Advertiser method. Meta does not publish this as a rule. The mechanics below come from Meta’s documentation; the method itself is common advertiser practice, and results vary.
How do I build a prospecting and retargeting funnel?
Run one set of ad sets that reaches people who haven't bought, and another that follows up with people who viewed or added to cart. For catalog ads, Meta documents excluding purchasers on both sides. The two-part funnel is advertiser practice, and Meta warns that ad sets with overlapping audiences can deliver poorly.
Build the two-part funnel when your site or app already produces visitors, so a retargeting audience has people in it, and you want new-customer reach kept apart from follow-up. It fits poorly when few people visit or buy, because the retargeting side is built from their activity. In short, one side reaches people who have not bought, the other reaches people who have shown interest.
What does each side of the funnel reach?
The Meta pages cited here do not define a funnel setting. They do say which catalog custom audiences to include or exclude for each strategy:
| Side | Include | Exclude |
|---|---|---|
| Retargeting | People who viewed or added products to their cart | People who purchased |
| Prospecting (broad audience) | Nothing listed by Meta | People who purchased |
Meta’s website audience page gives a retargeting example of people who visited your website in the last 30 days but haven’t converted yet. That 30 days is Meta’s example of the mechanism, not a recommendation.
These rules come from Meta’s catalog ads pages. Using the same include and exclude pattern for other campaigns is advertiser practice, not a Meta statement.
Who should prospecting leave out?
For a broad catalog campaign, Meta recommends excluding a catalog custom audience of people who purchased in the last 10 days. It also says to avoid excluding all your website visitors, because including some visitors helps your ads reach people likely to find them relevant.
Read together, Meta’s wording points to excluding buyers, not everyone who has been to your site. That is a reading of Meta’s wording, not a Meta statement. The pages cited here do not say whether the visitor advice holds outside catalog ads, so treat that as an open question for your own account.
Why does overlap matter between the two sides?
Ad sets can end up targeting the same people. Meta says overlapping audiences are not necessarily a bad thing, but can lead to poor delivery. When ad sets from the same advertiser would end up in the same auction, Meta enters the one with the best performance history and stops the others from competing, so your ads don’t compete against each other.
Meta also gives a way to judge your own case. If two audiences are distinct enough that you would set different bids for them, try keeping them separate and refining them further. If not, try consolidating them and combining their budgets. Consolidation and refinement are opposite fixes, and Meta says the best choice differs for each situation.
How do you check overlap?
Meta describes a tool in Audiences:
- Check the boxes next to the audiences you want to compare, up to 5.
- Click Actions, then Show audience overlap.
Meta says useful overlap information needs audiences of at least 10,000 accounts. The percentage depends on which audience is selected, so the same shared people can look large for one audience and small for the other.
Does Meta say you need both sides?
Only for one vertical in the pages cited here. In travel ads for prospecting, Meta strongly recommends also running travel ads for retargeting, and says traffic from the prospecting campaign may be shown ads from the retargeting campaign. That is travel advice. Meta’s other pages cited here do not make the same statement for other businesses, so whether to run both is your call.
How can you decide for your own account?
- Check how many people your site, catalog or app events reach, since the retargeting audience is built from them.
- Write down who each side includes and excludes. For catalog ads, Meta documents excluding purchasers on both sides.
- Run the overlap tool on the two audiences and note the percentages.
- If the audiences are too close to hold different bids, consider one ad set instead of two.
- Review each side against its own goal, not a blended result.
FAQ
Should prospecting exclude my retargeting audience?
Meta documents excluding purchasers from prospecting, and advises against excluding all website visitors for broad catalog ads. The Meta pages cited here do not give a rule on excluding the whole retargeting audience. Test it in your account rather than assuming either way.
Can one person see both prospecting and retargeting ads?
The Meta pages cited here do not say. They say that when ad sets from the same advertiser would enter the same auction, Meta enters the one with the best performance history and stops the others competing. In travel ads, Meta says prospecting traffic may be shown retargeting ads.
What if my retargeting audience is tiny?
Meta says its overlap tool gives useful information only for audiences of at least 10,000 accounts, so it may tell you little here. For very similar audiences, Meta’s advice is to consolidate them into one ad set with a larger budget. Whether that fits a tiny audience is your call.
Sources
- Create a catalog custom audience (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- Best practices for reaching a broad audience with Advantage+ catalog ads (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- About website custom audiences (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- About overlapping audiences (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- Troubleshoot overlapping audiences (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- About travel ads for prospecting (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
Drafted with AI and checked claim by claim against the pages linked under Sources. Found a mistake? Tell us via the corrections policy.