When it comes to targeting online consumers with web banners, marketers continue to debate the benefits of re-targeting versus pre-targeting. Which will result in the most click throughs? Will one increase conversion rates more than the other? Which one will have the more positive impact on brand loyalty and create a more engaged customer? The questions are endless.
The fact is that data captured from a cookie can provide a useful insight into a consumer’s online activity; and using this behavioural data as a base for online advertising has its value. However, it doesn’t go far enough. This type of targeting is based on a level of basic, transactional data and can only go as far as the customer is willing to let it.
Furthermore, it highlights the disconnection between the online and offline customer engagement, where online has become less about “how can I improve the relationship with my customer”, and all about “how can I sell more to them”.
The missing link to date with online engagement and advertising has been to understand why a customer behaves the way (s)he does online. Understanding more about who the customer is; by looking at their personality traits and the motivation behind their purchases, is the key to aligning the brand with those customers who most share its values, creating loyalty and engagement.
By adding this additional data layer to their existing behavioural data, brands can start to understand why a customer behaves in a certain way and what products they may be likely to purchase. Marketers are then able to provide them – through all stages of the online experience - with timely and relevant content that has a higher chance of achieving a click through. It also allows marketers to prioritise and focus their marketing activity and spend on those activities that are going to deliver maximum value to the brand.
While pre-targeting is still very much in its infancy, the ability to recognise the psychographics behind a customer’s behaviour will help brands to make a vital emotional connection with their online customers. Once brands are able to fully embed this motivational insight within their existing digital market portfolio, they will also be in a stronger position to make more intelligent and informed assumptions.
Fundamentally, the online customer wants to be understood. They want to be engaged and feel as though the brand values them on an individual basis, in the same way as they value the individual offline experience. The earlier a brand can interact with a customer, the better and if they can know who they are and why they act the way they do they can build an engaging and mutually beneficial relationship. Looking forward, it will be those brands that move beyond re-targeting and the basic demographic and transactional information and adopt a pre-targeting approach to their online advertising that will realise the vision of a truly engaged digital customer base.
By Ed Weatherall, Client Director for WHY Analytics from VisualDNA.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus