The Basics of Behavior-Based Marketing

More than 80% of consumers state that they wish to interact with brands that actually understand them. That is what effective marketing campaigns should be about today — relevance and understanding.

Reaching and engaging the savvy audience becomes increasingly complicated, and effective campaigns are no longer based solely on interests or demographic characteristics. 

Today, around 40% of potential customers leave websites because they are faced with an overwhelming number of product options. That is why the messages delivered to modern consumers have to be predicated on how they interact with brands and businesses.

Understanding, segmenting, and targeting customers based on their behavioral patterns is the key to higher engagement and a positive customer experience. 

Behavioral marketing makes it possible for businesses to add a personal touch to automated messages and reach their customers at the right moment. 

What Is Behavioral Marketing?

Tech-savvy businesses target consumers based on the range of particular marketing metrics by using web analytics, device specifications, browsing history, cookies, and other data.

This way, they can accurately segment the audience and create customer profiles. The latter allows companies to convey relevant and very topical content instead of generic messages. Tailored messages generally align with the actions previously taken by the consumer and reflect their current stage of the customer journey.

Audience segmentation is a crucial aspect of behavior-based marketing. Behavioral segmentation encompasses geolocation and behavioral characteristics like visits, engagement level, transactions, clicks, and other actions or inactions. 

If done appropriately, behavioral targeting allows for increased sales and marketing ROI.  It enables businesses to personalize their marketing efforts depending on the information sources like ad campaigns, websites, applications, or buying patterns.

The ultimate goal of behavioral targeting is to convey tailor-made ad messages to the respective behavioral target markets. It has to do with the valuable data points derived from all the traceable consumer preferences, their needs, specific interests, and buying models.

Example

One of the best behavioral targeting examples is a well-known streaming platform — Netflix. Its adaptability to user tastes and preferences is the reason behind its relevance and popularity.

Types of Behavioral Marketing

Each type of personalized marketing implies a specific goal and conversion. These are the most trusted and widely used types:

#1. Demographic-based targeting

It is one of the oldest targeting methods known to mankind. 

Today, every social media platform allows advertisers to utilize at least basic demographic targeting. It often encompasses the most common markers like age, race, education, location, gender, marital status, and other differentiators.

Businesses can use this targeting method for ad campaigns launched with Google Ads, Facebook, AdRoll, and other ad platforms.

#2. Google remarketing

Also known as retargeting, this method allows businesses to follow, recapture, and win back their website visitors. 

If you have ever received a follow-up email from the company you have recently checked out online or saw their banner ad offering an incentive, this is how remarketing looks like.

When it comes to Google remarketing, it works exactly the same. Let’s say a person visited your website and left abruptly. Once the prospect leaves, a remarketing code adds him to the list, and your company’s ads start following this prospective customer through the Internet.

It comes in handy if a brand wants to target new and/or returning customers since the ads can be customized and prioritized at any moment. 

If you are wondering about the details, here is additional information on how to set up retargeting in Google.

#3. Email marketing

Behavior-based email marketing enables businesses to refine their segmentation benchmarks and send personalized emails to yet uncommitted users, returning customers, or those who abandoned their shopping carts right before checking out. 

Email is one of the most utilized channels responsible for over 40% of revenue growth across industries. Whether you need to reach out or engage the consumer, a targeted email marketing campaign is a perfect choice.

And while there are multiple email trigger opportunities, businesses need to understand which user actions should activate the automated email response. The most common approaches are onboarding and notification messages. Depending on the product or service you are offering, you should also consider recommendation or announcement emails.

But bear in mind that you need to encourage and motivate users to interact with your emails every step of the way. Utilizing email marketing software can substantially facilitate this task.

Ultimately, behavior-based marketing can unlock the untapped potential of your brand. It can help you connect with prospects, launch data-driven campaigns, and address the needs of your customers effectively.