To the typical consumer this is not shocking, there are few moments in an average day when a piece of technology is not in our hands.
However this presents a huge challenge for marketers. One in 10 consumers say inconsistencies in brand experience, device to device, would make them stop interacting with that brand all together (Forrester), when a conversion journey is split across multiple devices stopping those inconsistencies becomes difficult.
Retargeting, an important tool in any marketers portfolio, aims to show a relevant, personalized ad to each user, allowing you to leverage a unified image of the brand and drive sales. Which ad is shown depends on where that particular user is in their conversion journey.
When the conversion is split over two devices, or maybe more, this becomes impossible with traditional retargeting. Hence the need for Cross Device Retargeting (CDR).
CDR represents the ability to use the browsing history from one of your users’ devices to influence ads that are shown on their second, third or, as in one case we found, tenth device.
What we have found is that there are additional benefits compared to the classic retargeting model. When three or more devices are involved, conversion rate increases by 18%.
The Limited, a retail brand that has been in operation for over 50 years in the US, recently found that PC ROAS increased by 8% using cross device with Struq and eCPM decreased by 35%.
This is not an isolated case and other retailers saw even more dramatic results – one top 100 US retailer seeing an uptick of 55% of daily conversions while PC ROAS jumped by 19%.
It is commonly agreed among researchers that repetition of a message and familiarity with a brand increase the likelihood of conversion.
Perhaps then, CDR unlocks the potential of repetition and familiarity in advertising by placing the brand on every device of the user, there by shortening the conversion path through familiarity.
If we wish to continue benefitting from retargeting and improving ad performance we can no longer afford to simply advertise on multiple devices separately but rather build a holistic image of one user with many devices not just many users and many devices.
Duncan Way, sales and marketing executive,