How To Use the Reddit Pixel for Retargeting Ads That Fill Your Funnel

Reddit has quickly become one of the most influential platforms online. With over 400 million weekly active users across 100,000+ interest-based communities, it attracts high-value audiences in sectors like tech, ecommerce, and health. 

And while most brands double down on LinkedIn’s premium audience, savvy marketers are discovering that the Reddit Pixel can deliver cost-effective ads. This approach brings high-intent visitors back into your funnel at a fraction of the cost of cold campaigns. 

In fact, companies like Chargeblast have seen a 75% reduction in customer acquisition costs by combining targeting and retargeting strategies. And one of our own clients used just 10% of their paid budget to drive 36% of total conversions with the Reddit Pixel.

Today, we’ll break down what the Reddit Pixel is, why it’s a key part of any paid strategy, and how to use it to maximize the return on your ad spend.

Understanding the Reddit Pixel and Retargeting Ads

From its dominance of Google SERPs to its role in AI answers to its growing influence on human decision-making, establishing a presence on Reddit via a branded community and accounts is a key part of digital marketing. 

But where building that organic presence and visibility takes time, Reddit ads provide an instant (albeit more costly) solution. And the ability to retarget high-intent website visitors and get them back into marketing funnels using the Reddit Pixel is a key part of the equation. 

What Is the Reddit Pixel?

The Reddit Pixel is a small piece of JavaScript code that you install on your website. It tracks user actions (called events) that happen on your site, so you can later target those users with ads on Reddit. 

It looks something like this: 

Once added to your site’s code, it monitors visitor behaviour and sends that data back to Reddit Ads Manager. The platform supports eight different standard event types, including a number that are relevant to B2B brands: 

• Page View: Someone lands on one of your webpages — no behaviour data included.
• View Content: Someone lands on a webpage of interest — product page, landing page, etc.
• Lead: Someone submits information in exchange for access to a product or offer.
• Sign Up: Someone submits a sign-up, subscription, or registration form.

You can also define custom events (like a specific form submission, demo request, or PDF download) to track actions specific to your funnel.

Essentially, this snippet of code lets you build lists of users who have interacted with your site in a specific way and hit them with relevant ads as they browse subreddits. This is the foundation of Reddit retargeting ads: precise, high-intent advertising that reaches people who have already expressed interest in your content or product.

How Retargeting Ads Are Different from Other Reddit Ads

Reddit retargeting ads differ from other types of Reddit paid marketing campaigns in two main ways: 

1. Who they reach (and how)
2. What they’re designed to achieve

Retargeting ads focus on “warm” audiences who have shown intent or curiosity. By contrast, other audience targeting types like community (subreddit-specific), interest, keyword, or Reddit engagement targeting aim to bring in new users who may not know your company, making them more of a “cold” audience.

Because of this difference in audience, the messaging and creative approach also change. 

Retargeting ads can be more direct and personalized, nudging users to complete an action they previously considered, like booking a demo or downloading a whitepaper. On the other hand, prospecting ads must educate or spark awareness, often using broader, problem-focused messaging that feels more like community content than a sales pitch. 

This impacts campaign objectives as well: retargeting ads are most effective when optimized for conversions or traffic, while prospecting ads often focus on brand awareness and top-of-funnel engagement.

By now, you’re probably getting the picture. Retargeting ads are about efficiency and conversion, while other Reddit ad types are typically about scale and awareness. Prospecting fills the funnel; retargeting ensures you don’t lose the leads you’ve already earned.

Reddit Retargeting Helps B2B Brands Increase ROAS

Reddit’s unique community structure also plays into retargeting effectiveness. Redditors place a very high level of trust in the platform — 42% of survey respondents say it’s more valuable for purchase decisions than any other platform (review sites, brand pages, social media, etc.) When your retargeting ads appear in these contexts, they feel more like helpful content than intrusive advertising.

B2B tech companies are seeing good results with Reddit retargeting. 

Chargeblast, a B2B tech company targeting small-to-medium-sized ecommerce retailers, has seen some impressive results using the Reddit Pixel and other forms of retargeting: 

• A 75% reduction in customer acquisition costs (CAC) 
• A 50% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) by combining targeting and retargeting
• A 40% lower CPA than their goal using lookalike targeting

According to Reddit, companies like Lenovo and TOPDesk also use retargeting to improve their paid campaigns.  

“[Reddit] is a great platform to do retargeting. You have an advanced tool where you can pull up lists for people who have visited [your site] in the past 30, 60, 90 days and you can nurture those lists as well.”

– Daniela Poblete, Paid Marketing Specialist, Foundation Inc. 

While Reddit has a lower cost-per-click of $0.5-$3, the cost-per-lead is closer to that of LinkedIn and runs between $400-$1,200, depending on the industry. However, using the Reddit Pixel for retargeting, B2B brands can drive down the cost of those leads (more on that later).

Now, let’s look at how to add the pixel to your site before launching a Reddit retargeting campaign.

How to Add the Reddit Pixel to Your Website

Anytime JavaScript and UTM code are involved, there’s a tendency to overthink things. Thankfully, there’s some solid documentation to help walk you through the different options for setting up the Reddit Pixel. 

