Sellers love bragging about a monster ROAS on retargeting That number is not a f
By Steven Pope · May 30, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Sellers love bragging about a monster ROAS on retargeting
That number is not a flex
It is the easiest layup in advertising
DSP runs two completely different jobs
and grading both with the same ruler
is how good money gets lit on fire
Top of funnel is awareness
Its only job is to shove your product
In front of people who have no clue you exist
That traffic is ice cold
It clicks
It pokes around
It bounces
The ROAS looks ugly
Because immediate sales
Were never the assignment
You are filling the pool not draining it
Bottom of funnel is retargeting
Its job is to chase people
Who already eyeballed your product
Parked it in their cart
or bought from you before
That traffic is warm
so naturally the ROAS is fat
Somebody already did the hard work
of introducing them to your brand
You are just collecting
And this is where sellers shoot
themselves square in the foot
They see the gap
panic
and shovel
the whole budget into retargeting
because those numbers
look gorgeous on a screenshot
Then retargeting flatlines
It can only sell to people
who already exist in your funnel
Kill awareness and there is nobody new left to retarget
You drained the pool and quit refilling it
These two are not rivals
They are a relay team
Awareness hands the baton to retargeting
Drop the handoff and the whole thing collapses
So quit grading awareness on a conversion scorecard
Judge top funnel on reach
new to brand orders
and branded search lift
Judge bottom funnel on efficiency
Different jobs
Different rulers
Stop pretending otherwise
The brands that win on DSP are not the ones
flexing the highest ROAS
They are the ones who know exactly which layer
that ROAS is supposed to come from