42% Of Consumers Don't Notice Retargeting

Ever wondered how consumers feel about retargeting? Adroit Digital teamed up with Toluna to poll 500 people on the subject, and some of the results are telling.

Of consumers that do notice retargeted ads, 70% of them had either "very negative," "negative," or "neither positive nor negative" feelings towards the brand as a result. That leaves 30% of people with "positive" or "very positive" feelings towards the brand after being retargeted by their ads.

The 30% figure is encouraging. It's well above the 11% of "negative" or "very negative" feelings (which means the largest chunk of consumers - 59% to be exact - are neutral). But keep in mind that the above stats only deal with consumers that noticed retargeted ads. Here's the information that had been left out: A whole 42% of the consumers didn't even notice the ad in the first place.

Scott German, general manager, Adroit Digital, spoke with RTM Daily about the poll results. In a spreadsheet, the data stretched hundreds and hundreds of lines, so someone that has been hands-on with the data from the start was needed to sort through it all.

The poll also questioned consumers on their buying behavior, such as research done before buying a product and the tug and pull between brand name and price.

Typically, the older one gets the more money one has, so they might be less worried about spending a few extra dollars for a recognizable brand. At least, that's what one would expect. It turns out the opposite is true.

RTM Daily asked German what he found most interesting from the results. "The older you get the more you bargain shop - the more you shop based on price versus brand." He said the big gaps were seen between the ages of 18-34 and 55-plus.

He also pointed out data that suggests that those who make $65,000 to $200,000 annually do more research before buying a product than those than make less, which is again data opposite of what one might expect.

Toluna has somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 Americans signed up on their site to voluntarily take surveys from time to time, German said. He said that Toluna weighs their surveys to give an accurate representation of the American public. You can download the survey results here.

3 comments about "42% Of Consumers Don't Notice Retargeting".
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  1. Ann Balboa from Orange22, July 18, 2013 at 4:30 p.m.

    If they used re-targeting for their own personal gain, they would 100% love it. Then they would actually be looking for the ads.

    Everytime I want to buy something, I do this:

    Example: I want to go to Ireland. I Search around for trips. I Lean back, Relax, have some Coffee, Watch a DVR'd show. Then log into my Yahoo email. Voila! 50% off to Ireland. Or if I wait a while I see it in my Facebook news feed or news site, etc. Eventually an offer shows up in the next hours or days.

  2. Pete Austin from Fresh Relevance, July 19, 2013 at 5:02 a.m.

    I really don't believe the headline figure. Retargeting is sometimes so "in your face" that I don't see how anyone wouldn't notice it. For example when I was buying my current house, I would go to a website from e.g. Vietnam but see adverts with pictures of houses back in an English village. Looked weird. But if the poll is somehow correct, and 42% of people really can't spot this sort of thing even once, then that's gold to marketers, because they will likely fail to spot other sales tricks too.

  3. Michelle Ortner from Michelle Ortner - Graphic Design, July 20, 2013 at 11:09 a.m.

    I believe that a lot more people notice it then are letting on. But the point is that retargeting is a great way to be able to give the consumer what they want and be able to tailor ads to their specific needs. If this poll is correct, then I'm glad to know that more people are becoming accustomed to retargeting. Being a 23-year-old, I know for a fact that a ton of people my age notice it already, and they love it.

    http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michelle-ortner/71/476/255

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