|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Advertisers are keenly aware of the power of personalisation, an especially important issue in the time of consent. Not only have consumers expressed the desire for personalisation for years (who wants their time wasted with irrelevant content) but personalised digital ads deliver up to 3x the consumer engagement of non-personalized ads.
But just as marketers can craft messaging for one-to-one communications, publishers can customise their content to win over new readers and keep them there. Doing so requires access to real-time data. A Forrester Research report found that 67 percent of global publishers believed real-time data was important to their efforts, but only 27 percent received such data.
To illustrate how it works, look at how publishers acquire new readers. A reader might stumble on an interesting headline on Twitter and then realize that they like A.Publisher.com. After some consideration, they might even want to become a subscriber.
When the reader first visits the site, the publisher may have just one opportunity to win over a reader by making the experience personalised, relevant and engaging. That requires real-time data that’s segmented into actionable audiences for content and ad personalisation on the first interaction. Tailored content ultimately leads to a better user experience.
Here are three ways that EMEA publishers can leverage real-time data and pad bottom lines.
1. Increase engagement, time-on-site and retention
It’s difficult to convert sometime readers into subscribers, but real-time data can help publishers create the best experiences possible to boost their odds. Imagine this scenario: Behavioural data shows a visitor to your site has been shopping for a new bicycle, so you show them an ad for a discount at Evans Cycles. Sounds great, right? The problem is, the consumer just bought that bike offline, so it’s a wasted impression. The advertiser’s not happy and the reader isn’t either because it’s an example of clumsy targeting. There’s a lesson here for publishers. Most are obsessive about watching their metrics in real-time to see which content is catching on with users. Real-time tools can recommend articles to a reader based on their profile. Publishers can experiment to see the right number of articles that convert readers to subscribers. But editorial is only one part of the equation. Ads that are relevant and in a preferred format can enhance the reader’s experience, too. Real-time data adds another layer of relevance.
2. Boost programmatic revenues
For publishers, the formula for increased revenue is simple: more readers equals more revenue. By capturing readers on the first visit, publishers can create new revenue opportunities. Understanding who those readers are is also important. For example, a luxury jewellery brand like Links of London might want to target upscale consumers for a holiday push. A publisher might realize that 15 percent of its audience fits that description. Since advertisers pay higher CPMs to reach such audiences, publishers can significantly increase their rates. Publishers can also create personalised content to increase time spent and encourage such readers to return.
3. Expand audience size
Publishers can use real-time data to increase their audiences. Personalised content can increase engagement, which can, in turn, boost content sharing. But that’s not all; publishers can also use their first-party data to target content at lookalike audiences who have a higher likelihood to engage with it. Such publishers are using real-time data to target lookalike audiences at scale. Real-time adds another layer to such targeting. If a potential reader has a strong interest in football or cricket news, for instance, then a publisher can leverage breaking news on that topic in a sponsored post aimed at that reader.
Another example is TownNews.com who launched a behavioral content recommendation program that converts user “signals” such as polls and saved articles into actionable audience segments, allowing sites that use their tech to serve up content recommendations that are customized to each user based on their individual behavior profile, so they’ll browse deeper and see more content—and ad impressions.
It’s time that publishers caught up to marketers on the personalisation front. The evidence for using real-time data is overwhelming. And publishers who are not yet using it will be at a disadvantage.
Chris Hogg, EMEA Managing Director, Lotame
About Lotame
Lotame is the world’s leading unstacked data solutions company, helping publishers, marketers and agencies find new customers, increase engagement, and grow revenue through audience data. As the pioneer DMP thirteen years ago, Lotame has continuously innovated to become the trusted data solutions company for global enterprises such as Bloomberg, IBM and Omnicom Group. Lotame is headquartered in New York City, with offices around the world, including London, Singapore, Mumbai and Sydney. Learn more at www.lotame.com.
