No more cat and mouse advertising! Consumers demand end to being chased around the internet

Brands are damaging their reputation with stale advertising techniques that are pushing away consumers

Consumers have spoken: being followed around the internet by the same adverts is the thing they dislike most about online advertising, according to new state of the industry research from Conversant. The study questioned consumers across seven* different countries and found 48% of UK consumers dislike seeing the same ads multiple times. So annoying do they find this that almost half (48%) of Brits believe the advertising industry needs to change.

Brits aren’t alone: consumers in the US and Germany experience a similar level of advert stalking – with the desire for the industry to move away from this activity also between 47-49% respectively. However, only 38% of consumers in France dislike this advertising technique, with only 40% believing change is needed.

“We’ve all experienced it, that same advert following us around and continuing to pop up everywhere – it’s an issue that’s inherent with ad retargeting. Far from inciting a purchase, this is more likely to lead to the consumer becoming annoyed and potentially cause reputational damage in the long run than lead to a sale,” commented Elliott Clayton, Senior Vice President, Conversant. “Our state of the industry research has revealed that by delivering high-volume low-quality retargeting to consumers, marketers are pushing customers away, wasting their marketing budget in the process.”

The research also revealed that more than a quarter (29%) of UK consumers judge brands poorly when they produce bad advertising. While consumers are open to adverts, almost half (44%) would prefer to see fewer ads, with those that they do see to be more relevant and useful to the individual.

Consumers in the US (45%) and Germany (48%) would also like to see this change of fewer but more relevant adverts. In Germany in particular, bad advertising can have a big effect on a brand’s reputation, with over a third (36%) of German consumers judging a brand poorly for bad advertising. In France on the other hand, only 15% of French consumers would be put off a brand by its poor advertising.

"The only way to ensure genuine relevancy to the individual consumers that see your ads is with personalisation. Truly personalised advertising has been around for a while now, but it’s unfortunate that many marketers still confuse it with retargeting – from looking at these survey results, that’s a risky mistake to make! Often, retargeting involves repeatedly showing a consumer a product that they have already chosen not to purchase. Instead, the relevancy created by personalisation lies with being able to properly identify customers across different devices, tracking activity online and offline, then adapting your creative in real-time, on the fly,” continued Clayton.

There is some good news, however, as these figures do show that improvements are being made compared to previous years. Conversant’s 2017 Holiday Report revealed that 65% of consumers said companies, retailers or brands send them too many irrelevant communications.

“While we are seeing progress, there’s still a way to go for marketers to build those true, close customer relationships. Consumers want brands to reach out to them on a personal level, and that means marketers need to have a real understanding of their customers’ purchase behaviour and habits, not just online but also combining this with offline activities and analysing it across all channels and devices,” concluded Clayton.

### Notes to the Editor:
*The seven countries included in the research are: UK, US, France, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and Austria.

About Conversant

Conversant is the leader in personalised digital marketing, transforming the industry through cutting-edge technology, bold creative and a staggering amount of data. Its roster of 4,000 clients includes 400+ blue chip brands and 65 of the Internet Retailer Top 100. Coupled with the world's largest affiliate marketing network, CJ Affiliate, they drive incremental sales better than anyone. Conversant is a division of Epsilon, the global leader in creating customer connections that build brand and business equity.