The rapid growth of digital advertising channels has made it increasingly difficult for businesses to stand out to consumers. Each day, consumers are bombarded with competing messages across multiple channels, and over time they can become desensitised to different messaging and advertising tactics.
Keeping pace with customer needs and interests helps ensure company offerings are highly personalised for the right audience. Behavioural targeting is one effective way to achieve this — it enables marketing campaigns to deliver solutions that genuinely resonate with consumers, at the right time and with real relevance.
This article takes a closer look at what behavioural targeting is and how marketers can apply it to their campaigns to improve engagement and conversions. Specifically, you’ll learn:
What is behavioural targeting?
Behavioural targeting is a digital marketing strategy that tracks and analyses user behaviour across online platforms to deliver personalised content, offers, and advertisements. Marketers can segment audiences based on shared behaviours and tailor their efforts by collecting and analysing data from digital channels. This data-driven approach helps marketers understand user preferences, interests, and purchase intent, enabling them to create more relevant and engaging experiences.
How behavioural targeting works
Behavioural targeting typically includes various techniques and strategies:
Website engagement
Attracting visitors to a website is just the start — marketers then need to retain them and keep them engaged, with the goal of driving a desired action such as a purchase.
Behavioural targeting lets marketers personalise the user experience through assets like pop-up promotions, ads, and links to related content. These touchpoints should deliver real value to the consumer, based on the products, services, and information they’ve already shown an interest in.
Campaign engagement
Behavioural analysis also applies to email campaigns, helping marketers understand which users open, click, or otherwise interact with their messaging. This data informs follow-up communications tailored to different target segments and buyer personas.
Marketers can further organise and segment their email recipients based on how responsive they are to certain messages and the actions they take. This approach nurtures active leads, guiding them towards additional actions that move them closer to a purchase decision.
Purchase behaviour
Behavioural targeting isn’t just for acquiring new customers — it’s equally effective for existing ones. Customer marketing is a powerful way to grow customer lifetime value by re-engaging consumers who’ve already shown interest in specific products or services.
Marketers can follow up purchases with messaging about similar or related products, based on what customers have added to their cart or already bought. This is one of the most common forms of behavioural targeting, particularly for businesses with a significant ecommerce presence.
Retargeting
Retargeting means showing ads to users who have previously interacted with a website or product — reminding them of their interest and encouraging them to come back. Retargeting works because it typically takes multiple brand exposures before someone makes a purchase. The ‘Rule of Seven’ is a long-standing marketing principle that estimates how many times a prospective customer needs to see an ad before they buy. Intent data, which provides insights into user interests and purchase intent, is playing an increasingly important role in optimising retargeting campaigns.
Predictive behavioural targeting
Using machine learning algorithms to predict future user behaviour and deliver personalised experiences based on anticipated needs and preferences.
Location-based targeting
This approach delivers targeted ads and content to users based on their location, and can be achieved through a range of methods, including:
- Geo-fencing: Setting up a virtual perimeter around a specific area to target users within that location.
- Geo-targeting: Delivering location-based ads that also use customer demographic information.
- Geo-conquesting: Running ads around a competitor’s location to attract their customers.
- Proximity marketing: Micro-digital targeting of an exact location or specific radius, such as 60 metres.
Applications of behavioural targeting
Behavioural targeting is a proven strategy applied across industries to sharpen marketing effectiveness and deepen customer engagement.
Ecommerce
Businesses use behavioural data to create personalised shopping experiences, recommending products based on browsing and purchase history. Targeted promotions drive conversions by connecting consumers with relevant offers, while abandoned cart recovery strategies use personalised reminders to bring customers back and complete their purchases.
Example: If a customer searches for wireless headphones but doesn’t make a purchase, an ecommerce company retargets them with personalised ads on social media or via email, offering discounts or showing top-rated alternatives.
Travel and hospitality
Travel companies use behavioural targeting to suggest destinations and experiences that match what users are looking for. By analysing past searches and booking history, they can offer customised travel packages and promotions tailored to individual preferences. Targeted advertising based on travel behaviour boosts engagement further, making sure users receive relevant deals at the right moment.
Example: If a user searches for flights to Paris, a travel agency sends an email with Paris hotel deals, discount packages, and a reminder about ongoing flight sales.
Financial services
Banks and financial institutions use behavioural targeting to promote financial products suited to individual needs. By analysing spending habits and investment patterns, they can deliver personalised financial advice and product recommendations. Behavioural tracking also helps detect and prevent fraudulent activity, strengthening security and building customer trust.
Example: If a user who always logs in from New York suddenly makes a high-value transaction from Russia, a financial institution flags the activity, sends a security alert, and requires additional verification.
Healthcare
In the healthcare sector, behavioural targeting enables the delivery of personalised health information, ensuring patients receive relevant medical advice and service recommendations. It also supports the promotion of wellness programmes and encourages healthy behaviours through tailored engagement — ultimately contributing to better health outcomes.
Example: If a patient regularly buys allergy medication, a pharmacy emails them seasonal discounts on allergy relief products.
Technology
Technology companies like Apple use behavioural data to sharpen their brand strategy and drive product development. By analysing user behaviour, they craft marketing messages that connect with their audience and optimise customer experiences based on individual preferences and engagement patterns.
Example: If a user downloads a meditation app, they’ll receive recommendations for sleep tracking apps or wellness podcasts.
Marketing seasonal campaigns
Behavioural targeting is key to seasonal marketing — it identifies and engages consumers who’ve already interacted with a brand during peak shopping periods. By analysing past behaviour, businesses can fine-tune their outreach for events like Black Friday, Mother’s Day, and back-to-school shopping, ensuring campaigns reach the most receptive audiences and deliver higher conversions.
Example: A customer who bought Pumpkin Spice Lattes last autumn gets a personalised push notification when the drink returns, along with a bonus rewards offer for early purchases.
Behavioural targeting vs. contextual targeting
Both behavioural targeting and contextual targeting aim to deliver relevant content and ads, but each takes a different approach:
Behavioural targeting
Focuses on individual user behaviour and past actions to personalise experiences. It draws on data such as browsing history, purchase history, and search queries to tailor content and offers.
Contextual targeting
Focuses on the content of a webpage or app to deliver relevant ads and offers. For example, an ad for cooking knives might appear on a cooking blog.
Contextual targeting can be less effective than behavioural targeting because it’s not personalised based on a consumer’s actual behaviour patterns or interests. However, combining contextual and behavioural targeting can create a powerful marketing strategy that draws on the strengths of both approaches.
