Ad Trend: Transparency

Joe Weinlick
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Trends in the advertising industry tend to shift rapidly based on consumer desires and input from customers. Whether that input is volunteered or collected behind the scenes, it's important that advertisers stay on top of customer sentiment. One of the latest trends in online ads is the deployment of transparent advertising methods. These methods spell out exactly what information a site will collect from visitors and what benefits they gain from participating in tailored online ads and newsletters.

The use of mostly hidden cookies to track consumer behavior is still a common trend in online ads, but new technologies and advertising trends may soon render these methods obsolete. Consumers now have many different choices for blocking unwanted ads and cookies, and advertisers must work with or around such safeguards in order to deliver their online ads to the best possible market. Transparency is one of the advertising trends offering a potential solution by focusing on sharing information with customers about the data that is collected and how it will be used by the advertiser.

Hidden methods, such as cookies, skirt privacy guidelines and may leave consumers with a bad feeling about online ads. Transparent methods provide the tools you need to collect information from customers by giving them the option to volunteer data for your studies. In exchange, they may receive a regular newsletter with deals or access to special promotions before other customers. This type of exchange may take some technical and innovative work behind the scenes to implement, but it can create a much stronger customer base that is more willing to support the advertised goods or services.

Professional advertisers must take care to ensure that even transparent online ads meet the standards of governmental anti-spam and consumer protection guidelines. The ability to opt-in or leave the data collection program at any time helps advertisers remain in compliance. Likewise, all information collected by advertisers must remain protected, especially if it contains private information that could be used to identify those who have contributed to the collection. The benefits for this additional risk are many, however, allowing for much more effective targeted online ads and increasing consumer confidence in particular products.

Advertisements and websites that collect information are a mainstay of electronic commerce. These tools provide advertisers with an exceptional amount of data regarding consumer habits and trends in confidence. Making the most of modern transparent advertising techniques can help motivate customers to share information that could be invaluable for future ad campaigns and market developments. Smart use and handling of the data collected through transparent online ads can give an advertising firm or sales team plenty of information to help tailor their offerings to specific consumer groups in the future.

 

(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

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