Index
What is remarketing and why it works exceptionally well in automotive
The three types of remarketing a dealership can use
How to set up remarketing in Meta Ads
How to set up remarketing in Google Ads
Email and WhatsApp remarketing: the cheapest channel
How to use cross-selling and up-selling within remarketing
How much to invest and what results to expect
The most common mistakes in car remarketing
Dealcar and data capture for remarketing
Frequently Asked Questions
What is remarketing and why it works exceptionally well in automotive
Remarketing consists of showing ads to people who have already interacted with your business: they visited your website, viewed the page of a specific car, filled out a form without completing it, or interacted with your social media profile. The ad reminds them of the car they saw and gives them a reason to return.
In automotive, remarketing has an exceptionally high impact for a specific reason: the purchase decision cycle for a used car lasts weeks or months. The buyer visits several portals, compares options, and returns multiple times before deciding. If during that process your dealership appears recurrently with the car they were interested in, you have a massive advantage over those who do not follow up.
Read how to manage leads to increase dealership sales.
The cost per lead for remarketing is between 3 and 5 times lower than for acquiring new leads, because you are targeting users who have already shown interest. You are not convincing someone that they need a car: you are reminding them of the one they already wanted.
The three types of remarketing a dealership can use
Display remarketing shows banners or image ads on websites and apps within the Google Network to users who visited your website. It is the best-known type and the one most people have experienced as users: you visit a dealership's website and, over the following days, their ads appear on other sites.
Social media remarketing shows ads on Facebook and Instagram to users who visited your website or are on your contact list. It is the most effective for a local dealership because it allows you to show real photos of the car and has very visual formats that work well for automotive.
Direct remarketing via email or WhatsApp does not use advertising platforms: it uses your own channels to contact leads you already have in your database who did not buy. An email featuring the car the buyer viewed, with a price drop or containing a similar alternative car, has a much higher open and conversion rate than an email aimed at acquiring new leads.
How to set up remarketing in Meta Ads
The starting point is to install the Meta pixel on your website. The pixel is a piece of code that tracks visits to each page of your site and sends them to Meta, which uses them to create remarketing audiences. Without the pixel installed, remarketing is not possible from Meta.
With the pixel active, you can create a custom audience in the Meta Ads Manager based on people who visited specific pages of your website in the last 30, 60, or 90 days. For a dealership, the most useful audiences are users who visited specific vehicle detail pages (those most interested) and users who started a contact form but did not complete it (those who were very close to converting).
Check out the complete guide to Meta Ads for dealerships.
The remarketing ad should show the specific car the user viewed if possible. Meta has a format called dynamic product ads which automatically shows the product that each user viewed on your website, provided you have configured a product catalogue in Meta Business. For a dealership with many cars in rotation, setting up this dynamic catalogue has a significant impact on the relevance of the ads.
The remarketing budget on Meta can be small and still be effective because the audience is small: only users who have already visited your website. With £3 to £5 a day dedicated to remarketing, you can maintain a constant presence before this audience.
How to set up remarketing in Google Ads
Google Ads allows you to remarket through its display network (banners on websites and apps within the Google network) and through YouTube. The process requires installing the Google Ads tag on your website or linking Google Analytics with your Google Ads account.
Remarketing audiences in Google work in a similar way to Meta: you segment by pages visited, time spent on the website, or specific actions. The most effective ad format for cars on Google Display is the responsive display ad: you upload several photos of the car and several headlines, and Google combines the elements to optimize performance.
Google also offers Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA), which allows you to adjust bids or show different ads during Google searches to users who have already visited your website. If someone visited the detail page of a Volkswagen Tiguan on your website and a week later searches for "used Tiguan London" on Google, you can bid more aggressively for that user because they already know who you are.
Email and WhatsApp remarketing: the cheapest channel
Remarketing via email and WhatsApp does not require any advertising platform: it uses the contact details you already have. The cost is practically zero and the effectiveness can be higher than paid channels if the message is relevant and arrives at the right moment.
For email remarketing, the most effective trigger is a specific event: the car the contact viewed has dropped in price, a similar car to the one they were looking for has arrived, or the car they reserved is about to be sold to another buyer. These emails have much higher open rates than generic emails because the reason for sending them is specific and relevant to the recipient.
Also read how to recover cold leads in a dealership.
For WhatsApp remarketing, the same principle applies: a message saying "Hello Paul, I've just dropped the price of the Tiguan you saw to £16,500, are you interested?" has a completely different response rate compared to a generic follow-up message. Personalisation and a specific reason to contact are what turn the message into effective remarketing rather than spam.
Also read how to recover cold leads in a dealership.
How to use cross-selling and up-selling within remarketing
Remarketing is not just for reminding the buyer of the car they already saw. With the correct segmentation, it can also be used to propose better alternatives or complementary products, which increases the average order value and profitability per transaction.
