Time for a rant.
Why does it seem like everyone’s following me? Because Internet ads are following me. Is it more important to build sales volume by knowing who I am than caring about who I am?
The insane persistence of Internet ads following me is like going to the store, spending an extra minute reading a label on a box of Cheerios and then having someone hold up a placard every time I enter another isle with “want to buy some Cheerios?” on it. It’s beyond annoying.
Why am I hounded by Internet ads trying to sell me what I don’t really want? –because it works.
This, folks, is called remarking. It’s when websites, content sites and ecommerce sites “know you looked at something” because they can see your behavior. Then, they follow you around throughout the internet to “invite you” to purchase. The reason this is done is it actually works:
Remarking is an effective strategy because it specifically targets individuals who have already shown an interest in a company’s product. These individuals are more likely to convert than random individuals who may have little or no desire to buy a particular product. – from an online agency
This is true but there is fallout from this. It really does annoy customers immensely. Some studies have shown up to 80% of online customers hate these ads. And other data shows there’s an enormous amount of “wasted clicks” that do not turn into purchases. This strategy is basically like going to a flea market and being surrounded by people hounding you to buy, buy buy!
Why can’t we develop some strategies around remarking that utilize the initial clickthrough data to show another ad that says: we know you’re interested so we’d like to connect, or, I know you’ve seen us about three times, will check in next month!
Why is this so stupidly patterned to the point of extreme annoyance? Why not build a more sophisticated strategy that actually connects with what people want? Because remarketing is super cheap.
I guess telemarketing has gone away for the most part but now we get peddlers banging at the door — online.