ChoiceStream

Retargeting is making a comeback and justifiably so. In a down economy when shoppers aren’t banging down the doors, the best way to bump up revenue is by going back to consumers with an affinity for your brand.

There’s a lot of activity in this space and in general retargeting technologies are getting pretty good at figuring out who to target, but the actual content and offers in their ads are sorely lacking.

The retargeting I see -- both from the startups and the established players -- are based primarily on proxy behaviors such as browsing. Advertisers pixel shoppers when they visit their site and then serve up generic category ads with what they think shoppers might be interested in based on their page views.

Don’t get me wrong, this approach can help boost sales. But, with all the data at our fingertips today, we can do better. Instead of serving up generic ads based on broad-based categories and audience segments, what if these retargeting ads are personalized for each shopper and contain specific product recommendations?

The key to figuring out which specific products to promote lies in analyzing shoppers’ actual e-commerce transactions. This goes far beyond reformatting shopping cart abandons into display ads which, at best, have a shelf life of only a few days. Personalized product recommendations are based on deep analysis of all of a shopper’s e-commerce transactions and commerce-related search. They key in on each shopper’s interests, buying preferences, and brand affinities and motivate consumers to purchase.

Personalized retargeting campaigns are empowering marketers to create new occasions to purchase for a broader audience online. We think this is the technology that will re-energize display advertising and will give it an ROI that looks more like search. What do you think?

If you’re interested in learning more about personalized retargeting, check out our recent webinar recording, “Retargeting Renaissance: The Solution for Retailers in Rough Economic Times” featuring David Kopp of Yahoo!’s Ad Product Marketing team and our very own, Cheryl Kellond.