Up-selling within remarketing consists of showing a user who viewed a specific car a higher-end alternative at a similar price. If someone visited the page of a 2019 Seat Leon with 90,000 km at £12,500 and didn't buy, a remarketing ad showing them a 2021 Seat Leon with 55,000 km at £14,900 can capture their interest with a clear argument: for £30 more a month in finance, they get a car that is two years newer with half the mileage. This strategy has a greater impact on users who visited the page but did not get in touch, because it suggests that the price or conditions of the first car did not entirely convince them.
Cross-selling within remarketing is the additional layer of complementary products: extended warranty, GAP insurance, favourable finance. This type of message works best in the final phase of the buying process, when the buyer has already got in touch and is close to deciding. An ad that reinforces "remember this car includes a 12-month warranty and you can finance it from £189 a month" supports the sales executive in the closing process without them having to repeat that argument in every conversation.
The key for cross-selling and up-selling to work in remarketing is behavioural segmentation: not all users should receive the same message. Those who viewed the page and did not get in touch are candidates for up-selling or a price reminder. Those who got in touch but did not close are candidates for cross-selling additional services that reinforce the value proposition of the car they were already interested in.
How much to invest and what results to expect
Remarketing has the best cost-to-result ratio of all lead generation channels for a dealership, precisely because it engages users who have already shown interest. The indicative ranges for a well-configured local dealership are as follows.
In Meta Ads for remarketing, with £100 or £150 a month you can maintain a constant presence before all users who visited your website in the last 30 days. The cost per remarketing lead on Meta is usually between £3 and £10, compared to £10 to £25 for acquiring new leads.
On Google Display, with similar budgets the reach is lower but the visibility impact is high because the banners appear in many different places that the user regularly visits.
Remarketing via email and WhatsApp has no media cost: the cost is the time spent preparing the messages and managing the responses, which with a defined process is marginal.
The key metric to evaluate remarketing is not the cost per impression or per click: it is the conversion rate of targeted users who end up buying, compared to the rate of users who arrived via other channels and were not targeted with remarketing.
The most common mistakes in car remarketing
Targeting users for too long. If someone visited your website 90 days ago and you are still showing them the same car that is probably already sold or no longer interests them, the ad generates more annoyance than interest. Limiting the remarketing window to 30 or 45 days and excluding users who have already bought is important to avoid damaging brand perception.
Showing the same ad for weeks without refreshing it. Ad fatigue in remarketing is particularly high because the audience is small and sees the same ad many times. Rotating creatives every 2 or 3 weeks keeps them fresh.
Also check out how to calculate CAC and marketing ROI in a dealership.
Not excluding buyers from remarketing. If someone has already bought a car and continues to receive ads from the dealership for that same car, the experience is confusing and unprofessional. Creating an exclusion audience with current buyers is a basic step that many overlook.
Not having the tracking pixel correctly installed. A poorly installed pixel or one that does not track visits to specific vehicle detail pages means that remarketing will not work even if it is configured correctly in Meta or Google. Verifying that the pixel is tracking events correctly before launching campaigns prevents weeks of wasted budget.
Dealcar and data capture for remarketing
The starting point for remarketing is having data: website visits, registered contacts, leads with an identified vehicle of interest. Dealcar centralises all this data in a single system, making it easy to create remarketing audiences for both advertising platforms and direct email and WhatsApp channels.
Dealcar's professional website includes integration with Meta and Google pixels so that visit tracking is active from day one. If you want to see how it works, request a demo at dealcar.io.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need my own website to do remarketing?
For remarketing on Meta and Google, yes: you need a website where you can install the tracking pixel. Without your own website, you cannot create audiences based on visits. For remarketing via email and WhatsApp, it is not necessary: you can do it with the contacts you have in your CRM regardless of whether you have a website or not.
Does remarketing work if I have low web traffic?
Remarketing requires a minimum volume of visits to create audiences of sufficient size. Meta and Google need at least 100 users in an audience to activate ads. If your website has fewer than 100 visits in 30 days, display remarketing will not be effective. In that case, remarketing via email and WhatsApp with your existing database of leads is the most practical alternative.
Can I do remarketing to people who saw my cars on a third-party portal?
Not directly: portals do not share the data of users who viewed your ads. You can only do remarketing to users who visited your own website or who are in your contact database. This is one of the main reasons to have your own website: the traffic that arrives at your site is yours to remarket to; the traffic that lands on the portals is not.
Does remarketing interfere with user privacy?
Remarketing uses cookies and browsing data that users accept when visiting websites under current cookie policies. GDPR regulations require that users have the option to reject tracking cookies. If a user rejects cookies on your website, they cannot be included in display remarketing audiences. Remarketing via email and WhatsApp requires explicit consent from the user to receive marketing communications.
