Personalization And Digital Performance Who Can See Through That

We’ve been hearing for 15 years that personalization is one of the unbeatable benefits of online advertising… but hardly anyone does it! We are happy when more than one banner variant is tested – so that the best advertising material on average is displayed to all (!) users. At least.

But there has been more than that for a long time, namely showing each micro-target group their optimally suited messages. So if we advertise a sofa, dog lovers will see a puppy lying in front of it and cat lovers will have a velvet paw lounging on it. And this sight triggers a positive emotion even before users can think about it. And that’s not all: Since the advertising relates to the respective person and their interests & Hobbies, it is automatically perceived as much more relevant.

Now we have defined the so-called “audience” and the tailored, personalized message. But does my recorded user need a sofa right now? Is he already looking, or do I have to give him the idea of ​​an interior upgrade first? In each case it would be addressed differently. The individual phase in the customer journey also plays a role – from attention to interest to the buyer or regular customer.

And with this we have only defined two dimensions of personalization – micro-target group and purchase phase – which enable us to create a wide variety of individual, personalized messages. So the possibilities are practically endless. Machines can implement all of this – BUT first we need concepts. And there is often a lack of this because of a lack of knowledge and sometimes also the will…

Advertisers should build up enough know-how so that they not only demand personalization, but can also brief and control the concepts. Agencies can no longer defend themselves against data-driven concepts, but rather must build up a fundamental – rather than often just superficial – knowledge of data, systems and possibilities.

Instead of a well-founded customer journey analysis and success reporting based on attribution modeling, shockingly often – even with large campaign budgets – reports are only based on the so-called last-click model, which means that the true value of all channels and platforms involved is completely incorrectly assessed.

Yes, it’s all more complex! The good news: this creates higher qualified jobs and secures jobs and the economy. The bad news: simple areas of activity such as advertising material creation, targeting and reporting are being automated – jobs are being lost.

Let’s shape the future instead of just going along with the flow. Our users will thank us because advertising will suddenly become relevant again – and therefore efficient!