Worldwide, e-commerce is expected to generate almost $30 billion by 2023. E-commerce has been taking a larger and larger share of all retail sales.
There are plenty of reasons for growth. Many people point to the convenience of having purchases delivered to their homes. Amazon and Alibaba offer much more selection than a bricks-and-mortar shop.
Even as e-commerce grows, there are only so many consumers to go around. What’s driving the growth of the most successful e-commerce operations?
A solid marketing strategy is one key ingredient. For many e-commerce operations, behavioral ad targeting is the foundation of that strategy.
How are e-commerce operations putting behavioral targeting to the test? This guide will walk you through some examples. From there, you’ll be able to use behavioral targeting to fuel your own e-commerce success.
How Does Behavioral Ad Targeting Work?
Before looking at behavioral targeting examples, it helps to understand how it works.
So, how does behavioral ad targeting work?
On the surface, the process is relatively simple. The advertiser defines a target audience. You’re probably familiar with this exercise.
In defining your audience, you’ll likely look at:
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Occupation
- Familial status
- Geographic location
You may also include information such as residential status. You may also include data from your customer database, such as common likes and interests.
You can use this information to set up ads through ad networks, ad exchanges, and demand-side platforms.
The Devil is in the Details
Behavioral targeting gets even deeper into the nitty-gritty. With it, you’re no longer targeting people who have liked a certain page on Facebook or declare interests.
You’re able to serve your ads to people taking specific actions, either in a past or current browsing session.
Suppose someone conducts a Google search for classic car shows near them. They may read a blog post or watch a video called “The 10 Best Car Shows in America.”
Suppose you sell classic cars and accessories. This person might be looking for a classic car, so serving them an ad about your inventory is a good idea.
Suppose another person searches “1957 Cadillac value.” This person may be looking to sell a car they already own. In that case, you may want to advertise trade-in deals or your appraisal services.
Since you suspect they already own the car, you might also advertise some of the accessories you sell.
Segmenting Shoppers by Behavior
Now that you have a solid grasp on how behavior can help direct ads, it’s time to look at how to divide up your customers.
When it comes to e-commerce, it’s easy to divide potential customers based on their digital behavior. Most often, this behavior signals the user’s intent to buy across a spectrum.
At either end, you have customers who have already made up their minds. These are the “going to buy” and the “definitely not going to buy” users.
The bad news is you can’t do much to change the minds of the “not going to buy” set. The good news is that you know this, so you don’t need to spend time and effort on them.
Between these two poles, there are many different shopping personas. They haven’t yet made up their minds, but they can be persuaded to buy from you. The question is a matter of how to go about convincing each different subset.
This guide will look at examples for the following buyer personas:
- The price-sensitive shopper
- The risk-averse shopper
- The skeptical shopper
- The procrastinating shopper
- The “smart” shopper
Each of these types of buyer has different needs. Their internet browsing behavior and search history indicate those needs. When you use behavioral targeting, you extract this information to serve the right ad.
Behavioral Ad Targeting Examples for Each Buyer Type
Each lead for your business likely falls into one of these broad categories. Once you’ve segmented the audience, you can craft targeted ads to address different needs.
Keep in mind that different categories of shoppers may have certain demographic similarities. Price-sensitive shoppers may be in certain occupations or a certain income bracket.
That’s not to say price-sensitive shoppers don’t exist in every occupation or income level. It’s that people in certain groups may represent one buyer type more often. You can use data to crunch the numbers and make these correlations.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll have an even better idea of how to create ads that entice shoppers in each category.
Attracting the Price-Sensitive Shopper
This potential customer is usually on a strict budget. They may be in a lower income bracket, so they don’t have as much disposable income. They’re likely to see themselves as someone with an eye for a bargain and pride themselves on finding deals.
When they visit an e-commerce site, their choices show that they’re looking for a deal. They may visit the Clearance or Sale section of a site first. They may also look for discount codes or coupons.
This shopper still wants to get a good product, so they review technical specifications. They spend the most time looking at price information.
When you’re crafting ads for this type of buyer, you want to emphasize the savings. Make receiving the discount simple. Messages might include “save 50% today” or “don’t miss our lowest price of the season!”
You may even show previous prices or the prices your competitors offer. This helps emphasize the great deal this shopper will receive if they buy from you now.
Reassuring the Risk-Averse Shopper
When this shopper lands on your e-commerce page, they might already know what they want.
They then spend time searching through your information pages. They may visit:
- FAQs
- About Us
- Contact
- Terms of Service
They spend time looking at the footer of the page. If it’s available, they’ll read return policies.