Index
What is remarketing and why it works exceptionally well in automotive
The three types of remarketing a dealership can use
How to set up remarketing in Meta Ads
How to set up remarketing in Google Ads
Email and WhatsApp remarketing: the cheapest channel
How to use cross-selling and up-selling within remarketing
How much to invest and what results to expect
The most common mistakes in car remarketing
Dealcar and data capture for remarketing
Frequently Asked Questions
What is remarketing and why it works exceptionally well in automotive
Remarketing consists of showing ads to people who have already interacted with your business: they visited your website, viewed the page of a specific car, filled out a form without completing it, or interacted with your social media profile. The ad reminds them of the car they saw and gives them a reason to return.
In automotive, remarketing has an exceptionally high impact for a specific reason: the purchase decision cycle for a used car lasts weeks or months. The buyer visits several portals, compares options, and returns multiple times before deciding. If during that process your dealership appears recurrently with the car they were interested in, you have a massive advantage over those who do not follow up.
Read how to manage leads to increase dealership sales.
The cost per lead for remarketing is between 3 and 5 times lower than for acquiring new leads, because you are targeting users who have already shown interest. You are not convincing someone that they need a car: you are reminding them of the one they already wanted.
The three types of remarketing a dealership can use
Display remarketing shows banners or image ads on websites and apps within the Google Network to users who visited your website. It is the best-known type and the one most people have experienced as users: you visit a dealership's website and, over the following days, their ads appear on other sites.
Social media remarketing shows ads on Facebook and Instagram to users who visited your website or are on your contact list. It is the most effective for a local dealership because it allows you to show real photos of the car and has very visual formats that work well for automotive.
Direct remarketing via email or WhatsApp does not use advertising platforms: it uses your own channels to contact leads you already have in your database who did not buy. An email featuring the car the buyer viewed, with a price drop or containing a similar alternative car, has a much higher open and conversion rate than an email aimed at acquiring new leads.
How to set up remarketing in Meta Ads
The starting point is to install the Meta pixel on your website. The pixel is a piece of code that tracks visits to each page of your site and sends them to Meta, which uses them to create remarketing audiences. Without the pixel installed, remarketing is not possible from Meta.
With the pixel active, you can create a custom audience in the Meta Ads Manager based on people who visited specific pages of your website in the last 30, 60, or 90 days. For a dealership, the most useful audiences are users who visited specific vehicle detail pages (those most interested) and users who started a contact form but did not complete it (those who were very close to converting).
Check out the complete guide to Meta Ads for dealerships.
The remarketing ad should show the specific car the user viewed if possible. Meta has a format called dynamic product ads which automatically shows the product that each user viewed on your website, provided you have configured a product catalogue in Meta Business. For a dealership with many cars in rotation, setting up this dynamic catalogue has a significant impact on the relevance of the ads.
The remarketing budget on Meta can be small and still be effective because the audience is small: only users who have already visited your website. With £3 to £5 a day dedicated to remarketing, you can maintain a constant presence before this audience.
How to set up remarketing in Google Ads
Google Ads allows you to remarket through its display network (banners on websites and apps within the Google network) and through YouTube. The process requires installing the Google Ads tag on your website or linking Google Analytics with your Google Ads account.
Remarketing audiences in Google work in a similar way to Meta: you segment by pages visited, time spent on the website, or specific actions. The most effective ad format for cars on Google Display is the responsive display ad: you upload several photos of the car and several headlines, and Google combines the elements to optimize performance.
Google also offers Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA), which allows you to adjust bids or show different ads during Google searches to users who have already visited your website. If someone visited the detail page of a Volkswagen Tiguan on your website and a week later searches for "used Tiguan London" on Google, you can bid more aggressively for that user because they already know who you are.
Email and WhatsApp remarketing: the cheapest channel
Remarketing via email and WhatsApp does not require any advertising platform: it uses the contact details you already have. The cost is practically zero and the effectiveness can be higher than paid channels if the message is relevant and arrives at the right moment.
For email remarketing, the most effective trigger is a specific event: the car the contact viewed has dropped in price, a similar car to the one they were looking for has arrived, or the car they reserved is about to be sold to another buyer. These emails have much higher open rates than generic emails because the reason for sending them is specific and relevant to the recipient.
Also read how to recover cold leads in a dealership.
For WhatsApp remarketing, the same principle applies: a message saying "Hello Paul, I've just dropped the price of the Tiguan you saw to £16,500, are you interested?" has a completely different response rate compared to a generic follow-up message. Personalisation and a specific reason to contact are what turn the message into effective remarketing rather than spam.
Also read how to recover cold leads in a dealership.
How to use cross-selling and up-selling within remarketing
Remarketing is not just for reminding the buyer of the car they already saw. With the correct segmentation, it can also be used to propose better alternatives or complementary products, which increases the average order value and profitability per transaction.
