What Behavioral Marketing Can Do for the Online Business Community

Case studies have shown that behavioral targeting can be effective in a variety of ways including:

• Increased audience composition (better targeting)
• Improved metrics (better performance), and
• More efficient costs

A survey taken last year in late 2004 called “Pros and Cons of Behaviorally Targeted Advertising” showed that there were problems with behavioral targeting such as:

• Achievement of reach
• Inconsistencies with segment definition across sites, and
• ongoing issues of behavioral targeting clutter

However, no one that took the survey mentioned the issue of consumer privacy or if user behavior should be tracked at all. One reason behind this could be that Internet users should be aware of the privacy policies of a site they visit and with that knowledge, have no problem having their time spent on the site being monitored. Behaviorally targeted advertising can be an essential element for success because it influences one of the online medium's core strengths which is individualization. Behavioral targeted advertising can match messages and offers to user’s interests without asking for personally identifiable information.

So, Is Behavioral Targeting Ok Then?

Behavioral targeting has to be reviewed carefully by online media people who use behavioral targeting by regularly informing themselves with consumer privacy updates. Online media people can read relevant information published by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), as well as making sure the publishers they work with have TRUSTe- and BBBOnLine- which are compliant privacy guidelines. Most importantly, they have to understand the data collected and used that’s generated from behavioral targeted placements. If the rules are followed, behavioral targeting can benefit everyone by providing more relevant, applicable advertising for consumers; let publishers know of generic unsold inventory; and overall improve advertising for marketers.