MediaPost: Case Study: Audience Targeting Improves Response 2200%

A new case study reveals that audience targeting on the web actually increases response. Granted, this is a no-brainer, but a 2,200 percent increase is nothing to dismiss.

The Dallas Morning News, a Belo Interactive web site, achieved that increase, moving from an average 0.33 percent response rate to 7.7 percent for an auto dealer using Tacoda's Audience Management System. Combined with contextual advertising in the automotive section of the web site, the auto dealer had ads served outside the section to those who had visited the automotive section in the past 30 days. Increases in credit applications, online searches and calls to the dealership were also seen.

I do not have first hand knowledge of Tacoda's system. I do, however, know that targeting (contextual, demographic, psycographic and behavioral) works wonders when implemented properly. Many similar targeting tools exist for the offline world, but because of the nature of offline media, the loop from message delivery to final sale is rarely closed. Sure, you can micro-target using any number of tools to put the right message in front of the right person, but it's much harder offline to directly link that targeted message to an actual sale. With online media, that link is more easily proven and achieved.

These are the kinds of info-nuggets we need to put in front of our offline brethren (and skeptics) in order to engender acceptance of online as a useful medium. And not just a useful medium, but a medium in which every detail of the advertising-to-sale chain can be known.