Ever browsed a product online only to see ads for it follow you around the internet? That’s not a coincidence; it’s behavioral retargeting at work. This powerful digital marketing strategy tracks user behavior to serve highly relevant ads, reminding potential customers of what they’ve shown interest in. In this article, we’ll break down what behavioral retargeting is, how it works, and how you can harness it to boost engagement, increase conversions, and bring users back to your website.

This type of marketing is called ‘Behavioral Retargeting’ and has been used by advertisers to target individuals who have shown interest in their products. Its popularity has increasingly grown because of its effectiveness in saving money and time, as they have a better understanding of where to invest by targeting the right people.

For example, a person who frequently visits shopping sites might come across ads for the searched products on a blog site like ours.

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IDENTIFYING THE CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR

1. User information categories 

• Cookies: These are text files stored on devices that retrieve digital data that servers generate and hence send to the web browser.
• DMP: (Data management platform) It is a software that is used for collecting and managing data by involving a third party for better insight into users.
• Location: GPS, when switched on, and IP address track your geographical location from where you live to where you spend most of your time.
• Entry: Filling out forms, or creating a new account, in addition to buying things online, requires an entry of data onto sites that may include fields of interest/activities.

2. Behavioral Patterns

• Web search: The typed data you search for in your browser.
• Clicks and links: Clickable links that direct you to the website’s content.
• View Time: The amount of time spent on a particular page (surfing/reading).
• Visited pages: The frequency of visiting web pages (once, multiple, or none).

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TARGETING THE PREFERENCES

The behavioral targeting process works in three phases:

• Collection & Analysis: The third party collects the data of users and stores it in DMP/DSP (Demand-side Platform), which is then analyzed for the segmentation process.
• Segmentation: Based on behavioral patterns, the analyzed data is further segmented in the form of clusters of similar patterns over a period of time.
• Application: The application involves the implementation of advertisement campaigns for a specific cluster of users to make it more relevant and responsive accordingly.

SEEKING THE BENEFITS

FOR: Advertiser	FOR: Consumer
1. Increased engagement	1. Enhanced product awareness
2. ADS based on consumer needs	2. Quality with faster search and results
3. Improved performance and return investment	3. Improved performance and return on investment

Drawbacks go hand-in-hand with every marketing strategy, so similarly, behavioral retargeting has some obstacles as well.

Exploitation: With all the personal data shared nowadays, there is a risk of exploitation and data breaches.

Lack of Update: The absence of knowledge about your own audience because of not being up-to-date about their requirements.

Privacy Invasion: Personalized ads containing user information, when not used carefully, might result in a privacy violations.

Excess-Adv: Advertising your products continuously will lead to the consumers getting irritated and eventually ignoring them.

CONCLUSION

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)

It is a law that sets guidelines and regulates the process of collecting personal information from users, thus making it difficult for scammers present online to misguide you. It applies to all sites worldwide, so you’ll get notified asking for access to save your data, make changes, and about what data was collected. India has followed this law since 2018 in providing permission to digital companies for marketing under certain conditions.

IMPACT (of behavioral retargeting)

Behavioral retargeting helps us to better understand and, consequently, meet the needs of the target audience through its work. This not only makes it a powerful tool but also increases the return on your investments. So, along with achieving the goals, a company that practices this marketing strategy is also likely to have a more interactive and updated interface than others, with new opportunities lined up for them while being mindful of GDPR law and its drawbacks.