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Home/Services/Digital marketing agency/Criteo Ads

Criteo Ads: product retargeting for e-commerce

Criteo buys space from publishers programmatically and builds product campaigns from your feed. It is retargeting that reaches your visitors also where Google and Meta remarketing cannot. Its biggest risk is not the cost, but that it will claim sales that would have come anyway, which is why we launch the channel with an incrementality measurement plan, not just the tag.

The Criteo account and feed stay yours

You sign the contract with the platform, and we run campaigns on your account and your product feed. When the work ends, there is nothing to transfer.

How much of the result Criteo added

The dashboard claims an order after the last impression, including one that would have come back on its own. A control group test shows what share of that result is new.

An abandoned cart, a product creative on the publisher network and a return to the shop Criteo 4-16 h of specialist work per month, depending on the package
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Starting point

Why do product retargeting campaigns show a profit that is not there?

Three traps that make this channel look the best in the whole account in the dashboard, even though it does not necessarily add the most. Without an incrementality test you do not know what share of the budget brings new orders, and the test itself takes 3-4 weeks.

Buying back your own sales

The ad catches up with someone who would have come back anyway. The Criteo dashboard records a conversion, and nothing changes in your profit and loss.

Three networks on one user

Google, Meta and Criteo all buy the same person at the same time. Without exclusions you pay 3 times for the same reach, and each dashboard counts it for itself.

The feed as the bottleneck

Product campaigns show exactly what is in the catalogue. Missing availability, an old price or empty attributes cost more here than bids do.

Definition

What is the Criteo platform and Criteo Dynamic Retargeting?

Criteo is an advertising platform working programmatically: it buys space on publisher sites and shows product campaigns built from your feed on it. Criteo Dynamic Retargeting reaches people who have already been in your shop, it does not win new audiences. JustIdea runs this channel on your account and starts with the catalogue, because the catalogue decides what the viewer will see.

A publisher network, not one platform

Criteo buys placements from publishers across the open web, through its own publisher connections and through ad exchanges, so some of those placements lie outside the reach of the Google Display Network.

Creative built from the feed

The catalogue builds the ad, not a designer, so titles, prices and availability weigh more here than how the banner looks.

The test decides the result, not the dashboard

The lift only shows once you switch the channel off for part of the traffic and compare sales in both groups.

How it works step by step

From the product feed to a Criteo campaign you can defend

Four stages, 6-8 weeks in total to the first figure you can base a budget decision on. The third stage is usually skipped, and it is the one that decides whether the channel makes sense.

  1. 1

    Feed and measurement

    1-2 weeks

    Catalogue, the Criteo tag and order measurement. We check availability, prices and attributes, because every ad is built from them.

  2. 2

    Launch and exclusions

    2 weeks

    Retargeting starts together with settling who buys which user: Criteo, Google or Meta. Without this split you pay for one reach several times.

  3. 3

    Incrementality test

    3-4 weeks

    We switch the channel off for part of the traffic and compare sales in both groups. This is where you first see the effect, six to eight weeks from launch.

  4. 4

    Decision and scaling

    ongoing work

    The budget that stays is as much as the lift can justify. If there is no lift, we recommend switching the channel off, even if the dashboard shows the best return in the account.

Client reviews

Ratings given where we do not count for ourselves

With retargeting, what matters is whether the agency itself checks how much the channel adds, not just shows the dashboard result. The ratings below were given by clients on three sites, and each has a link to the full text of the reviews.

4.96 / 5

weighted average of 224 reviews across three platforms. Clients gave them, and each site below links to the profile with the full text of every review.

Read the reviews
Google
4.97 / 5
156 reviews on our Google Business Profile
See the profile Facebook
5.0 / 5
33 reviews on our Facebook page
See the profile Clutch
4.9 / 5
35 B2B reviews, each verified in a call with the client
See the profile
Certificates and partnerships

Product retargeting stands on the feed, not on the creative

Criteo shows specific products, so campaign quality starts in the catalogue and in order data. Below are three statuses JustIdea uses in exactly these two places.

base. (BaseLinker)

BaseLinker, integration partnership

The product feed and stock levels go through the integration, and an ad for a product that is out of stock costs double. The integration partnership with base. gives us access to support on the data side.

Top PPC Company, e-commerce Poland

Clutch, ranking of paid campaigns in e-commerce

A ranking of paid campaigns in e-commerce. Clutch verifies every review by talking to its author, so the position rests on campaigns accounted for with clients.

