“What was the front page ad in today’s newspaper? Did the ad target a specific type of reader? If yes, then what about all the other readers who found the ad irrelevant?”

There is a method to create relevant customized messages, and it is called behavioral targeting. As an e-commerce business, you can observe the customer’s online behavior, and customize your communication.

There is no standard definition on what constitutes behavioral targeting. Here are some of the methods used by e-commerce businesses:

Remarketing 

Remarketing, or as I like to call it, “online ads that follow you,” has revolutionized online advertising. Imagine that I am an e-commerce business attempting to attract customers to my latest offering automobile offering. I will be much more willing to spend money on advertising to you, if you recently visited the “latest deals” page on my automobile site.

Even when you exit my website, I want to continue talking to you. So, I would purchase advertising on other websites that is displayed specifically to you. I could tailor my advertising to display customized ad creatives to you based on your clickstreams.

Website Personalization

An e-commerce business usually has a large array of offerings. So which ones does it highlight? Which ones does it feature on its homepage? By analyzing the visitor’s browser clickstreams, the e-commerce website can be personalized to highlight products that the visitor is more likely to be interested in. Website personalization is one of the methods of increasing shopping cart conversion.

Deal Customization

It is not just about which product to highlight, it is also about the type of deal that would work best for you. For instance, if an e-commerce merchant sees that you have visited his page multiple times, he could offer you a small discount to nudge you towards making the purchase.

Email Personalization

Ecommerce players could analyze your movement around their website and trigger an instant email to you with a relevant marketing message. This kind of personalization could make that email stand out among the hundreds of untargeted marketing messages that spam your inbox.

What is your way of targeting consumer behavior?