Behavioral Targeting

Psychology and understanding human behavior can have a huge impact on your ability to achieve success in any industry. After all, having a better insight into what drives your consumer is essential in improving customer engagement. If you can provide a browsing experience that is more relevant to your target market based on their interests and preferences, then they will be more likely to spend their money on your products and services.

The amount of data that is available through the use of digital cookies has enabled brands to target customers much more effectively. The concept of behavioral targeting involves the use of a small piece of code that a company uses to drop cookies into the browsers of users as they visit their site. From that point, as the user continues to browse the web, the cookie will gather points of data, taking note of any items bought, searches made, or articles read. The more time spent online, the more data is collected.

Using this information, companies can learn which products to advertise to which users, and even determine whether certain users will be more susceptible to certain strategies than others. However, like any strategy available for advertising online today, there are some rules involved in unleashing the full power of behavioral targeting.

The following are 4 secrets of how behavioral targeting can be used to increase your overall sales.

1. Target Visitors Brought Through Search Engines More Effectively

Even if you have spent significant time and effort planning and designing a strategy for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s important to remember that your landing page won’t always be a perfect match for the traffic you receive. Ultimately, the way in which traffic is deposited on your website is a factor decided by search engines. For instance, if a search is made for a “little black dress“, a visitor may arrive on a website for women’s fashion, but instead of ending up on the category he searched for, he may arrive on the home page. In this situation, the use of behavioral targeting can ensure that the content displayed to a visitor is more relevant, or at least capable of redirecting the user towards the right page.

Using the search keyword data, you can create an interaction or piece of advertisement creative that shows up on your website landing page, encouraging your visitor to check out your “little black dress” selection.

2. Draw In Customers On The Fence

Often, when browsing a website, certain visitors will display certain behaviors that indicate that they’re interested in particular pieces of content or offers that are available, but at the same time they can‘t decide on making a purchase – or may have some doubts. With the use of behavioral targeting, it is possible to push the sale slightly by prompting the customer with special offers, or products that might be better for the analyzed needs of the customer. The more data you can gather about a particular visitor, the more chance you have of directing them towards the product that they both want and need.

3. Increase the Value of An Average Order

Through behavioral targeting, advertisers can construct offers that appeal best to their preferred audience. Every time a user approaches your website, they will show a pattern of navigation. These patterns can then be used to recommend products that reflect the preferences of the user in question. For instance, if a particular visitor adds a computer program to his cart after some indecision and lengthy consideration, but has also spent a great deal of time puzzling over a particular accessory, you could take the opportunity to show that viewer additional purchases that could add value to his initial order. In other words, behavioral targeting increases your ability to upsell products, and ensures that your visitor has the chance to discover more interesting products that may be useful to them.

4. Learn More about Your Audience

Behavioral targeting is a great opportunity to learn more about your audience, as well as developing long-term opportunities for communication. Based on the information gathered about a visitor, it is possible for advertisers to serve and create messages tailored specifically to them. For instance, if you’re trying to draw in more customers from a particular geographical location, you can develop a newsletter that speaks about important updates in that location or city, then invite visitors to subscribe to learn more through a pop-up or call-to-action.