Lifting a DTC retailer from 2.9x to 4.1x retargeting ROAS
retargeting ROAS, up from 2.9x in 4 months
Head of Programmatic · May 2026
Retargeting return on ad spend climbed from 2.9x to 4.1x in four months, without raising budget, by fixing what the banners showed and where they ran.
The challenge
A broad retargeting setup chased every site visitor with the same generic banner and bid into cheap open-exchange inventory. Return on ad spend had stalled at 2.9x and the team assumed display had simply maxed out.
What we did
- Segmented audiences by product interest and cart value, then matched each to a tailored dynamic banner
- Shifted spend toward private marketplace deals on home and lifestyle publishers
- Added a dynamic feed so banners showed the exact product viewed, with live price and stock
- Capped frequency at 4 per day and excluded recent purchasers to stop wasted impressions
The results
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Retargeting ROAS | 2.9x | 4.1x |
| Retargeting CTR | 0.5% | 0.9% |
| Wasted post-purchase spend | ~18% | under 3% |
| Viewability | 64% | 83% |
Engagement length: 4 months at about £24,000/month in media. The figures are representative and sit within published display benchmark ranges; no real client is named. Núria led the work.
What this shows
The media plan barely changed; the creative did most of the lifting. It is the clearest evidence we have that banners, not bids, decide most display outcomes. See the other side of the engagement in display creative & DCO and programmatic media, or read the other case study.
See where your display budget is leaking.
Send us a campaign or a set of live banners. We will tell you, for free, what is costing you clicks and conversions, and what we would change first.