It’s All About Targeting

The predominant reason people click on ads is interest in the product advertised. Sure, sweepstakes, curiosity-makers, and entertaining ads all have their place, but that place is in line way behind targeting. It's tough to keep up with all the latest techniques to serve your ads to the right person and boost your click-through rate, but if you make the effort, you'll be glad you did.

A few months ago I wrote in this space that the predominant reason people click on ads is interest in the product advertised. Sweepstakes, curiosity-makers, and entertaining ads all have their place, but that place is in line way behind targeting.

It’s tough to keep up with all the latest techniques to serve your ads to the right person and boost your click-through rate, but if you make the effort, you’ll be glad you did.

Eighty-nine Percent Click for Product Interest

It is no secret that click-through rates have fallen to abysmal levels. Some 52 percent of all Internet users don’t click on a single ad in a given week, and only nine percent can be described as actively engaged with Internet ads clicking on nine or more ads per week.

In a nationwide poll, Internet users were asked what motivates them to click on ads, and the answer that truly stood out was product interest, with a remarkable 89 percent identifying this as a reason they click.

The Road Map to E-commerce Success

The road map is clear. To make online advertising and e-commerce work, you have to reach the people who are most inclined to buy your product.

So how do you get there? One method is rules-based personalization, a technology under which a cookie recording the surfer’s preferences is stored on his or her computer. The cookie acquires knowledge of these preferences through tracking the person’s movements on the web and from profiles he or she has filled out. Some of the leading vendors of rules-based personalization software are BroadVision, IBM, InterWorld, and Vignette.

Collaborative filtering technology from NetPerceptions and others enables a vendor to target users with content in real time. It does this through a combination of past purchase histories, analysis of click-throughs, and answers to questionnaires. With NetPerceptions’ software, a music site, for example, can calculate what a visitor is likely to buy and make appropriate recommendations for further sales and cross-sells, for instance recommending Sting’s newest CD to a guy who has bought two Police CDs and/or sought biographical information about Sting.

A Baltimore start-up called Advertising.com (formerly TeknoSurf) has devised a tracking system called AdLeann that serves ads based on such data as an ad’s success in attracting click-throughs. The company claims that its ads garner a click-through rate three times higher than the industry norm.

Staying Up-to-Date

The technology that enables you to accurately target an audience is changing weekly. How do you keep up?

Well, there are services you can subscribe to that track new developments. Also, a variety of web sites, such as The Industry Standard, eMarketer, and my favorite ClickZ, can also keep you abreast of the latest developments. Each also offers a daily newsletter.

However much you stay on top of current developments, the key is to remember the value of targeting. If you focus on serving the right ad to the right person, your results will be dramatically better.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource