Overview

A large real estate marketplace partnered with us to improve retargeting performance across broker and builder audiences. The objective was not cold scale, but to re engage users who had already interacted with the platform and move them closer to meaningful actions.

Given the maturity of the platform and the category, this was a mid to lower funnel performance problem, where precision mattered more than reach.

Context

Real estate marketplaces operate with long consideration cycles and repeated touchpoints. Brokers and builders often explore platforms multiple times before taking action, depending on business timing and inventory readiness.

The challenge was to identify which retargeting cohorts still had intent and to ensure spend was not wasted on fatigued or saturated audiences.

Objective

The objective was to drive high intent platform actions through retargeting, while identifying scalable audience segments and managing frequency to maintain efficiency.

Strategy and Execution

We structured the retargeting setup around clear audience segmentation, separating prospective broker and builder audiences from lapsed users.

Prospective cohorts were prioritised due to larger pool sizes and stronger responsiveness. Lapsed audiences were retained selectively for testing, with close monitoring to prevent cost inflation caused by overexposure.

Meta Ads formed the core of the retargeting strategy, optimised toward website initiated actions. Creative direction leaned toward human led visuals and contextual messaging, which consistently delivered stronger engagement than abstract or interface only creatives.

Creative refreshes were managed with restraint. Instead of frequent resets, updates were paced to balance freshness with delivery stability and learning continuity.

Google Ads was tested in parallel for demand capture but evaluated strictly on cost efficiency. Once performance trends became clear, budget was consolidated toward Meta, which demonstrated stronger volume and lower cost per action.

Channels and Funnel

Channels Managed

• Meta Ads

• Google Ads

Funnel Focus

• Mid to lower funnel retargeting

• Audience re engagement

• Platform action optimisation

Results

Meta Ads emerged as the primary performance driver for retargeting.

The platform delivered a significantly higher volume of website initiated actions at a lower cost compared to Google. Prospective broker and builder cohorts consistently outperformed lapsed audiences, validating the decision to prioritise intent fresh segments.

Google Ads contributed limited action volume at higher costs and was therefore deprioritised in favour of Meta driven retargeting.

In addition to performance outcomes, the campaign surfaced operational insights around audience saturation, creative fatigue, and attribution gaps, which informed future funnel and tracking decisions.