Do you ever wonder why you see ads for products and services that seem to match your interest and recent thoughts?
People are often surprised by the accuracy of these targeted ads, almost as if the apps are reading their minds!
Of course, these kinds of ads involve no mind-reading or psychic powers.
Instead, we know that the science behind it is behavioral marketing, which focuses on tracking customers’ patterns to create more personalized experiences.
Behavioral marketing is an innovative approach to advertising that studies a customer’s online behavior to deliver personalized messages and offers relevant recommendations based on their interests. From targeting potential customers through behaviorally driven campaigns, behavioral marketing has become an increasingly important aspect of any successful modern digital marketing strategy.
Rather than focusing on a generic, mass-market approach to selling, businesses use behavioral marketing to identify consumers most likely interested in their company’s offerings. Around 47% of companies personalize communications based on real-time customer behavior to improve marketing effectiveness.
This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of behavioral marketing, detailing the different campaigns and tools used and the benefits of leveraging behavioral marketing in any digital strategy.
So, let’s explore the fascinating world of behavioral marketing.
What is Behavioral Marketing?
As the name suggests, behavioral marketing is a marketing technique that looks at customers’ online behavior to deliver tailored content. This strategy aims to understand the customer’s needs and interests to give relevant offers that are more likely to be accepted. By leveraging customer data and analytics, companies use behavioral marketing to provide a level of personalization that traditional advertising can’t match.
By analyzing what customers search for, the products they put in their shopping carts, the pages they view, and the content they engage with, marketers can gain valuable insights to create more effective marketing campaigns. This data also allows businesses to discover patterns in customer behavior and customize their approach accordingly.
This approach results in higher conversion rates and improved customer retention, as customers will be more likely to see offers or content that is of genuine interest. Furthermore, such ads have an easier time getting their message across without putting too much effort into grabbing the customer’s attention. According to a study, about 71% of consumers prefer their ads to be based on their interests and even find it irritating when they get hit with non-personalized ads.
Behavioral marketing is not limited to one specific channel. Companies can use it on their websites, email campaigns, and even social media channels to deliver a personalized experience to their customers.
Behavioral Targeting, Segmentation, and Personalization
Behavioral marketing has three main components: targeting, segmentation, and personalization. Let’s look at each of them one by one.
Targeting
Targeting is a form of marketing that focuses on identifying and targeting customers likely to be interested in certain products and services. Marketers can deliver relevant ads and messages to customers at the right time. Behavioral targeting differs from conventional contextual targeting, relying on the context of a website or app to deliver relevant ads. Behavioral targeting has improved how customers interact with ads, making it easier for marketers to reach their target audience.
Segmentation
Market segmentation helps businesses divide customers into distinct groups based on specific criteria. Companies can create more targeted campaigns tailored to each group’s needs, interests, and preferences by categorizing customers into different segments. Some ways to segment customers include:
- Purchase behavior
- Usage
- Customer journey stage
- Benefits sought
- Occasion
- Customer loyalty
- Engagement level
Personalization
Personalization is delivering tailored content to customers based on their needs and interests. Personalized content has vastly improved the average time users spend on websites like Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, and others. It considers a user’s location, past interactions, and other factors to deliver specific content.
Using the techniques mentioned earlier, marketers can effectively use consumer data to understand their target audience. These methods also help them create campaigns that increase conversion rates while improving user experience.
Types of Behavioral Marketing
Depending on the customer’s online behavior, marketers can use different types of behavioral marketing.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a form of advertising that helps marketers target customers who have already visited their website or app. This technique helps to remind customers about their purchase or engage them with other offers if they have abandoned their shopping cart. For example, if a customer is browsing for laptops on an e-commerce website and leaves without purchasing, the site can serve ads about the laptops they’re interested in.
Social media retargeting is also a great way to target customers interacting with your brand on social channels. By displaying personalized content to these customers, companies can increase their chances of making a purchase.
Email marketing
Email marketing is another powerful tool marketers can use to deliver customized customer messages. Companies can identify customers who have opened the emails, clicked on the links, and even used a particular coupon code to send them personalized follow-up emails. For example, if a customer opens an email about a new product launch, the company can send a customized message to that customer with more information about the product.
By using data points like past purchases, customers’ locations, and browsing history, companies can create segmented lists to send them relevant offers to increase their chances of purchasing. This helps to build trust with customers and increases engagement with the brand.
Product suggestions
Product suggestions are a great way to engage customers by recommending products they may find interesting. By understanding their online behavior, marketers can display relevant product recommendations to customers on their website or app. For example, websites can suggest products like accessories, software, and other related items for customers who have already purchased a laptop.
These recommendations aim to make customers’ shopping experiences more personalized and increase the chances of making a purchase. By displaying relevant product suggestions, companies can also create opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling to their customers.
Demographic targeting
Demographic targeting allows businesses to target specific groups of customers with tailored content. Companies can use data points like age, location, gender, and other demographics to create targeted campaigns for those customers. For example, a company may want to target teenage girls with an ad about their new makeup line. By using demographic targeting, the company can ensure that the ad serves customers in that age group.
With the right data, companies can create more effective campaigns with higher conversion rates.
Best Behavioral Marketing Examples
Behavioral marketing has become an integral part of digital marketing. Here are some top examples that showcase the power of this technique.
Amazon
Amazon is an excellent example of how marketers can use behavioral marketing to improve the user experience. The e-commerce giant uses data points like customers’ purchase history, browsing behavior, and location to create personalized product recommendations for each visitor. This helps Amazon to increase its average order value, improve buyer’s experience, and generate more sales.
Netflix
Netflix is another example of how companies can use behavioral marketing to engage customers. Understanding their viewing behavior lets Netflix recommend the right content for each customer. This helps Netflix increase engagement, retain viewers, and boost its revenue.
Airbnb
Another great example of how marketers can use behavioral marketing to target customers is Airbnb. Airbnb uses data points like customers’ location, past bookings, and travel preferences to suggest suitable listings for each customer. This helps them to deliver an improved user experience and increase conversion rates.
Best Buy
Like Amazon, Best Buy monitors customers’ browsing behavior and purchase history to suggest relevant products. They also checked their abandoned cart items to send personalized follow-up emails to customers, which helped them increase sales.
YouTube
By understanding their viewers’ preferences and past watch history, YouTube suggests relevant videos for each user, which helps them increase engagement. The more videos the user watches, the more advertisements they go through. This results in increased ad revenues for YouTube and better sales for businesses.
With the help of behavioral marketing, the companies mentioned above were able to build trust with their customers, increase engagement, and generate more sales.
Incorporating Behavioral Marketing into your Marketing Strategy
Behavioral marketing is a powerful tool that helps marketers understand their customers better and deliver tailored messages to them. However, using consumer data responsibly and modestly is essential to avoid appearing too intrusive. That’s where Mediatool, a platform for marketing and e-commerce professionals, can help.
With Mediatool’s powerful platform, marketers can plan, create, analyze, and optimize their campaigns in one place. This helps them to get the most out of their data, target the right customers with relevant messages, and increase their sales and ROI.
So, if you want to take your marketing strategy to the next level, Mediatool is the perfect tool. Book a tour of Mediatool today.
