An Intro to Cross Device Technologies

The average person regularly uses 3.8 devices, and the number is growing. Cross-device technology means that a single campaign can serve ads on multiple devices. Consumers often see impressions on one device and convert on another. Therefore, it is vital that digital advertisers take a holistic view and seek to identify individuals on all the devices they use.

420 Targeting's Cross Device Technology employs several advanced concepts to predict whether a user seen on two or more devices is the same individual.Using our cross-device connection data, we have developed more than 900 million global unified profiles–anonymous consumer profiles that contain all the data that might otherwise be siloed into multiple single-device profiles. 420 Tarketing also validates its probabilistic connections with third parties who have scalable cross-device log-in data, making 420 Targeting's methodology both probabilistic and deterministic.

Two core benefits of the technology are

  • Cross-Device Optimization: Cross-device optimization leverages these unified profiles, meaning that Moment Scoring can apply 60-200%more consumer data to every moment and has an average of 160% more moments to consider. Campaigns benefit from higher conversion rates and a lower effective cost per action. An analysis of initial Sizmek cross-device campaigns found that advertisers achieve an average ROI increase of 31% when optimizing media spend across devices using unified profiles.
  • Cross-Device Targeting: Cross-device targeting canhelp you extend your reach into targeted audiences by going beyond adevice-based cookie to reach a known target consumer across all devices.

Cross-Device Optimization works by leveraging four components:

  • Cross-device connections: Sizmek has developed our own probabilistic cross-device graph to connect billions of devices worldwide.
    • Unified profiles: As consumers use their devices throughout the day, 420 Targeting updates their unified profiles with relevant data (site visitation, app usage, device types, etc.). This provides more data for our systems to use than ever before.
    • Cross-device Moment Scoring: 420 Targeting's AI uses the unified profiles to determine which ads to show which consumers on desktop and mobile at the maximum moment of influence. This allows for better and more informed optimization and targeting decisions.
    • People-based attribution: 420 Targeting can link conversions happening on one device to impressions from another device (e.g. a desktop conversion influenced by a mobile ad)

How Cross-Device Attribution Works

Cross-device technology brings new possibilities and considerations for attribution. Under the single-device attribution paradigm, we can only observe the last touch impression when it occurs on the same device as the conversion. This has at least two significant drawbacks:

  • We are unable to detect whether we subsequently reached the consumer on any other device.
    • We are unable to intentionally identify a receptive consumer and show them an impression on another device, even though we may know that the device, time of day and other contextual factors may make it an ideal opportunity.

The Cross-Device attribution methodology credits Ads shown/clicked on any of a user's devices, irrespective of the device of conversion. For this purpose, a device could be a smartphone, a tablet or a browser. Under the single device paradigm, seeing an impression in one browser and converting on another is typically not attributable.

Examples of conversions not tracked/attributed by the standard methodology:

  • Ad shown on an iPhone, conversion on a desktop browser
    • Ad shown on a tablet app, conversion on the same tablet's web browser
    • Ad shown in a desktop browser, conversion in a different browser on the same desktop

Since the single-device paradigm is not aware of the consumer on their other devices, there is no opportunity to measure whether any other impressions played a role. With the cross-device approach using unified consumer profiles, after the AI shows an impression on the desktop, it later shows one on a tablet, or on a smartphone.

With the Cross-device approach, we are correctly attributing the actual last touch impression. The analytics more accurate because the AI presents ads in a smarter way. Moreover, the AI continuously learns more and more about your campaign, optimizing constantly.