Comment Re: Not that scary (Score 2, Insightful) 344
Look, we wouldn't be using them if they weren't effective, and they wouldn't be effective if everybody hated them with as much baseless passion as you do. So guess who's wrong?
Look, we wouldn't be using them if they weren't effective, and they wouldn't be effective if everybody hated them with as much baseless passion as you do. So guess who's wrong?
Now, to the meat of your point...you say that even casual users have noticed but that the NYT is running a big story on it. Occam's Razor...which is more likely? That average users wised up and are now revolting against something that has been proven to work because people like more relevant ads (as proven by the increased conversion rates)? Or that the NYT (who either currently or has in the past likely tried retargeting) is putting out a somewhat sensationalist piece with a negative spin on it for an advertising medium that is for the most part killing their business and industry? Yeah--no conflict of interest there.
Not all marketers are deceptive, unethical people, just like you can't generalize any profession.
And you believe everything you read on wikipedia? That definition is flat out wrong if you ask any marketer. A conversion in its basest definition is a desired event occurring. Conversion rate is simply the number of views of the event it takes to get someone to complete it. Period. Whether the advertiser does it in a creepy/stalking manner or a very classy way is on the advertiser, not the technology. Really--you'd think people on
Oh, and the fact that they improve conversion rates significantly shows that people do like them--just not everybody.
"how does flushing cookies in my browser keep amazon from spamming me daily cause I once bought a spatula?"
Retargeting in the case of this article is not the same as what Amazon does. I was simply using Amazon as a comparison in marketing strategy with how they remarket to their customers. In terms of display ad retargeting though, flushing cookies is one of several solutions.
Don't cast it off as bad just because its not relevant to you in that particular instance. Its just a tool and only as good or bad as the implementation and in this instance the advertiser needs to change things significantly.
"So...You look at something, decide you *don't* want to buy it... and then they continue to show you different messages that might be more relevant to your purchasing needs in case you change your mind."
Look, this isn't a magic bullet. It can't make you magically change your mind if you are determined not to buy. But looking at this statistically, retargeting has a MAJOR impact on conversion rates that cannot be ignored by any online marketer. For a large percentage of people--this works.
Don't like it? Use AdBlock or dump your cookies since that is how they retarget to you.
This has been around for a while. It is picking up steam now of course because people are getting more advanced in their advertising. But at the end of the day this is what a lot of people on
Also, for all you people who love receiving Amazon's emails with suggested products for you to buy--guess what? This is the display advertising equivalent. And I can't stress enough how easy this is to foil. Don't like? Block ads, or just wipe cookies when your browser closes as most of these systems are cookie-based in their tracking and the ones that use Flash zombie cookies are getting sued to hell in a handbasket now.
I'm sorry but being asked to pay to HELP THEM TEST AN UNFINISHED PRODUCT is just insulting. Hire a fucking Q/A monkey. I will continue to pirate games before I purchase them as there are too many releases these days that should have been delayed so they can fix MAJOR SHOWSTOPPING BUGS but was instead rushed out. If they hadn't killed my ability to return games that suck or are broken to retailers I would be fine as I could always return it if it didn't perform as advertised, but not they want their cake and they want to eat it too which I will in no way facilitate.
"You don't have a fundamental right to try before you buy"
Well, you used to actually--it was called "returning it if it sucks." Unfortunately publishers did everything they could to tie each purchase to a one-time online account and put pressure on retailers to no longer accept opened game returns, so if a game sucks, you are stuck with it. Thus, I have no pity these companies when they whine about piracy--I have downloaded many games that have sucked and am glad I didn't waste my money. I have also downloaded many games that rocked and then proceeded to pay full price for it and recommend it to my friends.
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.