Starting in 2021, Meta began to regain advertiser trust and combat signal loss issues through two main tactics.
The first, a conversion API (application programming interface), helps Meta target and track ads by allowing marketers to upload their own customer data sets that are matched to the platform’s first-party signals. . But Borrow said there are frictions with this tactic, and it’s not as simple as meta owning the transaction data itself.
Next, Meta created Advantage+, an artificial intelligence-powered purchasing tool. These tools have been cited for their lack of transparency, and the need for transactional data could become even greater as buyers begin to lose faith in algorithmic targeting, said Shiv, founder of ad tech education firm U of Digital.・Mr.Gupta stated.
“Any advertising company that can display ads on their own domain and drive conversions within their own domain is going to do very well,” Mr. Gupta said. “For this to be a real benefit, companies need to have significant owned-operated inventory and significant on-site trading.”
Transaction data limits
Still, most advertisers aren’t willing to abandon set-it-and-forget AI buying tools or the giant social platforms that invented them. Even if these platforms lose some of their attribution capabilities, they are still rich in eyeballs, the ultimate advertising resource.
“What the walled gardens have that the retailers and commerce media players don’t have is consumer attention,” said Michelle Dooley, founder of Catalyst Media Consulting, which specializes in retail media and ad tech. “When I want or need to buy something, I go to a retail site, but I spend hours on social platforms for entertainment.”
Transactions can reach too narrow an audience.
Nikhil Lai, Senior Analyst, Performance Marketing, Forrester
Direct response advertisers rely on transactional data for attribution. But for insurance companies and auto advertisers, converting ads into purchases is less important, said Nikhil Rai, senior performance marketing analyst at Forrester. Even for lower-funnel marketers, most sales still occur in person, which is more difficult to track, and transaction data is only useful for targeting.
“With transaction data at every layer of every purchase, you lose the ability to reach casual and moderate buyers,” Rai says. “A key performance indicator is customers who are new to the brand… [with transactions,] Your reach may be too narrow. ”
