Have you ever set up a retargeting campaign only to face that unpleasant “audience too small” Message? You are not alone my friend.
I’ve been there, looking at a screen, wondering why my brilliant targeting tactic is not working, and I didn’t even begin.
Why Your Retargeting Audiences Are Not Working Properly
I assume you have experienced similar situations. You’ve installed the pixel, created that amazing ad, and now are ready to reconnect with those visitors who didn’t convert. What happens next? LinkedIn throws that 300-member minimum requirement at you like a brick in the head. Oh, it’s so frustrating, I know!
Listen, unless you’re getting thousands of visitors daily, individual retargeting segments often struggle to reach that sufficient size. But you don’t have to worry – there’s a smart way that the best LinkedIn advertisers use.
Moving Smart: Make One Super Audience
Instead of watching your small audience pools gather dust, try this: combine ALL your warm audiences into one unified campaign. This is what I’m talking about:
- Website visitors who browsed your pricing page
- People who checked out your company profile
- Those who engaged with your thought leadership posts
- Video viewers who stuck around (the 50%+ crowd)
- For starters who got cold feet
- Webinar registrants who know your name
This is a strategic genius. By pooling these smaller audiences together, you create a robust retargeting group that LinkedIn’s algorithm can work with.
Your Wallet Will Thank You
Here’s something LinkedIn doesn’t show you: ultra-small audiences come with ultra-large costs. When you’re targeting just a handful of people, the algorithm struggles to optimize, and your cost per click goes wild in the clouds.
I once saw a client pay $28 per click on a tiny retargeting audience when their usual CPC was around $6. That’s something that nobody talks about.
With the combined approach, you’ll keep costs manageable while still reaching people who already know your brand. Plus, you’ll start collecting performance data today instead of three months from now.
When to Break Up the Party
You will reach that point when splitting them makes sense, as your audience segments grow. Look for segments crossing the 1,000-member mark – that’s usually when you can start getting more strategic.
Think of it like graduating from a startup’s “everyone does everything” phase to having specialized teams. When you break out your audiences, you can:
- Create messages that speak directly to how they’ve interacted with you before
- A/B test which ad resonates with which segment
- Assign budget based on which segments convert best
Just watch those metrics closely after splitting – sometimes unified audiences perform better than the sum of their parts.
Hot, Warm, Cool: Strategic Time Segmentation
Wanna know about advanced tactics that can change your results for the better? Once your audiences are substantial, segment them by recency:
- Hot audience (last 30 days)
- Warm audience (31-90 days)
- Cold audience (91-180 days)
I had the opportunity to test this. In one B2B software campaign, the 30-day visitors converted at 4.2% while the 31-90 day group managed just 1.8%. That’s a 133% difference!
Someone who visited your site yesterday will remember you – your job is to push them over the finish line.
Someone from three months ago? You will have to reintroduce yourself and rebuild that connection.
How to Implement the Blueprint
When you put this strategy into action:
- Start with the same creative across segments to establish your benchmark
- Use UTM codes that tell you exactly which audience segment is performing
- Bid more aggressively on your hottest, most recent segments
- Create clean exclusions between segments (your 30-day people shouldn’t see your 90-day campaign)
Beyond the Click: Measuring What Matters
Impressions and clicks are nice to see in large numbers but they don’t pay bills. Track these business-focused metrics instead:
- How many qualified leads each segment delivers
- The time it takes from first ad impression to conversion
- The revenue attributed to each retargeting segment
- How retargeted leads move through your sales process compared to cold leads
One surprising insight I’ve found: sometimes the older audiences convert more slowly but have higher average deal sizes. You’d never catch that looking at CTR alone.
Never Set and Forget
Your retargeting strategy should evolve as your audience grows. Every quarter, challenge your approach by asking:
- Which of my small audiences are now big enough to stand on their own?
- Are there new interaction points I could be retargeting? (That new product demo video, perhaps?)
- Has the performance gap between recency segments changed?
Throughout my career, I’ve seen companies double their retargeting ROI simply by refreshing their strategy quarterly instead of letting campaigns run on autopilot.
Remember, smart retargeting isn’t about perfection from day one – it’s about starting with what you have, learning what works, and continuously improving. Even the smallest audiences can deliver amazing results with the right approach.
Ready to scale up your LinkedIn retargeting? Book a call with us and turn those small audiences into big results.
