Why is the effect of information flow advertising worse after targeted advertising?

We all know that the first step in doing information flow advertising is to first figure out who the target audience of the advertisement is.

Many advertisers equate advertising audiences with buyers of advertising products, believing that:

"Isn't information flow advertising the best at precisely targeting a certain group of people? Then all you have to do is draw a portrait of this group of people and focus on this person, that is, the person who will directly buy. That's it."

I would like to say that this is definitely a major misunderstanding of information flow advertising targeting.

Let me tell you about a case that happened to me:

A new maternal and infant food product is priced much higher than similar products. Considering the purchasing power of the target group, the advertiser requires targeted advertising to women aged 24-30 with pregnancy and childbirth labels in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, and Hangzhou.

At the strong suggestion of the optimizer in charge of this case, the advertiser listed part of the budget for comparative testing: the delivery area, labels, and advertising creatives were the same, but there was no gender restriction for the target group, and the age was relaxed to everyone over 24 years old.

Soon, the results of the competition between the two advertising plans came out: the group that only targeted women aged 24-30 had an advertising click-through rate of less than 1.2%, and more than 100,000 yuan in advertising fees only brought in 7 valid leads. Similarly, in the test group designed by the optimizer, the click volume of women aged 24-30 was also pitifully low.

However, in the test group, the pregnant mother, husband, mother-in-law, and even other family members such as father and father-in-law, who were not within the advertiser's expectation, paid great attention to the advertisement. The more than 40 sales leads collected by the test group basically came from the pregnant mother and husband.

You must be curious, why an advertisement for maternal and infant food did not attract much attention from the users, that is, the mothers themselves, but instead attracted the attention of other people around them? ——This is what this article wants to tell you: Many times the reason why advertisers fail is because they ignore the people around the audience.

From the first time you bought something to now, you must have had the experience of discussing with others or having others approach you to discuss whether to purchase a certain product. This is also the most common decision-making method in purchasing decisions - organizational purchasing decisions.

Question 1: Is the person you want to advertise for a single person? Or a group of people?

In real life, many purchases, from raising the question, to collecting information, to proposing alternative solutions, and finally to solving the final problem, may require the participation of two or even more people. In many cases, many people decide together what to buy. The most common type of purchasing decision is family-based discussion among family members.

For example, when buying cars, home appliances, financial management, travel, and the maternal and child products mentioned above, similar products that may affect the interests of other stakeholders, we often do not make the purchase decision directly by ourselves. We will say "let's listen to the opinions of my family." Correspondingly, the salesperson will also suggest "whether you want to go back and discuss it with your family." The more important the product to be purchased, the more family members may participate in the decision-making.

Take buying a car as an example. Traditional views hold that buyers should be most concerned about whether they have sufficient purchasing power, whether the car's functions are practical or cool, and whether the space is comfortable based on their body shape. But the reality is another matter. People regard cars as part of the family. Even if you never meet other family members besides the buyer during the purchasing process, many of the questions he asks are indeed related to the needs of the family. The more seats and functions a car has, the more family members the questions involve.

This also means that if you want to place information flow ads for car sales, you must make it clear at the beginning of the launch whether your ad is going to influence one person or a group of people. If it is a group of people, you need to fully consider the views and needs of each family member on cars, and make targeted delivery strategies. Through multiple creative combinations, you can attract the attention and clicks of each family member, and then guide the family (rather than just the buyer) to make the final purchase decision.

Question 2: Among the five people, who is most likely to be the purchasing decision maker?

When making purchasing decisions as a family, the role and influence of each family member can vary greatly. Family members in different positions/standpoints will play different roles in the decision-making process, namely:

Initiator : A person who proposes an idea or demand;

Gatekeeper : A person who searches for information and controls access to a buying center. In some cases, gatekeepers also search for possible sellers and products for others to consider.

Influencer : Someone who tries to influence a purchasing decision. People who engage in influence behavior may be more motivated than others to engage in purchasing activities, and they often try to convince others that their ability to choose is trustworthy;

Purchaser : The person who actually makes the purchase. The buyer may or may not be the user of the product. They are responsible for payment or actual purchase, or both;

User : The person who ultimately uses a product or service.

Judging from the wording alone, it seems that gatekeepers and influencers are more likely to become decision makers, but this is not the case.
We all know that the entire purchase decision process includes five stages: confirming needs - information search - evaluating and comparing alternatives - purchase decision - post-purchase behavior. During this entire stage, the above five people may be transformed into another role at any time due to the stimulation of certain information, or even directly become decision makers. What marketing workers need to do is to actively promote the role transformation of these people.

Especially for sales staff who have direct contact with customers, you can observe the content of the customer's questions to guess who in the family feels about the product he is most concerned about, and give targeted sales suggestions to win the purchase.

