
Study: marketers question effectiveness of retargeting ads - Alupis
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/study-83-of-marketers-question-effectiveness-of-retargeting-ads/523002/
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robbrown451
The ads should have an easy to use way of giving feedback that actually does
something the viewer wants. For instance, it could allow the viewer to say
(with a couple clicks, and without leaving the page):

I already purchased this

I already purchased a competing product

I am not interested in this anymore

I was never interested in this

I don't want this displayed because it might reveal something private to an
onlooker (example: gift purchase for spouse)

I'm not interested in this product but I might be interested in competing
products

I'm in the market for ______________ and I don't mind getting ads for them

Thanks for the reminder, not now but maybe later

Ads that track me really annoy me

This would allow the viewer to feel more in control (assuming the advertiser
actually attempts to respect their wishes) as well as giving them valuable
feedback (that they can decide for themselves how meaningful it is). It might
reduce the number of people that install ad blockers.

I'm one of those that these ads are likely to be effective on: I often browse
Amazon or Ebay and don't make a purchase, but will purchase it later when I'm
reminded and am in the right mood to spend a bit of money. I don't mind them
tracking me....most of the time. Right now I'm seeing a lot of ads for
skateboard wheels, digital pianos and Dremel bits.... and I actually kind of
like those ads because those are things that make me happy, and I have no ill
will whatsoever for people that manufacture those things. I also have no ill
will for the site I am on and would like them to have a revenue model.

But I don't want them constantly trying to sell me women's bikinis just
because, in a moment of weakness or boredom, I clicked on a picture of a cute
girl because I wanted to see it bigger....and they won't simply let me tell
them that.

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munk-a
Ads are not something that benefits me, the Ad viewer. I do not want to spend
time training your marketing department. Your product is not entitled to my
eyeballs. I will (personally) always strive to ignore your existence and
minimize your advertising's impact on any of my decisions because your
marketing department does not have my best interests at heart.

Advertisements were something we grudgingly accepted for reduced service
costs, IMO they have reduced their own value so far that the quantity we are
expected to consume is ridiculous. I would really appreciate the whole
industry getting regulated out of existence.

~~~
vivekd
So I realize that this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I'm going to go
out on a limb and hope for the best.

I have a small business, and it's a business that people love.

When I first opened my business I was getting almost no customers because I
had no way of informing people about my business.

With advertising, I'm getting clients and my business is doing well. I don't
use manipulative tactics or remarketing, but I do use targeted ads to find out
what kind of people are looking for my services and market to them by
including a short direct blurb about what I do.

As a result, people who need my services can get it at a price they can
afford. Another happy result of advertising is I am able to have my own
business and bring greater competition to a market place that is dominated by
old boys type businesses. The only down side is that some people who didn't
want to see a blurb had to see it.

Why is this bad?

Maybe manipulative advertising tactics are bad, maybe advertising that relies
on building brand recognition rather than stating value is bad. But I really
don't understand why paying to inform people that my business exists and tell
them what I do is a bad thing. I think it's a great thing.

I can say this, without modern affordable advertising my business wouldn't
exist. Not because I don't provide value, not because there are better more
competitive businesses but because people would have no way of finding out
that I exist. I don't have the money for a fancy storefront with a fancy sign.
I don't have the money to be at the front of the yellow pages. I don't have
the age and established connections to get people through referral. All I have
is a good idea, and the only way to communicate that idea to the public is
advertising.

Maybe there is bad advertising and abuses of advertising. But please let's
think twice before throwing out the baby with the bath water.

There was that famous study by Lee Benham who found that eye glasses were 20%
cheaper in places that allowed for advertising. I don't know how much we can
generalize that finding but I do think that a strong argument can be made that
information is big component of the competitive marketplace. Meaning basically
I have to be able to inform people about my product. If only huge businesses
that can advertise on TV or get sports endorsements or have politicians or
celebrities mention them have the capacity to inform people about their
products, then they will dominate the market. Internet marketing is the great
equalizer that gives little guys like me a chance.

~~~
CuriousSkeptic
Instead of unsolicited ads why would it not work with targeting people
actively looking for things only?

Right now I’m researching a product I’m about to buy, because I have an actual
need. In the process I consult various sources listing and comparing products
of that category. Allthough most of those sources can’t be trusted to provide
unbiased information, I’m pretty confident the sum will give me a pretty good
overview of the search space.

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lapnitnelav
The main issue with retargeting is that most advertiser go all-in with it.

Instead of being a (friendly?) reminder that "hey, want to check us out
again?", it's more like "hi, you've seen this 25 times at least, you sure you
don't want to click me?"

So they spend an awful lot of money on what is visual spam rather than being a
bit more measured in their frequency cap.

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soared
Most platforms let you choose a frequency cap. Its only the bad/cheap
platforms that serve unlimited or high f-caps. For retargeting I typically do
1 ad per 1 hour, with a max of 10 a day and 250/mo.

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nkingsy
Sorry are you saying that 10 times per day and 250 times per month is showing
restraint?

I personally like retargeting and I'm infinitely more likely to click on it
than other things I see in the same box.

