--- title: Email Retargeting — definition | RGM® Glossary url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/email-retargeting/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/email-retargeting/ --- # Email Retargeting e·mail re·tar·get·ingnoun The email that remembers the visit — triggered by behavior, sent only to people you may lawfully mail. Term : Email Retargeting Triggers : Browse, cart, lapse, price events Requires : Identified + consented recipients Siblings : CRM retargeting (ads), cart flows ## Forms & parts of speech email retargeting · noun Behavior-triggered mail. "**Email retargeting** caught the sofa browser within the hour - one helpful email, not a month of display ads." ## Definition in plain terms Email retargeting is behavior-triggered email to people you can identify and lawfully mail: the browse-abandonment note that remembers the sofa, the cart flow the CHECKOUT-ABANDONMENT entry covers, the price-drop and back-in-stock alerts, the lapse-triggered win-back. Its sibling CRM-RETARGETING aims ads by relationship data; email retargeting answers behavior in the inbox — cheaper per touch, consent-bound, and limited to the identified slice of traffic. ## The mechanics The mechanism joins two systems this glossary documents: identity (the visitor must resolve to a mailable contact — logged-in users, clicked-through subscribers whose session carries the email association, the FIRST-PARTY-COOKIE doing the remembering) and eventing (the CUSTOM-EVENT stream that says 'viewed product, left'). The consent line is structural, not stylistic: mailability comes from the opt-in's scope (the CASL/CAN-SPAM/GDPR family), and the third-party 'we identify your anonymous visitors and email them' services sell exactly the violation the laws name — identification is not permission. The craft within the line: timing windows tuned per trigger (browse flows land within hours while the intent is warm; the CONVERSION-LAG logic of considered purchases stretches them), helpfulness as the register (the email that answers — sizes, reviews, the question that stalled them — outperforms the email that nags), frequency caps and suppression so one browsing session doesn't spawn a week of pursuit (the CRM entry's suppression discipline in miniature), and incrementality honesty — cart flows especially claim conversions that were returning anyway, so the holdout test prices the program (the standing lesson of every retargeting entry). Measurement mirrors lifecycle email: per-flow revenue against holdout, not last-touch self-congratulation. ## When it matters Email retargeting matters wherever identified traffic browses without buying — e-commerce natively, B2B's pricing-page visits and doc views just as well. It matters most as the high-intent half of lifecycle email: triggered flows reliably out-earn calendar campaigns per send. The discipline is the consent line respected absolutely, helpful registers over pursuit, suppression and caps wired, and holdouts pricing what the triggers truly add. **Worked example.** A furniture retailer's triggered program is one cart email; everything else rides the weekly calendar blast. The rebuild instruments the behavior layer: browse-abandonment flows for logged-in and click-identified visitors (one email, 90 minutes after the session, leading with the question the category page can't answer - delivery time and fabric samples), price-drop alerts on saved items, and a considered-purchase second touch at day four for sofas only - the lag data says that category decides slowly. Consent provenance gates every trigger; an anonymous-visitor-identification vendor's pitch is declined on the legal read. Holdouts price the program honestly: browse flows show 22% incremental conversion against control (the cart flow's old claim deflates to 9% - returners were returning), and triggered email grows to 31% of email revenue on 4% of send volume. The blast calendar survives, demoted to what it was - the background music behind the emails that listen. **Failure modes to watch.** Mailing identified-but-unconsented visitors because a vendor sold the identification; pursuit registers that nag instead of answer; one session spawning a week of follow-ups with no caps; cart flows claiming returners as conversions until a holdout deflates them; and triggered programs measured by last-touch self-congratulation. ## Synonyms & antonyms ### Synonyms email retargetingbrowse abandonment emailbehavior-triggered email ### Antonyms calendar campaignsad retargeting ## Origin & history Email retargeting grew from e-commerce's cart-recovery flows in the 2000s into the full behavior-triggered family as ESPs gained event streams; the consent boundary hardened alongside — the anonymous-visitor-identification industry repeatedly testing, and losing, the line the spam laws drew. Etymology: [source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_remarketing). ## Usage trends Search interest for this term over the last five years: [View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=email%20retargeting&date=today%205-y) ## Common questions What is email retargeting? : Behavior-triggered email to identified, consented contacts — browse-abandonment, cart, price-drop, and lapse flows acting on what the visit revealed. Is emailing identified anonymous visitors legal? : Identification is not permission — mailability comes from consent's scope under CAN-SPAM, CASL, and GDPR-family rules, and visitor-identification services sell exactly that violation. How is email retargeting measured? : Per-flow revenue against holdouts — triggered flows claim returning buyers, so incrementality tests price what the program truly adds. ## Related tools & calculators - tool[AOV calculator](/tools/aov-calculator/) - tool[ROAS calculator](/tools/roas-calculator/) ## Resources & people to follow - reference[Wikipedia — Email remarketing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_remarketing) - referenceLifecycle-email triggered-flow practice - referenceRGM analysis — answer, don't pursue; the holdout prices the trigger Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term. ## Related training - module[Performance marketing](/training/performance-marketing-foundations/) ## Disciplines Areas of marketing where email retargeting is a core concern: [Performance marketing](/training/performance-marketing-foundations/)[Growth strategy](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/) ## Read next ## Related terms [CRM retargeting](/glossary/crm-retargeting/)[Checkout abandonment](/glossary/checkout-abandonment/)[Email marketing](/glossary/email-marketing/)[Custom event](/glossary/custom-event/)[First-party cookie](/glossary/first-party-cookie/) ## Sources 1. trends[Google Trends — "email retargeting"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=email%20retargeting&date=today%205-y)