These days we hear so much about cross-device tracking and its potential that for many, the process (linking multiple devices to individuals and household) is conflated with its use cases (busting through channel siloes to get a unified view of the consumer, sequential advertising, etc.).
Let’s take a closer look at sequential advertising – the marketer’s dream. What is it exactly, and how can cross-device tracking turn that dream into reality?
Digital gives us the opportunity to measure the effects of a great deal of our advertising, not just the proverbial 50%. The closer we get to 100%, the more efficiency in media spend we’d all see. To get there, we need keen insight into the buyer’s decision-making journey, which is why cross-device tracking is so essential.
The challenge, as every marketer knows, is that digital now transcends the world of cookies. Today’s consumers rely on three or more devices to consume content – often simultaneously – and advertisers need to learn the role each plays in their decision-making journeys.
Does an ad a consumer sees on TV have the same impact as one seen on the computer? If a mom initiates a video ad on his her tablet, does it indicate a higher level of interest? If yes, should the tablet ad be the same as the one that’s broadcast on TV? How should the message change? And if the consumer didn’t convert after she initiated the video ad, what’s the next step? Re-target her with the same video until a conversion eventually occurs? Or is there a better way to move that person further along the sales funnel?
These are complex questions, which require big data solutions to answer. Answering them will have a huge impact on your media budget. Video inventory is expensive, to be sure. But what if you know that consumers are most likely to schedule a test drive for a new auto model after seeing two display ads and then a video ad on their mobile phones? And what if you know that the most conversions occurred if the first display ad featured the car’s innovation, the second one easy financing options, and the video ad an interior view of the model?
Here’s what would happen: You’d have the most efficient media strategy in the world because you’d know exactly when to target a consumer with a display ad, and you’d never waste ad spend on mobile video inventory targeting consumers who weren’t far enough along in their buying process to respond to it. And you’d deliver a more positive brand experience to your prospects.
So where does cross-device targeting come into this? First, and obviously, you need to know if the consumer who clicks on your ad from her desktop is the same person who viewed your video ad on her tablet. You can’t do any one-to-one sequential advertising without that insight.
Right now, our industry is debating the right way to accomplish cross-device tracking and targeting: deterministic or probabilistic. Deterministic methodologies rely on known facts about consumers, such as their login credentials. If a consumer logs into her Instagram account from her desktop and smartphone, then we can easily link those devices to her. If she logs into Instagram via her tablet using the family’s WiFi, we can then associate her (and her tablet) to a specific household.
The challenge with the deterministic approach is scale. Probabilistic methodologies use statistical modeling to say “this laptop and iPhone probably roll up to the same consumer.” This approach aggregates multiple data signals (device ID, IP address, browsing history, etc.) and super-smart algorithms to associate devices to consumers and households. These solutions aren’t as accurate, but they’re far easier to scale.
The Role of Programmatic in Sequential Advertising
Cross-device tracking will only get you so far. It won’t, for instance, tell you the role (if any) each message or format plays in the buying journey. To accomplish that task, you need programmatic marketing to test and iterate messages, and big data analytics to look across all of the many paths consumers took to converting to identify the ones that perform the best. Fortunately, the programmatic industry is quite mature in this respect.
Once the cross-device tracking issue is resolved (and it will be!), marketers will truly be able to target the right consumer with the right device-appropriate message at the most optimal stage in her buying journey.
Matt Feodoroff is vice-president, strategic sales, Buyer Cloud, Rubicon Project
