Why is Cross Device Tracking So Important?
Well right now you’ll be reading this blog on a phone, tablet or desktop computer. Research from GlobalWebIndex shows that, on average, the typical digital consumer owns 3.64 connected devices and the average British household now owns 7.4 internet gadgets, as well as a YouGov survey showing that 11% of households owning three or more tablets. With devices now outnumbering people, accurately tracking across all them has never been more important!
Research from Go-Gulf shows that 80% of consumers bounce between gadgets and cross device tracking is a way of identifying these users across multiple devices. In Google, this means that if someone is logged into their Google account across their phone, tablet and laptop, they can be tracked across all of them.
74% of marketers said matching customers across multiple devices was one of their top priorities. We agree as it is important to know the step-by-step journey of a single user in order to get a more complete picture of their whole user journey and online persona. This can help you to optimise accordingly and improve your marketing strategy.
More specifically, it allows you to identify users who have visited your site on one device and then retarget them on different one, as well as allowing a more encompassing ad strategy that follows users across devices, targeting them with the most relevant ad on the most appropriate gadget for that user or ad content.
This is great news as it’s estimated that 40% of online transactions involve multiple devices along the way, and so being able to remarket specific ads to an individual user across their mobiles, tablets and laptops, and build a marketing strategy around these users and their behaviour is really valuable.
For example, a user might start their journey by visiting your site on their mobile and viewing a product, you can then remarket them with a relevant ad for that product on their desktop during their lunch break, and then remarket to them again on their tablet in the evening if they have bought that product with an ad about a complimentary product. This strategy works well on Facebook but is only now available for Google now that cross device remarketing is available.
Since 67% of people have used multiple devices sequentially to shop online and 25% of all cross device transactions completed on desktop started on a smartphone, being able to track and adapt marketing strategies for this kind of behaviour can increase conversions, helping you to better optimise campaigns and retarget more effectively in the future.
Cross device tracking and remarketing isn’t only important for advertisers. 87% of consumers see value in being recognised with personalised experience across all devices and I have to agree. Being able to serve even more relevant ads can only help create a more seamless experience for consumers.
Also, the opportunity to reach the right users is bigger as you can target them on different devices at the right time. If there is no cross device remarketing and someone originally visits your site on desktop but then only uses their mobile in the evening, your ad wouldn’t be shown to them. But this problem is now reduced.
It also limits overlap and overserving of ads as one person (logged into their google account across all their devices) is now considered one unique user, rather than potentially two or more depending on whether they are on their mobile, tablet or desktop. This means if someone visits your site on their mobile, desktop and tablet over the week, your remarketing ads won’t bombard them on all devices constantly, thinking they are 3 separate users who have visited your site. It will know they are one user and so you can cap how many times they are shown your ad.
There is a downside to cross device remarketing as it only works for those logged into their Google account across their devices. Therefore, anyone without a Google Account, or not logged in, cannot be tracked.
In this way, Facebook certainly keeps the advantage as people tend to remain logged in when using social media, making cross device tracking and remarketing more effective. However, since Google claim that approximately 60% of people are logged in when browsing, and with an estimated 1 billion Gmail users alone worldwide, there is still a considerable number of people being tracked and cross device remarketing is a step in the right direction for Google.
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