Targeting

Targeting is the selection mechanism that delivers an advertising message only to people who match predefined criteria. Waste drops, the cost per thousand impressions stays the same, yet the effective conversion per contact rises noticeably. Targeting is mandatory for any paid campaign once budget enters the picture.

Which criteria are available

Common attributes include age, gender, location, language, device, browser, operating system and time of day. Add to that interests, purchase behaviour, previous clicks, newsletter activity, basket value and loyalty status. The more first party data you own, the more precisely you can segment without relying on third party cookies.

Practical pitfalls

Targeting that is too narrow shrinks the reach so much that delivery stalls. Targeting that is too broad attracts clicks from users who have no need for the product. A good starting point is an audience at least twenty times larger than the planned conversion volume, giving the algorithm enough room to optimise.

Targeting in JD Partner

JD Partner offers advertisers a filter system that narrows a list before booking by age, region, device and interests. Publishers maintain matching profile fields on their recipients, so the advertiser can see immediately how many contacts remain for any combination. Bookings then run only against the filtered segment and billing is based on the cost per thousand of the contacts actually targeted.