Why? This shopper wants to be sure they can trust your company. They don’t want to take the risk of buying from you without being able to make a return or receive a refund.
They also don’t want to be surprised with fees for shipping or duty when the product arrives at their door.
Your ad campaign for this shopper should focus on how easy it is to work with your company. Advertise how simple the returns process is or highlight your money-back guarantee.
Winning over the Skeptics
Maybe this person saw something advertised on TV. Maybe they saw an Instagram influencer hyping up your product in their latest video.
At any rate, this person has landed on your website to get more information. They’re interested, but not yet convinced. They need more proof your product does what you say it does.
How can you identify this person by their behavior? This shopper spends most of their time reading product reviews and customer ratings. They spend less time looking at product specifications or price.
A “don’t take our word for it” approach usually goes over well with this customer. Instead, let your ads highlight customer reviews and average ratings.
You may even want to include real-time statistics about people buying this item. Rave reviews and lots of satisfied customers are what will win over the skeptics.
Give Procrastinators an Incentive
Some shoppers procrastinate a bit when it comes to actually making a purchase. They visit your site once and look at a few different items. The next time they visit, they add a few items to their cart.
Then they leave again.
Cart abandonment is a serious issue for e-commerce businesses. Many of the “I’ll get it later” shoppers on your site will never come back.
Your ads might be able to convince them. Your ad might include information about a sale ending or coupon expiring. This gives the procrastinator a reason to buy now.
Highlighting stock information is another good tactic. Real-time information about how little you have left can entice this kind of buyer to hit “check out.”
Dealing with the “Smart” Shopper
This type of shopper is possibly the most difficult to please. Before they commit to a single item, they want to know all the details. They also engage in comparison shopping, but price is less likely to make or break their decision.
This shopper will consider:
- Technical specifications and product details
- Advantages and disadvantages of one product over another
- Price, including discounts
- Stock levels, including how soon they can receive the item
- Social proof, such as reviews from other customers
In short, the “smart” shopper is carefully weighing all available information. That way, they can be sure they’re making the best choice.
How can you use behavioral ad targeting to entice this person to commit to a product and check out? The best bet is usually to let them compare.
Your ad may show two or three popular items, then invite the shopper to compare them. In the ad, include information like average customer rating, price, and model name.
Keep in mind that this ad should offer the shopper two or three comparable products. You don’t want the customer to feel they’re comparing apples and oranges, after all.
Is Behavioral Targeting Just Retargeting?
One common question is whether “behavioral ad targeting” is retargeting with another name. After all, both need some behavioral data to work.
The answer is yes and no. Behavioral ad targeting and retargeting work in similar ways. They have similar goals.
Retargeting is more like a subset of behavioral targeting as a whole. When you retarget, you’re using a lead’s previous interactions to serve the most convincing ad. In most cases, retargeting looks at how people interacted with your ad campaigns.
Behavioral targeting is much broader. It looks at how someone interacted with your site, the search terms they used, and even behavior on other websites.
Take, for example, an ad you buy from a publisher site through a DSP. The publisher site offers information about the user’s behavior when they sell the ad space. This data isn’t necessarily linked to your website or your own ad campaigns.
The user may never have visited your site before. They may not even have heard of your brand, but you can still use behavioral targeting.
Behavioral targeting can also identify broad trends among different types of buyers. Suppose most price-sensitive shoppers belong to one demographic and use specific keywords. You may be able to identify someone as a price-sensitive shopper before they arrive on your site.
How Does Behavioral Targeting Help E-Commerce?
It’s easy to write behavioral ad targeting off as one of the latest advertising technology trends. The fact is it helps e-commerce businesses connect with potential buyers.
Targeting people by the actions they’re taking increases the chances they’ll pay attention to your ad. If someone reads an article about cake decorating, ads about cake decorating classes or supplies will catch their eye. An ad about office supplies may not.
Behavioral targeting can be used to draw people in based on their needs as well. What someone searches for, the websites they visit, and even how they interact with your own store can tell you about what they need.
In turn, your ads will better address those needs. You get to make another sale, and your customer walks away happy.
Satisfied customers are usually repeat customers. They’ll make more purchases, and they usually increase the value of each purchase over time. Finally, they may also tell their friends and family, recommending your shop to others.
Better ads help you build better, long-lasting relationships with your e-commerce customers.
Building an Ad Strategy for the Year Ahead
Behavioral ad targeting is helping e-commerce businesses overcome challenges like cart abandonment. Even better, it’s helping business owners like you reach the people who actually want to buy from you.
With these behavioral targeting examples in hand, you can begin building a better advertising strategy.
Wondering about what else 2020 has in store for advertisers? Check out more predictions for the future of advertising in 2020.