The monotony of the channel makes it appear almost like a browser history. Not
exactly thrilling, but when the competition is outbrain and snake oil, it's a
non-trivial improvement.

~~~
soared
Oh sorry that was unclear. That is the hypothetical maximum, pretty much no
one ever gets there its just a safeguard. Frequency is something I can
optimize to, so if a lower frequency performs better I can hit users less
often.

Agreed on outbrain/taboola/etc.. I don't know how tabloid clickbait generates
anyone clicks or even revenue.

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75dvtwin
I did not know what 're-targeting is'. So found a definition

".. Unlike typical banner ads, retargeting ads are a form of online targeting
advertising and are served to people who have already visited your website or
are a contact in your database (like a lead or customer). .." [1]

My general feeling is that technology needed for modern advertisement
industry, and for law-enforcement/government/political online surveillance --
is almost identical.

No wonder, that companies specialized in technology to enable audience-
specific ads, and 're-targeting' \-- are the same companies that are looked
for to supply/integrate surveillance technology.

I am even now connecting the dots with advancements of Image recognitions,
deep neural nets, -- with the drive for better surveillance technology, under
the cover of targeted advertisement (as face recognition benefits both).

I am also no wondering if much of much opposition/road-blocks to people using
VPN (eg Google.com constantly asked me to choose bunch of pictures before I
can use it, with VPN) --- is the negative commercial impact that VPN usage
has, on targeted advertisement, and surveillance.

[1][https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/retargeting-campaigns-
beg...](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/retargeting-campaigns-beginner-
guide)

~~~
cm2012
Retargeting is an incredibly basic use of tech and is as old as cookies are.

~~~
75dvtwin
seems like at least some modern 're-targeting' ads do not need cookies.

The 'fingerprinting' is used instead.

"... From Meteora’s personal fingerprinting BETA we have been able to identify
97% of Internet users to date.

…"

[https://meteora.co/user-tracking-without-cookies/](https://meteora.co/user-
tracking-without-cookies/)

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sonnyblarney
Asking consumers what they think is usually a pretty bad way of understanding
their behaviour.

Because these things are action oriented, they are fairly measurable, and ad
buyers should have a pretty good grip on this, as opposed to say brand
advertising.

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kposehn
If you want to gauge effectiveness do an incrementality test with a test and
control group to see your lift.

I’ve found retargeting effectiveness to be highly dependent on the inventory,
ad units and creative, while also requiring a robust attribution model to
gauge the effect.

Without those tools, it is just throwing money at the wall without being able
to see if it sticks.

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cm2012
Retargeting ads are intensely cheap compared to acquisition ads for most
growing companies.

~~~
kposehn
They’re cheap because the audience size is so limited, but in actuality the
CPMs typically are higher while the inventory quality is lower (outside of
Facebook)

At small sizes they can indeed drive some value as you have a small audience
that needs to know your name, but as you scale it starts to get pretty hit or
miss.

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lancesells
I run marketing campaigns and my perspective is that retargeting is effective
but you can't believe the actual ROAS shown. Companies that only do
retargeting will pitch guaranteed amazing results because it's the easier part
of the funnel and all your efforts from all your channels feed it.

Branded SEM is another area that you can't trust the numbers. You'll have an
amazing return because people were searching for your brand in the first
place.

~~~
josephjrobison
I know the paid search folk may claim otherwise, but as an organic search
practitioner I agree that branded AdWords (bidding on your own brand name) is
the biggest crock ever.

If you lump brand keyword and non-brand keyword bidding together, the ROAS/ROI
(depending how you measure) looks good, but then when you break out just non-
brand, you often see how terrible the return is. Not always, but often.

~~~
vgeek
People who take excessive credit for branded KW bidding, especially agencies,
are unethical. Every agency I've encountered loves to subsidize their mediocre
non-branded performance with branded campaigns.

Google loves branded KW bidding, because it cannibalizes traffic that 90%+
would go to an organic result. Even with a lower CPC, the high CTR means that
on a CPM basis, Google is making more per impression (nevermind the trend of
the Chrome omnibox preferring branded queries than direct navigation queries--
Google can't make money if their SERPs aren't shown). Bad marketers will say
"it is a low CPC and a high conversion rate", but is that better than no CPC?
It is just shifting free traffic to paid. SEM has changed so much over the
last 5 years. It is so much more difficult for per unit profitability on
search, too many people don't understand their margins and are overpaying. It
kind of feels that digital is reaching equilibrium with traditional media, but
it is easier to measure that it isn't working.

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taf2
I love retargeting ads. When you see an ad with pretty colors just click it
and then use the back button. As you go about your day the web just gets
prettier and prettier. It’s like choose your web adventure. Like blues today
click all the blue ads. Maybe feeling red click the red ones.

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mromanuk
It's about time, I hate when I mistakenly press an ad, and quickly go back,
just to be harassed all day by random stuff that I don't care about

~~~
segmondy
I use ads as a reminder. Wanna checkout something about kubernetes? search on
it, click on a few things, I'll get reminded across every device. Wanna book a
vacation but not ready, do the same. :D

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jacquesm
Retargeting should be renamed: targeted harassment.

