While mobile data has risen 69% in the last year, tracking users across screens continues to be among the biggest challenges for today’s marketers. Only 30% reported using cross-channel tracking, and only 35% understand how their customers use devices differently and know how to track them across different devices while logged into the session.
As the desire to serve targeted ads to consumers across multiple devices rises, marketers must match the reality of cross-device targeting technology and the availability of data to their end goals.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Before engaging in cross-device targeting or segmentation, marketers should first look to their own data. First-party data, like device IDs and user information taken directly from a consumer’s profile within the app, will always be the most powerful tool. But if limited first-party data is available, marketers often look to purchase data from third parties.
First, marketers should be intimately aware of exactly what they’re purchasing and who it is they want to target. While some companies are claiming “up to 90% accuracy” for their lists, marketers should dig into the data and ask the big questions to determine each list’s true accuracy. Finding out where the data came from and how recently it was compiled provides deeper insight on how effective that data will be at driving cross-device targeting. A lack of understanding of the data, coupled with a lack of transparency and traceability for some third-party data sets, can be the demise of a campaign.
For example, a common practice of many third-party data providers is to combine disparate data sets to piece together consumer profiles. This merging of lists can fatally dilute precision and 90% accurate lists can instead become 60% accurate by the time they’re parsed together with other sources of data. From here, blending two mediocre data sets can result in even lower accuracy and cripple a campaign’s chances at effective targeting.
So rather than following your marketing partners’ targeting methodologies blindly, ask how they target consumers across devices. How wide is the segment? And is it even relevant to your target audience? Also, to secure sustainable consumer engagement and conversions, marketers should ensure they’re starting with as much high-quality first-party data as possible to guide and validate these targeting efforts and avoid relying too heavily upon unconfirmed second- or third-party data.
RIGHT MESSAGE FOR THE RIGHT MEDIUM
While targeting the right consumers is a marketer’s first hurdle, their second obstacle in efficacy is ensuring that the right content for these consumers is served to them on the right device.
Marketers should avoid using the same message for consumers who are viewing the creative on different devices. Since people use their digital devices for different applications and in varying ways, taking the time to customize these messages for each medium will go a long way. To achieve this, first-party data is most effective—not just to target users who already have the app on a different device but also to craft personalized, highly relevant marketing messages.
Retargeting consumers on their mobile devices based on previous desktop behaviour might allow marketers a platform on multiple devices as part of the same campaign, but this is where the similarities stop as the offers and calls-to-action should not be the same. By investing the time and resources to garner better data and stop the serving of generic, irrelevant ads, marketers will begin to see improved conversion rates.
SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
The final step any marketer should take before making the cross-device targeting jump is to adjust your (and your leadership’s) expectations at the outset of the campaign based on how much first-party data is available. While cross-device targeting practices present a huge potential upside, the market is still nascent and partially uncharted.
To understand exactly what to expect, start from the end goal and work your way forward. What is your desired result for the campaign? Make sure to note the standard response rates for any purchased data, gauge the expected performance, review the data sets to ensure enough data is available and determine whether the segment is accurate enough and large enough to meet the campaign’s anticipated result.
As cross-device targeting efforts find their way into more campaigns, marketers need to educate themselves by learning their data’s worth, serving contextually relevant content and thinking outside of the box more than ever—because there will be no easy answers when it comes to achieving true cross-device targeting success.
Barry Coleman is the senior vice-president of engineering at San Francisco-based Manage
