Behaviorally targeted online advertising and conversion rates

[mandy]

Conventional wisdom says that to catch a fish, you have to go where the fish are. But to stretch a metaphor, fish aren’t always where you’d expect to find them. In fact, ad network BlueLithium found in a study that behaviorally targeted online advertising often produced a higher conversion rate when served out of context than in context.

Users whose online behavior characterized them as “travelers,” for instance, showed the highest conversion rate when served ads not on travel sites, but on career sites...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=20368

[mandy]

A related article based on the same Blue Lithium study:

While devising strategy for your holiday marketing campaign, you've likely mapped out and executed search-engine and multi-channel promotions and offered incentives such as free shipping. But there's a less traditional approach that you can add to the mix that's worth considering: out of context behavioral advertising.

The way these ads work seems counterintuitive, but according to marketers, they produce higher conversion rates compared to contextual ads. Behavioral ads are placed at sites that have nothing to do with the product being sold. Instead, they are posted out of context at other Web sites that a consumer is likely to visit, based on a profile of their actions, or behavior, while surfing the Web.

This differs, obviously, from contextual ads, which are placed at Web sites that pertain to the goods being offered. In the latter case, for example, pots and pans may be advertised at a gourmet cooking site featuring recipes and the like. However, in the case of a behavioral ad, a profile of your surfing habits would show that you like extreme sports in addition to cooking, so the ad for pots and pans is placed at the sports site...

full article: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions...hp/3645626