Personalisation has been proven to be one of the most powerful marketing tools for raising advertising effectiveness today. A new study from Adobe found personalisation is the most important capability for marketing in the future overtaking mobile, big data, and social marketing.
Many consumers find personalised ads to be more engaging, educational and memorable. Based on Sizmek’s analysis of over 300 billion ad impressions, personalised ads resulted in 59% more conversions, offering significantly improved ad performance.
Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) is one of the most powerful tools available for keeping messages fresh and up-to-the minute for ad personalisation. With all the different flavours of DCO there are no limits to the possibilities. Virtually any component of an ad: the message, product features and benefits, pricing and imagery can be changed with unlimited combinations. The flexibility enables DCO to continuously improve campaign performance.
Here are eight different ways that ads can be personalised using DCO:
Geo-targeted campaigns
..serve ads based on localised information. For example, ads appearing on mobile devices when shoppers are close to retailers’ storefronts, companies serving ads for electric generators to regions affected by bad weather, or insurance companies customising corporate ads with the location of each satellite office.
Product-based campaigns
..target a user who previously expressed interest in a specific item, and then retargets them to upsell or cross sell. The target audience can include viewers who completed a web form, sent an inquiry, browsed more than ten pages on a company site, or searched for a product name in a search engine.
Optimisation
..uses available user data to match a potential audience with the creative most likely to garner a response.
Demographic prospecting
..tailors the ad’s template, offer or message to specific demographics within the target audience. For example, one travel ad campaign for Guatemala included dozens of versions with different graphics to hit what every potential customer was looking for: history, adventure, extreme sport or business opportunities.
Behavioural prospecting
..targets audiences who are researching in specific product categories and then tailors the ad message, product or offer to their interests. For instance a user interested in fuel-efficient cars can receive messaging around how the company is reducing its carbon footprint or perhaps how one of their car models has won several environmental awards.
Sequential storytelling
..tells a story across multiple platforms and creates a deeper resonance than would be experienced by exposure to the same ad on each device individually. An example of this is serving an ad for a restaurant on a laptop, and then providing local coupons on a smart phone.
Contextual prospecting
..in partnership with publishers and DSPs tailors ads to correspond with page content. For example, if the user is viewing a website pertaining to sports, the user may see advertisements for sports-related companies, such as memorabilia dealers or ticket sellers.
User journey campaigns
..create ad variations tailored to each step of the purchase path, from awareness to retention. Unilever’s Dove Men product line was promoted during a major international rugby championship by delivering a series of ads in sync with the latest tournament news and scores in real time, keeping viewers engaged as they moved through the purchase funnel.
Through enabling the economical and rapid design, deployment and measurement of an infinite number of creative variations there are endless possibilities for personalising ads using DCO. This new mindset of ad optimisation is enabling digital markers to continuously improve campaign performance.