Many front-line sales staff will think that those customers who want to go home and ask for advice simply cannot afford the product, and even laugh at them, saying, "You can't even make the decision on buying an appliance (such as a water heater), so there's no need to be so long-winded." This kind of mentality is actually very dangerous. Because of this, the information flow delivery recommendations given by many advertisers based on front-line sales analysis are unreliable.

The first step in sales is to figure out who your target users are . You need to make it clear whether the product you are marketing is one that can be purchased by an individual or requires a group of people to make the decision. Is the target user an individual or a group of people? Is it a group of people with the same opinion or a group of people with different opinions?

Idea 1: The greater the difference in opinion, the greater the opportunity

There are two basic types of household decisions:

◆ Family members unanimously agree to purchase a certain product, but they have different opinions on how to buy it, such as whether to buy it online or in person, from JD.com, No.1 Store, or Taobao. Each member only needs to consider, evaluate, and compare the alternative options to meet their purchasing needs.

◆ Family members have different preferences or priorities and cannot reach a consensus on purchasing behavior that meets the minimum expectations of all relevant members. This will lead to bargaining, coercion, compromise and even the use of power, leading to conflicts. From the perspective of family harmony, such conflicts are detrimental, but for the creators of information flow ads, it is an excellent opportunity to invade the minds of family members.

Generally speaking, when family members think they are important, or their suggestions are innovative, or individuals have strong opinions on alternative options, decision-making is likely to fall into conflict among members. We only need to understand the factors that determine the degree of conflict in family purchasing decisions and prescribe the right remedy.

For example, the more time and energy a member invests in the family, the more he or she hopes that related purchasing decisions will meet his or her needs. For example, the more often one goes into the kitchen, the more he or she will care about how the kitchen should be decorated and what kitchen utensils will be most convenient to use. Other people may care about aesthetics, but aesthetics is of no use to her, so she will of course refuse and it will be a conflict - if we want to use information flow to promote a kitchen product, when targeting this type of user, we should focus on recommending the practical performance of the product, and tell her about aesthetics as a secondary selling point.

For example, members are more likely to disagree on purchasing decisions that have long-term implications and constraints. For example, many families will hold a family meeting because they want to buy a pet. They must first resolve the issues of who is responsible for feeding, bathing, and walking the dog before they can make the next decision. If we want to use information flow to promote a pet product, we can explain the points that are most difficult for each member to accept one by one, first make the dog buying thing go smoothly, and then, of course, choose the pet product that gives them the confidence to keep a dog.

For example, there are also considerations of interpersonal relationships among family members , the degree of influence that family members exert on other members, etc. As long as the underlying logic of the conflict is found, the corresponding breakthrough point can be found, and the reasons for persuading members can be accurately delivered through information flow advertising, thereby changing their decisions.

Idea 2: A group of people is better than one person

In practice, the single audience and advertising method of traditional advertising means that marketers may have to spend a lot of effort to understand who among these five roles is more likely to become a decision maker? Who is more likely to be attracted and effective? Who is most likely to be influenced to become the decision maker within the shortest path? Then use targeted copy to attract this person. But in the early stages of marketing, you simply cannot accurately predict who the potential stocks are. Once you make the wrong choice, the most direct consequence is that the advertising is ineffective.

In comparison, information flow advertising does not require pre-setting who the decision maker is, because every role has the potential for conversion. You just need to carefully understand the pain points of each role, make each creative idea well, and distribute it accurately to the corresponding roles. Every relevant person can accurately accept the inspiration of the advertising creativity and become a decision maker.

Taking the maternal and infant food mentioned at the beginning of this article as an example, when targeting pregnant mothers/mothers-in-law, we can say:

We all know that breastfeeding is good, but how can we eat to produce good milk? (Except for mothers who go to confinement centers, most of the confinement meals are prepared by their mothers or mothers-in-law. They care more about whether they are breastfeeding and how to eat to produce milk)

When targeting the husband of a pregnant woman, we can say:

This is how a foodie wife spends her confinement period perfectly (naked teaching you how to show affection)

When targeting pregnant women themselves, we can say:

The secret to making breastfeeding meals more delicious, all new mothers should come in and take a look (to be honest, for new mothers who are used to strong tastes, breastfeeding meals with clear soup and little salt are really unpalatable, this point is super painful)

Therefore, when setting the delivery direction for information flow ads, you must understand which people will be related to the ads. Every follower you gain is equivalent to adding a supporter to the purchasing behavior. If the five roles mentioned above are all influenced by the ad and must buy, then they will definitely buy - an information flow ad that can attract a group of people is an excellent information flow ad.