Today the hype about making data actionable and getting insights from the insurmountable amount of available data confronts you at every turn. So, many have come to accept segments as the norm when it comes to creating audiences and display advertising. More specifically when it comes to retargeting.

At Simpli.fi we often refer to groups of audience members as segments. That’s because in most cases when you purchase a “bulk” “pre-packaged” audience for retargeting it’s a group of users segmented together based on a shared behavior or action. But, today we reveal any ugly truth – there’s little known about this behavior or action in traditional segments. And, you’re missing valuable pieces to the puzzle in using pre-packaged audience groups. 

What You Miss With Segments

• You cannot see what the particular action/behavior the user performed to become part of the audience segment.
  • For example: keyword searched, product viewed, site visited etc.
• You cannot see when the user performed this action.
  • For example, 5 minutes ago, yesterday, 30 days ago and so on.
• You cannot see performance at the individual or element level once your campaign is live, only at the group level.
  • For example you can only see that your auto intender group has a CTR of .05% and a CPA of $10. Instead of seeing your campaign’s most important KPIs at the individual element level (whether that element be keyword, domain, time window etc.)

Take a look at the bolded words up there – with traditional segment based audiences you cannot see the what or the when that caused your audience members to be target worthy. Doesn’t it make sense that the what and the when would be two very crucial pieces to inform audience creation?

Segmented groups of audience members means that your audience has a mix of people performing various actions but to top it off also these people have also performed these actions at various times ranging from recent to the not-so-recent. Making targeting a bit like throwing paint on a wall to see where it sticks. What’s more is usually the group of “auto intenders” you’re getting from your retargeting vendor is the same as the group of “auto intenders” that your competitors are getting.  Instead of creating audiences from scratch that are customizable. The later allows you to create personalized audiences made up of users that fit your criteria and mean the most to you.

What Kind of Audiences Can I Build?

Build search based on:

• Search data
• Site data
• Contextual data
• Demographic data
• Look-a-like data

The options are endless – but all have one thing in common – they are built transparently. Instead of defining audience groups/segments to target, define the individuals you want to target based on hundreds of attributes and actions. Your audience is dynamic, retargeting isn’t a one-size fits all solution and the creation of your audience can’t be either.  Your audience is changing constantly and creating a “blanket” audience group is ineffective. That’s why we advocate creating audiences that are defined by exactly what action you deem important to your campaign and in exactly what time frame.

Creating a complete picture of your audience by taking each individual ‘s data and tailoring your campaign to cater to it is the reason we believe in audiences of 1, not groups of audiences with no visibility.  Creating a custom audience allows you to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. And get a picture of users over time – so you learn more about your audience than ever before,

Performance

You should see performance at the individual user level instead of at the group level.  This type of performance data fuels real time changes to your audience – dialing any element of your campaign up or down at the individual/element level on the fly instead of having to apply campaign changes to the whole group.

Use our detailed reports and analytics to learn more about your audience than ever before.  We give you deeper insights that drive performance to make campaigns work for you. Get data that informs future campaigns and marketing efforts. Talk to one of our experienced account services team members today.