach them without paying for impressions. Once you know who visited your site, you can send a postcard, add them to an email sequence, or have your sales team follow up directly.

The best contractors use both. Retargeting keeps you visible. Visitor identification gives you a lead you own—one you can work without paying per impression.

What contractors should do this week

Day 1: Install Google remarketing tag and Meta Pixel if you haven’t already.

Day 2: Create a 14-day audience of visitors to your service pages.

Day 3: Build one responsive display ad with an offer (not just your logo).

Day 4: Launch at $20-30/day to test.

Week 2-4: Monitor cost per conversion. Kill what doesn’t work, scale what does.

Retargeting isn’t complicated. The setup takes an afternoon. The ongoing work is watching your numbers and adjusting creative when engagement drops.

The 94 clicks that left without calling aren’t gone forever. They’re scrolling Facebook right now, seeing someone’s ads. It might as well be yours.