Behavioral Targeting is the art of segmenting users based on their browsing behavior which includes their tasks performed online like visiting pages, clicking links, online searches, page visit duration and online purchase history.
Considering the rise in mobile data and the capacity to analyze physical store data, it is easier to further segment the users based on their behavioral patterns.
Remember reading a pop-up that says
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Please accept terms below.
Once you accept the cookie notification, they send cookies (not to you) to your browser. This cookie keeps a log of all the actions you take on the particular website as well as your activity across other websites.
This is done to build a user persona and tailor your experience when you visit the website next time.
Behavioral Targeting can be broadly classified into two types.
If the behavioral targeting is performed based on a user’s behavior on a particular website, it is called on-site behavioral targeting. This is used primarily by online shopping sites.
Based on a user’s shopping history and buyer personas, online shopping websites can customize their website to showcase relevant products so that the user sees a personalized shopping experience.
If the behavioral targeting is performed based on user’s behavioral data from across the internet, it is network behavioral targeting. Information collected may include age, sex, marital information, location, device used, interests etc.
Most ad networks use this form of behavioral targeting as they show ads on different publishers or the sites visited by the user.
Marketers have an all access pass to the user data right now. It is essential to make sense of this data and draw logical conclusions from the same. Here are the benefits of behavioral targeting.
While behavioral targeting is about the person to whom the ads are shown, contextual marketing largely depends on the medium in which the ads are shown.
For example, it makes sense to show hotel deal ads or flight deal ads on a travel blogger’s website instead of personal finance website.
In the modern-day marketing, marketers take the best of both worlds when they create the advertising mix.
—
If you enjoyed reading this article, you would definitely love reading about the importance of context in advertising here.