advertising

Behavioral Targeting and Retargeting on Mobile

When you try to target a consumer on a desktop device, you are considering what they may be browsing for at a particular time of day. You need to consider concepts like income level and geographic location too, but the intent of a desktop user is more about seeking information.

A mobile user has very different habits, often driven by their location, which influence their buying preferences. Before you attempt your first mobile campaign, you’ll need to rethink the intent of your audience if you want to continue effectively targeting them while they are on-the-go.

Prime Desktop and Mobile Differences

Prominent websites and services may utilize an application to present the browsing experience a user seeks in a format that is smoother to work with. Apps present ads embedded within the application, often at the bottom or even on a separate screen. A mobile website may present ads in the margin or as an overlay to an existing article or page.

When consumers do online searches, advertisers have much greater screen real estate to work with on desktop than mobile. That means certain text-heavy ads may work better on desktop than mobile.

Working with Mobile Traffic

Mobile should be one of many segments of traffic you’re working with, unless you see the potential for rapid growth. So the approach to mobile should be like an onion– testing and growing its many layers of strategies. . Many people begin by targeting the type of device, iPhone or Android, and then expand to other options like carrier or location.

Mobile also changes behavior. Customers are not searching for the same terms on mobile because they are more likely to be in a store or out comparison shopping. A consumer on a mobile device might be more apt to make a purchase elsewhere if the advertiser can compete on price or quality, or if they read reviews that steer them toward a different product altogether. It also depends on goods too, so certain offers will work on desktop and not as well on mobile. Refinance and mortgage offers might be a good example of something that works on desktop, where the user is reading about the home buying process, but not so much on mobile where the user is probably more focused on particular characteristics of a house they are interested in. The impulse, or lack thereof, changes the urgency in your copy and everything else about your ad.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is an expert in digital advertising on mobile and desktop devices. Since the early 2000s, Ted Dhanik has worked to improve business growth using display advertising. Ted Dhanik is the CEO of engage:BDR, based out of Los Angeles.