I'm too lazy to run ad blockers. So I see plenty of advertising on the internet. Here's the thing: all the ads seem to be for things that I already bought. After I placed an order with Select Blinds, I started getting relentless Select Blinds ads on YouTube. After I made some charitable donations to Mercy Ships and Heifer International, their ads started following me around everywhere. My wife recently got on a new immunosuppressant medication, and now I see ads for that all the time. Great job targeting! But I already spent the money? So what is the point of all this?
Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
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Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#2It works on my mother-in-law. I have the “I have a great mother in law who loves knitting” T shirts to prove it.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#3As an advertiser, yes, modern algorithmic digital advertising is night and day better performance than dumb digital targeting.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#4I guess the effectiveness is related to an individual's overall online habits and interests and I would be quite surprised if it did "not work at all" at scale. Besides, if it did not work they would know by now...
For example, maybe you do not browse a lot before spending money because you know what you want more or less?
I have the habit of clearing my browsing data often, all the tracking options in my Google account are off, and the ads I get seem pretty generic in general, but I sure get ads related to my Google searches if there is something concrete to purchase, like hardware parts.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#5Yes. Brands, third parties, google, etc have all ran incremental sales lift tests, brand lift studies, customer lifetime value tests, etc and determined how successful tactics are and moved budget accordingly. There is a reason google/etc are worth billions.
I’ve posted this comment before, but:
1. It’s hard to tell when someone has bought a product. You buy it at a reseller and the brand will never know. Or you buy it on mobile, but have researched the brand on desktop. Or you purchased it at work, but were researching it at home. Advertisers suppress known buyers but they don’t perfectly match you to all of your devices.
2. Just like there are not so good developers and not so good code, there are not so good marketers who aren’t that great at their job. Or they have too much work and didn’t set it up correctly. DSPs are extremely extremely complicated, so it’s to make mistakes.
3. Retention and advertising to previous purchasers drives more additional purchases. Maybe you only purchased blinds for the main floor of your house but not the basement.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#6Sure, I've definitely bought stuff before from targeted ads.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#7Yes! I have hardly any friends on Facebook and I never post, but I only use it for the ads. I learn about tons of clothes companies and sales on stuff I like.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#8Yes. Brands, third parties, google, etc have all ran incremental sales lift tests, brand lift studies, customer lifetime value tests, etc and determined how successful tactics are and moved budget accordingly. There is a reason google/etc are worth billions. I’ve posted this comment before, but: 1. It’s hard to tell when someone has bought a product. You buy it at a reseller and the brand will never know. Or you buy…
> It’s hard to tell when someone has bought a product.
How about, "I've literally got it in my last-day purchase history on eBay and they keep showing me the same thing and a bunch of related stuff to the item that hasn't even arrived yet, but that they've taken my money for"?
... and then eBay follows me around showing the same stuff on other sites. The thing I've purchased. From eBay. At least, they did, until I got more aggressive blocking ads and started using the internet a ton less.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#9I use an ad blocker so don't generally see ads. However, I own a Kindle Voyage which I use to read sci-fi and fantasy novels. I have not paid the extra $20 or whatever it is to disable the ads. The ads are definitely targeted, as I only see ads for books related to what I've already purchased and read. In fact, all I see is ads for books in the series I happen to be reading at the time. For example, I'm finally getting around to reading the rest of the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series. I started over and now I'm on book 5, all purchased through Amazon so far, all directly through the store on the kindle. And it just keeps advertising books 1-5 (which I've already purchased). It makes no sense.
I have a list of authors I follow on amazon.com. It would be a better use of everyone's time if they just picked a random book from any of my favorite authors, made sure I hadn't already purchased it through amazon, and only then show it to me. It's like they're not even trying.
Re: Ask HN: Does targeted advertising work at all?
#10The ads are very effective, but ad agencies are not filled with top tier people, you can train someone to run ad campaigns in a day. As a result, much of the button pushers at small agencies are recent grads with backgrounds not well suited to optimization.
A remarketing ad can be set up using exclusion lists to stop display after a purchase ( checkout page cookie), also most should be set up with limits. These are basic,obvious and easy things to implement. Attribution isn't always perfect but what you observed is more of a reflection of the high frequency of low tier ad managers. Many don't know any better, many don't care, many have no access to actually edit a client website (or know how)
It's the wild west still.
The example you used is also of a brand that I am overmarketed to, whoever is spending their money has some belief or knowledge of very broad targeting that I don't understand. I have not nor ever will buy blinds and my browsing behavior does not align with the obvious interest groups one would pick.
It's not just the small agencies that blow money, someone is patting themselves on the back about the 100,000,000+ impressions they are generating daily for selectblinds, but that funnel is going to be ugly when it's time to jazz up their presentation to show off that success!