Google Premier Partner

Google, top tier of the Google Partners programme

Retargeting returns to people that other channels brought to the shop, which is why we read Criteo's result together with purchase paths in Google Analytics, not in the dashboard alone. We analyse those paths every day in the Google campaigns we run for clients.

Doubts before we start

Four things we hear about retargeting

Each is answered by an incrementality test, not by a dashboard figure.

„Retargeting buys back sales that would have happened anyway”

Partly, yes, which is why we measure lift, not attribution: a group that saw the ad against a group that did not. If there is no lift, we recommend switching the campaign off, even if the dashboard shows a lovely return.

„We already have remarketing on Google and Meta”

Criteo only duplicates them when nobody settles which channel returns to which visitors and how often. After such a split, it adds publisher sites outside the reach of Google and Meta remarketing. With low traffic we advise against it, because each channel would chase the same people.

„Our feed is not ready”

Then we start with the product feed, because Criteo shows exactly what is in it: title, image, price. A campaign on a weak catalogue is an ad for a product with no size and a pre-sale price.

„We are handing customer data to an outside company”

The Criteo tag passes data on shop visits to the platform only to the extent the customer agreed to in the cookie banner. We make sure consents are wired into measurement, and the account and catalogue stay yours.

Limits of the service

When does Criteo make sense next to Google and Meta remarketing, and when do we advise against it?

Short answer

Criteo advertising makes sense as a third retargeting channel with high traffic and a sound feed, because it extends reach to placements where Google and Meta remarketing does not appear. With low traffic, three networks hit the same people, so we advise against it before you sign with the platform.

The difference from RTB House is not the quality of the algorithm, but how much stays on your side. There, the vendor's model picks the audience and the bid itself, and you get the result in a dashboard. In Criteo, segments, exclusions, product sets and the way creatives are built from the feed are still yours to set, so there is something to improve the result with besides raising the budget. JustIdea judges both channels the same way: by lift on a control group, not by the dashboard return, and recommends switching the campaign off when there is no lift.

A third retargeting channel beyond Google and Meta, with an incrementality test instead of faith in attribution

This is the service

  • You have high traffic and have exhausted remarketing on Google and Meta.
  • Your product feed is in order: titles, images, prices, availability.
  • You accept an incrementality test instead of faith in dashboard attribution.

Start with something else

  • Traffic is low: three retargeting networks will hit the same people, stay with Google and Meta.
  • The feed is not ready: product feed first.
  • You want to hand decisions to the vendor's model and settle on its contract: that is RTB House.
Pricing

How much does Criteo advertising cost and what is included

We price management by the size of the ad budget and the number of working hours per month, because they tell you how much can realistically be done on the account. One package is one channel: Criteo run alongside Google campaigns is two packages, because it is a separate account, separate campaigns and separate optimisation. You pay the media budget directly to Criteo, so it is not included in these amounts.

Before we start

Account audit

We check your Criteo campaigns if they are already running, the measurement and whether a third retargeting channel makes sense at all with your traffic.

Free
at the stage of talking about working together
  • Included: a review of the campaign structure and the state of measurement, pointing out where the budget leaks, and a conversation about opportunities in your business. An extended audit with a written report, a full assessment of campaign structure, conversion quality and exclusions, and a prioritised list of changes, we quote separately.
I want the free audit
Most popular

Ongoing management

Running product campaigns, exclusions against Google and Meta, an incrementality test and a campaign results report.

from €300
per month, packages from 4 to 16 hours
  • Included: one specialist assigned to the account, running campaigns in one channel, measurement setup and a written report. From the Basic package upwards you also get product feed management, a performance marketing strategy, recurring analytics checks and an online reporting meeting. A second ad channel is a separate package.
I want a quote
Budget above €10k

Enterprise

Several markets, a large product catalogue and a scope of work matched to the scale of the account, with no fixed hour limit.

Custom quote
a team, not a single specialist
  • Included: a team on our side, a quarterly strategy workshop and estimates. Reporting set against product margin and returns requires a data warehouse, which at this scale we recommend and quote separately.
I want a quote

See the packages in pricing

FAQ

Criteo advertising: questions before you decide

How is Criteo different from Google remarketing?

In reach and in how it buys space. Criteo buys placements programmatically from publishers across the open web, partly the same as the Google Display Network and partly ones it does not reach. The mechanics are similar, which is why we settle the split of visitors between channels before launch.

