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I think your comment is spot on. Have Google et al really missed that, or have they just concluded that individual tracking is better? It seems a pity as focusi

• beerandt 7y ago
  The holy grail of advertising has always been proving that it works. Delivering one ad that results in a confirmed purchase is much more lucrative than multiple plain page views, or even clicks. The result is twofold: 1- trying to predict who's ready to purchase something, right now. 2- trying to prove someone that's seen an ad actually made a purchase. This is why Gmail for free made sense from day one. What better way to verify a purchase that by having access to emailed receipts. This is also why Google's been buying credit card purchase histories from Visa/MasterCard/banks etc. Separately, there's predicting one of the big life events: college, wedding, baby, home purchase. If I'm remembering correctly, getting a jump over competitors on one of these can be worth hundreds of dollars. There's the story of Target using purchase behavior to try and predict pregnancy, so that they could send targeted / trackable coupons to the expectant mothers. They sent one such packet to a 16 year old girl, who's parents immediately threw a fit about how inappropriate it was, and how dare they accuse their innocent little girl of being promiscuous... Turns out not only was she pregnant, but Target knew before even the girl realized it. The kicker: this was circa 1996. All of this to say, targeted ads might make sense, but proven effectiveness pays more. For that, trackings pretty much required.
  • kinleyd 7y ago
    Thanks, that was a good read. Especially this! <Turns out not only was she pregnant, but Target knew before even the girl realized it.>