44% of consumers find contextually relevant ads helpful for holiday shopping
A recent study conducted by IAS (Integral Ads Science) shows that 89% of consumers reported that they find online advertising important in discovering new products and promotions, while 44% find contextually relevant ads helpful for holiday shopping
With the shopping season around the corner, contextual segmentation is proving to be the perfect tool for advertisers to reach their target audience, as ads are served based on the users’ interest in real time without the use of 3rd party cookies, providing stronger brand suitability and a better user experience.
It should also be noted that according to the IAS study, 48% of consumers have already started their Christmas shopping. And if they haven't already done so, they will take the opportunity to kick off their shopping sessions on the occasion of two very important dates on the calendar: Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Most people would think holiday shopping is at stake this year due to the profound economic effects of the pandemic, but according to a global study carried out by Rakuten, 70% of consumers don’t anticipate a decrease in their spend during the 2020 peak shopping season. Although there are new considerations for brands to be aware of this year, as they may affect how people purchase: 40% of shoppers have expressed concerns over health and the desire to avoid large crowds. It’s likely this will continue to drive consumers online to purchase.
With many holiday shoppers avoiding physical stores, digital advertising is even more important than usual this year. Advertisers can look to meet consumer needs by focusing their marketing efforts on placing contextually relevant digital ads in safe and suitable environments. But not all contexts are equal when it comes to driving campaign success, and advertisers need to know that ad placement is essential in order to connect with their audiences. The IAS study also found that consumers prefer to see contextually relevant ads on safe and reputable sites.
Advertisers who take advantage of contextual targeting will be the ones to better reach their audience in the right mindset. Current contextual technologies allow them to have a deep knowledge of content being published and which contexts work best according to their campaign objectives, and help them identify relevant trends for brand positioning. Mindset Marketing offers advertisers the possibility to develop and reinforce their brand values by being associated with content through attention-getting ads, and to achieve outstanding branding KPIs, such as brand favourability or purchase intent.
According to Statista, the top ten most searched products during 2019 Black Friday at a global scale were technological devices and gadgets. Therefore, technology related articles can be a good place for presenting new products as consumers browse this content for gifts and they want to easily find the ideal promotions they're looking for. A recent data research carried out by seedtag shows that contextually delivered ads improved purchase intent for tech products such as laptops, electronic components, memory cards and similar products by up to 37%. These companies also experienced an average 18% increase in brand awareness and 42% growth in brand favorability.
Seedtag’s records also show that overall technology daily content grew 11% in Black Friday’s week last year. And this growth was maintained the following week during Cyber Monday (+7% volume of content). There was also a content spike of more than 13% compared to the usual average volume on entertainment, which is also closely linked to technology and may be of interest to brands positioning their products (eg, advertise a PC or TV on gaming content). Based on the content recovery figures after the pandemic, seedtag expects the peak of content will be similar this year so it seems like technology could remain as the most searched category.
Success this holiday shopping season will require a consistent effort by advertisers to engage with customers in the right ways and data shows that contextually relevant ads will be key in helping consumers make purchasing decisions as they shift to online shopping and content volume will increase during the upcoming weeks.