How soon do you see results from Criteo campaigns?

Spend and reach show in the dashboard from the first days, but those are not results yet. The figure you can base a budget decision on comes from the incrementality test, six to eight weeks from launch. That is made up of a week or two for the feed and measurement, two weeks for launch and exclusions, and three to four for the test itself.

Does product retargeting pay off at all?

It pays off when it adds orders that would not have happened without it, not when it only claims those that would have come anyway. The incrementality test decides: we switch the channel off for part of the traffic and see whether sales drop. If they do not, we recommend switching it off, even if the Criteo dashboard shows the best return in the account.

How much does Criteo advertising cost?

The account audit at the stage of talking about working together is free, and management starts from €300 net per month and grows with the ad budget, with a three-month notice period. With a budget above €10k we quote individually. The product feed that Criteo ads are built from we run from the Basic package upwards, and you pay the ad budget separately, directly to Criteo.

Do I need a product feed?

Yes, and a correct one. Product campaigns are built from the catalogue, so gaps in prices, availability or attributes translate directly into the cost per order. Feed management is included in packages from Basic upwards, and when the catalogue needs rebuilding, we start with the product feed service and only then launch Criteo.

Does my customer data stay with me?

The account, product feed and campaign history belong to you: you sign the contract with Criteo, and we work with access to your account, so nothing needs transferring when the work ends. The tag passes data on shop visits to Criteo, which is why we set it up to work only within the consent given in the cookie banner.

Criteo, programmatic and AI in dynamic product campaigns

When Criteo advertising makes sense

When the shop already has steady traffic from acquisition channels and a real problem with closing sales, not with winning them. With low traffic, retargeting has nobody to catch up with, and the money works better in campaigns that win new audiences.

Why we watch exclusions

The same user can be chased by Google, Meta and Criteo remarketing at once. Without agreed exclusions you pay several times to reach one person, and each dashboard claims the same conversion. The result looks great in each of them separately and terrible in your profit and loss.

How we count the result

By lift, not by attribution. ROAS from the Criteo dashboard tells you how many sales the channel claimed, not how many it added, and in retargeting those two figures usually diverge. That is why we switch the channel off for part of the traffic and compare sales in both groups. Only that difference tells you how much budget is worth keeping in it.

How Criteo dynamic ads work

Criteo Dynamic Retargeting builds the ad at the moment of the impression: an algorithm based on AI and machine learning picks from the feed the products the person viewed and similar ones. Personalisation happens automatically, so you do not design hundreds of creatives here, you look after the data the ad is built from. The dynamic format lets you personalise the message for every visitor, but the same automation will show a product that is no longer available if the feed does not keep up with the shop.

Criteo alongside social media ads

Retargeting on social media, on Facebook and Instagram, works inside Meta's closed ecosystem. Criteo bids for display space on publisher sites across the open web, so it reaches the same person somewhere else. An advertiser running both channels should compare them on one data source, for example in Google Analytics, not in two dashboards that count clicks and impressions their own way.

Other services

What else can we do for you?

The traffic Criteo wins back had to come from somewhere first, and someone has to maintain the catalogue the ads are built from. Below are three pages that most often come into the same conversation, each with its own scope and its own quote.

RTB House Ads

Retargeting with a vendor that leaves decisions about audience and bid to its own deep learning model.

View ›

Product feed

Product feed optimisation for online shops: Google Merchant Center, Google Ads campaigns, the Meta catalogue and TikTok Shop.

View ›

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads campaigns and Facebook and Instagram advertising for shops: catalogue and sales counted as profit after returns, with open pricing.

View ›

Let's check whether Criteo advertising adds anything for you

The measurement method is set before launch, not after the first report. In 30 minutes we show how to plan an incrementality test and exclusions against Google and Meta, before you sign the contract with the platform. Running the channel at JustIdea starts from €300 net per month, and the ad budget stays with Criteo.

A sales lift test with the retargeting channel switched off
Book a Criteo campaign review
Book a Criteo campaign review
Contact

A conversation about your numbers: 30 minutes

The call is led by a new business specialist. When we get into the details of an account, the specialist for that channel joins in. We reply within one business day.

A quick review of your tracking and campaignsThree priorities for the next quarterA written summary that stays with you

Before the meeting we review your website, your visibility and what your campaigns show from the outside. We will not open with “so, what does your company do?”.

4.96 224 reviews
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We go through your numbers and your questions. If it turns out we are not the right fit, we will tell you straight away.