Behavioral Targeting Bluffs

“Our behavioral targeting algorithm matches you with the best possible students.”
“Our behavioral targeting algorithm takes out the guess work–our leads are by –far- the best.”
“Because of our revolutionary behavioral targeting algorithm, some of our schools are converting at 10% or higher!”

We all hear these claims–behavioral targeting has changed the game. The claims are so broad and sweeping that they grow and morph into something they really aren’t until the term becomes vague and potentially meaningless. So what, exactly, is behavioral targeting?  There are essentially two principle categories of behavioral targeting: site specific and Internet wide. The names a fairly self explanatory but let’s dive deeper.

Internet wide is exactly what it sounds like; publishers utilize cookies to follow a user across the consumer internet and collect data to profile that user ( ie. User 345 went to Des Moines Register, CNN, ESPN, and GQ).  Advertisers and Lead generators can utilize Comscore demographic data from each of these sites to build a likely persona of each specific cookie’d user. Adchemy is one company which has really built a business model around internet wide behavioral targeting. While this is an effective method, for it to be successful a business must have the resources to reach a significant portion of the internet every day to keep cookies up to date. It creates a scaling issue which keeps smaller players from entering the market.

Site specific behavioral targeting is what most people in the lead generation space claim to be using, but what is it? Wikipedia–Yes, I am really that lazy today–says:

The typical approach to this starts by using web analytics to break-down the visitor mass into a number of discrete channels. Each channel is then analyzed and a virtual profile is created to deal with each channel…When it comes to the practical problem of successfully delivering the profiles correctly this is usually achieved by either using a specialist content behavioral platform… Most platforms identify visitors by assigning a unique id cookie to each and every visitor to the site thereby allowing them to be tracked throughout their web journey, the platform then makes a rules-based decision about what content to serve.

Hear me, Lead Generators! With few exceptions, you are not doing this.  It isn’t practical. It doesn’t fit the reg path model.  Lead Gen sites are not about sousing out what or who the user is–revenue generating repeat traffic isn’t common–and just very directly asking them questions. The back ends on these systems look more like a decision tree or sort table.  Traditionally, the goal of these systems is putting the highest CPL ad in front as many users as fit the broad set criteria for the ad. (In a future post we’ll discuss why pay out is not the rational metric to use in this regard and why you should shift focus on revenue per display with a few heavy caveats.)

The point comes down to this: Lead Buyers should not be fooled by the outrageous claims made by Lead Sellers and their revolutionary behavioral targeting algorithms. Lead Sellers must realize that there is an incredible amount of information to be gleaned from other sectors of the internet (e-commerce, for example). If they can figure out how to leverage that, their success will skyrocket.

(Note: I have no connection what so ever to Adchemy but if someone there wanted to buy me a Jack and Coke I wouldn’t say no!)

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