If you’ve ever run Facebook or Instagram ads for your contracting business, you’ve probably noticed something — most homeowners won’t convert after seeing your ad just once. In fact, the Marketing Rule of Seven says that a potential customer needs to interact with your brand at least seven times before they’re ready to take action.
That’s why remarketing is one of the most powerful tools available in Meta Business Manager. It allows you to stay in front of prospects who’ve already shown interest — people who’ve visited your website, watched your videos, or interacted with your ads — and guide them toward finally becoming a lead.
In this post, we’ll walk through how to set up three high-value remarketing audiences that every contractor should have inside Meta Business Manager.
1. Website Visitors from the Past 90 Days
Your website visitors are some of your warmest prospects. They’ve already taken the time to check out your services — maybe they looked at your gallery, read your reviews, or browsed your pricing page. Remarketing to them helps you stay top-of-mind long after that first visit.
Here’s how to set up this audience:
1. Log into Meta Business Manager and go to the Audiences section.
2. Click Create Audience → Custom Audience.
3. Under Sources, select Website.
4. Make sure your Meta Pixel is properly installed on your website — this is what tracks visitors and adds them to your audience.
5. Under Events, choose All Website Visitors.
6. Set the Audience Retention to 90 days.
7. Give your audience a descriptive name like “Website Visitors – 90 Days.”
8. Click Create Audience.
This ensures you’re re-engaging anyone who’s landed on your site within the last three months — a sweet spot for staying relevant without getting stale.
2. Video Viewers (Thruplay or 15+ Seconds)
If you’re running video ads — whether it’s a project showcase, testimonial, or educational tip — you can build an audience of people who actually watched your content. These viewers are highly engaged and already familiar with your brand.
To create this audience:
1. Go back to Create Audience → Custom Audience.
2. Under Meta Sources, choose Video and click Next.
3. For Engagement Type, select ThroughPlay — this includes people who watched your entire video or at least 15 seconds of it.
4. Add the specific videos you want to track.
5. Set Audience Retention to 365 days (a full year).
6. Name your audience something like “Video Viewers – 15s/ThruPlay.”
7. Click Create Audience.
This group represents homeowners who have already shown genuine interest in your content. They’re familiar with your brand voice and style — making them perfect for follow-up offers or service reminders.
3. Lead Form Openers (Who Didn’t Submit)
This one’s a hidden gem that many contractors overlook. These are people who clicked your ad, opened your lead form, but didn’t finish submitting it. Maybe they got distracted or wanted to think about it — but the intent was there.
To target this audience:
1. Create another Custom Audience.
2. Under Meta Sources, select Lead Form.
3. For Event, choose People Who Opened But Didn’t Submit Form.
4. Select your business page and the lead forms you want to include (or select all).
5. Set Audience Retention to 90 days.
6. Give your audience a clear name like “Lead Form Opens – No Submit.”
7. Click Create Audience.
This audience gives you a second chance to reach out to high-intent prospects — maybe with a different offer, reminder, or testimonial ad to push them over the finish line.
Putting It All Together
Once these three audiences are created, you can use them in different ways:
-
Run retargeting campaigns with testimonials or special offers.
-
Use them as warm audiences in new campaigns to improve performance.
-
Create lookalike audiences from these lists to reach new homeowners who resemble your best prospects.
By setting up these high-value remarketing audiences, you’ll move beyond one-and-done ads and start building real brand recognition that keeps your contracting business in front of the right people — at the right time.