1) Reddit Pixel Setup

Installing the Reddit Pixel requires choosing between two implementation methods: 

• Install the Reddit Pixel on your website (manual)
• Set up a Web Container in Google Tag Manager

(If you have the luxury, they also give you the option of sending the documentation straight to your developer.)

Method 1: Manual Installation 

To manually install the Reddit Pixel, you need to access Reddit Ads Manager and navigate to the Events Manager. Select “Configure data source” and choose “Reddit Pixel > Set up manually.” Copy your unique pixel code—a JavaScript snippet that needs deployment across your entire website.

To implement manually, paste the pixel code inside the <head> tags of every page where you want to track conversions. This typically means adding it to high-value middle and bottom of funnel pages like gated ebooks and dedicated landing pages. 

Pro Tip: Double-check that you haven’t installed the pixel code twice on the same page. Otherwise, you’ll end up with duplicate tracking and inflated metrics.

Method 2: Google Tag Manager 

Reddit recommends using a client-side GTM container because it doesn’t involve touching your website’s code. 

Create a new Custom HTML tag in GTM, paste the Reddit Pixel code snippet, and set the trigger to fire on “All Pages.” After publishing your container, the pixel deploys site-wide automatically.

2) Verification and Testing

After installation, it’s time to verify and test. The Reddit Pixel Helper browser extension can detect the pixel script and confirm it’s active. In Reddit Ads Manager, the Pixel section displays an “active” status once it starts receiving data.

Check for common issues:

• Ensure first-party cookies are enabled (verify rdt(‘disableFirstPartyCookies’) is NOT in your code)
• Confirm the pixel fires on all key pages
• Test that no duplicate pixels exist on any page

3) Configuring Conversion Events

The Pixel is set up to register Page Visit events by default. That’s a good start, but for lead generation, there are a few different conversion events that you can set up using Reddit’s Event Setup Tool:

• Lead submissions (contact forms, demo requests)
• Content downloads (whitepapers, case studies)
• Pricing page views
• Video engagement (50%+ watched)

Access the Events Manager in Reddit Ads to set up custom conversion events. Define events for form completions, eBook downloads, or demo requests beyond standard e-commerce events. These events enable campaign optimization and audience segmentation based on specific user actions.

4) Building Retargeting Audiences

Once your pixel collects data, you can create Custom Audiences in Reddit Ads Manager:

1. Navigate to Audience Manager and select “New Audience > Custom Audience > Website Retargeting
2. Name your audience descriptively (e.g., “Pricing Page Visitors – No Conversion – 30 Days”)
3. Select pixel events to define the audience (include at least PageView for volume)
4. Set your lookback window (7-90 days based on your sales cycle)
5. Save and allow time for population (minimum 50 users required for ad serving)

The audience segments you choose to target will vary based on the specific goals of your retargeting campaign. Here are a few examples of custom audiences you can re-engage using the Reddit Pixel:

• All Website Visitors (90 days): Broad nurturing audience
• High-Intent Pages (30 days): Pricing/demo page visitors without conversion
• Content Engagers: Downloaded resources without requesting demos
• Abandoned Forms: Started but didn’t complete conversions

With your pixel installed and custom audiences configured, you now have the foundation for sophisticated retargeting campaigns. 

Remember that audience size matters on Reddit — aim for at least 1,000 users in your retargeting segments for optimal performance. Start with broader audiences like “All Website Visitors” while your more specific segments build up volume. The key is balancing audience specificity with reach to ensure your campaigns can scale effectively while maintaining relevance.

Getting your Reddit Pixel set up is step one. Now you need to figure out how to use retargeting ads to route high-intent traffic back into your marketing funnel. 

To get an expert’s opinion on how to do this, I recently had a conversation with Daniela Poblete, Foundation’s Paid Marketing Specialist, for insight into how we help B2B brands build Reddit retargeting into their marketing funnel. 

She told me about a recent campaign from a major HR services company that demonstrates the power of proper retargeting structure.

How We Achieved 36% of Total Conversions Through Reddit Ad Retargeting

Daniela helped the HR company run a number of paid ad campaigns for specific lead magnets before pitching a distinct retargeting campaign separate from cold traffic.  

With its own budget and optimization strategy, the retargeting campaign could provide clearer performance attribution for users who had engaged with specific mid-funnel assets like compliance calendars and business guides.

The results that the paid ad campaign generated were impressive, especially considering the limited budget:

• Just 10% of their total budget ($2,105 out of $22,715) is allocated to retargeting
• Retargeting ads generated 36% of total conversions
• The “MOFU Leads Abandoners” segment earned 14 conversions at just $131.58 CPL

By contrast, their cold traffic campaigns achieved CPLs ranging from $577 to $742, showing the efficiency advantage of retargeting.

The big lesson here is that small retargeting budgets can deliver outsized returns when properly segmented. The dramatic efficiency gap shows that warm audiences convert at fundamentally different rates than cold prospects.

Campaign Objective and Structure

Your campaign objective determines how Reddit’s algorithm optimizes your ad delivery and who sees your ads. Choosing the wrong objective can waste budget on low-intent traffic or miss high-converting prospects entirely.  

