Behavioural targeting in SA has now matured to a point where marketers can exploit large volumes of online user data, in order to study consumer behaviour.
This is according to Richard Mullins, director at Acceleration. He says behavioural targeting enables marketers to direct their advertising based on Web pages the online user has visited and searches made.
“Behavioural targeting isn't new, but the technology has matured to a point where it's easy to use and offers excellent results for marketers that use it in an intelligent manner,” says Mullins.
“In addition, the local online environment is now large enough to provide the volumes of user data needed to profile user behaviour with confidence.”
Mullins points out that this information can target the right message at the right user, with the right content.
He says a company can identify prospective customers and focus on the segments that deliver the best return on investment, because it advertises to people who are interested in what the company is selling.
However, Mullins says the real power of behavioural targeting kicks in when companies integrate customer relationship management, Web analytics, merchandising, ad-serving, e-mail marketing and other tools to really understand how their customers and prospects are engaging with them online.
He says privacy concerns remain an issue in behavioural targeting, although the information that behavioural targeting solutions gather cannot generally be used to personally identify end-users.
However, he believes this issue will fade as consumers are given the choice of whether to allow organisations to access their tracking data.
“Internet Explorer 9, for example, will have 'tracking protection' functionality that allows users to manage which organisations have access to their behavioural data,” adds Mullins.
Dominic White, security consultant at SensePost, says online tools such as ad blockers can be used to prevent personal information from being captured and shared.
“The danger is that it breaks the free Web, as advertisers cannot monetise their content on Web browsers. Privacy Choice will opt a user out of tracker and will show the user what information advertisers have on the user.”
A campaign spearheaded by the Stanford Law School Centre for Internet and Society developed a technology called 'Do not track'; which enables users to opt out of third-party Web tracking, including behavioural advertising.
Research from Emarketer in the US indicates that one in every five dollars spent on display advertising in the US will be linked to behavioural targeting by 2014. The research firm says this shows the technology is quickly gaining global traction.
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