Up-selling within remarketing consists of showing a user who viewed a specific car a higher-end alternative at a similar price. If someone visited the page of a 2019 Seat Leon with 90,000 km at £12,500 and didn't buy, a remarketing ad showing them a 2021 Seat Leon with 55,000 km at £14,900 can capture their interest with a clear argument: for £30 more a month in finance, they get a car that is two years newer with half the mileage. This strategy has a greater impact on users who visited the page but did not get in touch, because it suggests that the price or conditions of the first car did not entirely convince them.
Cross-selling within remarketing is the additional layer of complementary products: extended warranty, GAP insurance, favourable finance. This type of message works best in the final phase of the buying process, when the buyer has already got in touch and is close to deciding. An ad that reinforces "remember this car includes a 12-month warranty and you can finance it from £189 a month" supports the sales executive in the closing process without them having to repeat that argument in every conversation.
The key for cross-selling and up-selling to work in remarketing is behavioural segmentation: not all users should receive the same message. Those who viewed the page and did not get in touch are candidates for up-selling or a price reminder. Those who got in touch but did not close are candidates for cross-selling additional services that reinforce the value proposition of the car they were already interested in.
How much to invest and what results to expect
Remarketing has the best cost-to-result ratio of all lead generation channels for a dealership, precisely because it engages users who have already shown interest. The indicative ranges for a well-configured local dealership are as follows.
In Meta Ads for remarketing, with £100 or £150 a month you can maintain a constant presence before all users who visited your website in the last 30 days. The cost per remarketing lead on Meta is usually between £3 and £10, compared to £10 to £25 for acquiring new leads.
On Google Display, with similar budgets the reach is lower but the visibility impact is high because the banners appear in many different places that the user regularly visits.
Remarketing via email and WhatsApp has no media cost: the cost is the time spent preparing the messages and managing the responses, which with a defined process is marginal.
The key metric to evaluate remarketing is not the cost per impression or per click: it is the conversion rate of targeted users who end up buying, compared to the rate of users who arrived via other channels and were not targeted with remarketing.
The most common mistakes in car remarketing
Targeting users for too long. If someone visited your website 90 days ago and you are still showing them the same car that is probably already sold or no longer interests them, the ad generates more annoyance than interest. Limiting the remarketing window to 30 or 45 days and excluding users who have already bought is important to avoid damaging brand perception.
Showing the same ad for weeks without refreshing it. Ad fatigue in remarketing is particularly high because the audience is small and sees the same ad many times. Rotating creatives every 2 or 3 weeks keeps them fresh.
Also check out how to calculate CAC and marketing ROI in a dealership.
Not excluding buyers from remarketing. If someone has already bought a car and continues to receive ads from the dealership for that same car, the experience is confusing and unprofessional. Creating an exclusion audience with current buyers is a basic step that many overlook.
Not having the tracking pixel correctly installed. A poorly installed pixel or one that does not track visits to specific vehicle detail pages means that remarketing will not work even if it is configured correctly in Meta or Google. Verifying that the pixel is tracking events correctly before launching campaigns prevents weeks of wasted budget.
Dealcar and data capture for remarketing
The starting point for remarketing is having data: website visits, registered contacts, leads with an identified vehicle of interest. Dealcar centralises all this data in a single system, making it easy to create remarketing audiences for both advertising platforms and direct email and WhatsApp channels.
Dealcar's professional website includes integration with Meta and Google pixels so that visit tracking is active from day one. If you want to see how it works, request a demo at dealcar.io.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need my own website to do remarketing?
For remarketing on Meta and Google, yes: you need a website where you can install the tracking pixel. Without your own website, you cannot create audiences based on visits. For remarketing via email and WhatsApp, it is not necessary: you can do it with the contacts you have in your CRM regardless of whether you have a website or not.
Does remarketing work if I have low web traffic?
Remarketing requires a minimum volume of visits to create audiences of sufficient size. Meta and Google need at least 100 users in an audience to activate ads. If your website has fewer than 100 visits in 30 days, display remarketing will not be effective. In that case, remarketing via email and WhatsApp with your existing database of leads is the most practical alternative.
Can I do remarketing to people who saw my cars on a third-party portal?
Not directly: portals do not share the data of users who viewed your ads. You can only do remarketing to users who visited your own website or who are in your contact database. This is one of the main reasons to have your own website: the traffic that arrives at your site is yours to remarket to; the traffic that lands on the portals is not.
Does remarketing interfere with user privacy?
Remarketing uses cookies and browsing data that users accept when visiting websites under current cookie policies. GDPR regulations require that users have the option to reject tracking cookies. If a user rejects cookies on your website, they cannot be included in display remarketing audiences. Remarketing via email and WhatsApp requires explicit consent from the user to receive marketing communications.