For B2B lead generation, we chose “Conversions” since conversion events were properly configured, allowing Reddit’s algorithm to optimize for users most likely to complete the desired action. The team structured their retargeting around specific audience behaviours:

• MOFU Leads Abandoners: Users who downloaded gated assets but didn’t request pricing.
• Pricing Page Visitors: High-intent users who viewed pricing but didn’t convert.
• Content Engagers: Users who spent significant time on key pages.

This targeted approach allowed them to deliver personalized messaging based on where users dropped off in the funnel, dramatically improving conversion rates compared to generic retargeting audiences.

Creative Strategy for Retargeting

Small visual and messaging changes can really impact conversion rates in retargeting campaigns. Reddit’s community-driven culture requires authentic messaging that feels helpful rather than pushy, making creative strategy a focal point.

For the HR services campaign, we tested three colour variations for CTAs: 

• Blue
• Orange
• Green

The blue version generated 20 conversions at $277.24 CPL, significantly outperforming alternatives. Visual consistency proved vital, with CTAs prominently displayed on images while maintaining Reddit’s casual aesthetic.

Reddit’s culture values authenticity and transparency. That’s why ad copy needs to have a more conversational tone than on other platforms. Effective retargeting messaging from the HR campaign included:

• “Still thinking about [Product]? Here’s what others are saying.”
• “Forgot to download our compliance calendar? Grab it here.”
• “You checked our pricing—let’s discuss a custom quote for your team.”

Put yourself in the mindset of a community member sharing a helpful resource. Instead of “Our enterprise solution increases productivity by 50%,” try “Still researching compliance tools? Here’s what 100+ teams discovered.”

Our expert also recommends rotating messages to avoid ad fatigue. The last thing you want is to upset your audience and end up playing brand defence on Reddit.  

Budget and Performance Comparison: Retargeting vs Cold Traffic

Knowing the efficiency difference between retargeting and cold traffic helps you allocate budgets effectively and set realistic expectations for each campaign type. Most B2B buyers need multiple touchpoints, making performance benchmarks crucial for planning. 

The HR services campaign’s 10% allocation ($2,105) generated outsized returns compared to their $20,610 investment in cold traffic campaigns.

Here’s how the retargeting campaign Daniela ran for the HR services brand compared to cold campaigns:

• Cost-Per-Lead: 79% reduction versus cold campaigns ($150 vs. $577-742).
• Click-Through Rate: 0.43% for retargeting (slightly lower than cold campaigns but with higher conversion efficiency).
• Conversion Volume: 36% of total conversions from just 10% of the budget.
• Optimal Frequency: 3-7 impressions per user per week.

While this is a small sample size, it does show that pixel retargeting can achieve a significantly lower cost-per-lead than cold traffic without sacrificing much in terms of engagement rates.

Integrating Reddit Ads Into Your Overall Funnel Strategy

According to data from HockeyStack, the number of touchpoints required to close a B2B buyer increased nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. This adds up to hundreds of touchpoints across different platforms before converting and aligns with our vision of the modern B2B customer journey. 

Reddit’s cost-effective retargeting makes it ideal for nurturing prospects during the solution exploration stage, while other platforms handle final conversion.

The HR services campaign demonstrated sophisticated sequential messaging across funnel stages: 

• TOFU campaigns built awareness through community targeting
• MOFU campaigns offered gated assets
• BOFU retargeting focused on conversion 

The retargeting component specifically targeted users who had engaged with mid-funnel assets but hadn’t moved to bottom-funnel actions. This approach recognized that Reddit users typically require multiple exposures before converting, making retargeting essential for nurturing prospects through longer sales cycles.

But considering how interconnected and lengthy the B2B buyer journey can be, measuring and iterating on your Reddit Ads strategy is key.

Measuring Your Paid Reddit Success

Without proper tracking, it’s impossible to know which Reddit campaigns are driving real business value or whether your budget should be shifted between cold traffic and retargeting. This is where many companies slip up: they only measure direct conversions, overlooking Reddit’s role in nurturing prospects through long B2B sales cycles.

To prove ROI and optimize spend, here’s what you need to measure throughout your campaign: 

Finally, double-check your Reddit Pixel and UTM parameters are firing correctly across all tracked pages. Clean data ensures you can identify what’s working, cut underperforming campaigns, and reinvest in strategies that scale.

If you haven’t installed the Reddit Pixel yet, don’t worry. The process is straightforward, and setting it up correctly is the first step to capturing the data you need for retargeting and measurement.

Start Building Your Reddit Retargeting Strategy Today

Retargeting through the Reddit Pixel is a great opportunity for B2B brands looking to re-engage high-intent prospects on one of the most popular social platforms in the world. The best part is that it can come at a fraction of the cost of other ad types. With CPCs as low as $0.50-$2 compared to LinkedIn’s $7-12, you can afford to stay top-of-mind throughout longer B2B sales cycles.

Ready to capture more qualified leads at lower costs? Talk to the leading Reddit marketing agency about building a Reddit retargeting strategy that converts.