Just as online advertising has evolved over the last decade， so too have consumer feelings about personalized ads. When scrolling Facebook， some users are delighted to see an advertisement in their feed that’s related to one of their recent Google searches， while others are concerned about the proverbial “Big Brother” watching over them.

正如網(wǎng)絡廣告在過去十年中業(yè)已發(fā)展一樣，消費者對個性化廣告的感受也已發(fā)生變化。在刷臉書動態(tài)的時候，一些用戶很高興在推送中看到與他們最近的一條谷歌搜索相關的廣告，而其他人則擔心傳說中的“老大哥”在監(jiān)視他們。

What consumers think of personalized ads

消費者如何看待個性化廣告

Back in 2017， a study designed to explore how consumers cope with online behavioral advertising， published in the International Journal of Advertising， found that many consumers are worried about the risks to their privacy that come with personalized ads. “The perception of risk is much stronger than the perception of benefit，” the author’s study said in a statement.

早在2017年，一項旨在考察消費者如何應對在線行為廣告的研究發(fā)表在《國際廣告學刊》上，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)許多消費者擔心個性化廣告會帶來個人隱私泄露的風險。該研究在一份聲明中表示：“對風險的感知遠比對利益的感知更為強烈?！?/p>

Subsequent studies， however， suggest a considerably more mixed reaction.

然而，后續(xù)的研究顯示，消費者對此有一種相當復雜的反應。

Advertising and analytics company Innovid’s July 2020 study， “Consumer attitudes on personalized ads，” found that 43% of survey respondents—a sample of 1，000 U.S. adults—believe it’s important that digital ads are personalized. 29% said they would be more likely to make a purchase if advertising was personalized， and 31% said personalized ads drive brand loyalty. The company deems this audience “now consumers，” perhaps because respondents expressed an interest in seeing advertising that reflects “the context of [their] moment”—what websites they’re visiting or TV shows they’re streaming1 at any given time.

廣告分析公司因諾維德在2020年7月進行的一項名為“消費者對個性化廣告的態(tài)度”的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在接受調(diào)查的1000名美國成年人中，有43%的人認為數(shù)字廣告的個性化很重要。29%的人表示，如果廣告是個性化的，他們更有可能進行購買，而31%的人表示個性化廣告能增強品牌忠誠度。該公司將這部分受眾稱為“即時消費者”，可能是因為受訪者表示對看到反映“（他們）當下情境”（即他們正在訪問的網(wǎng)站或正在線觀看的電視節(jié)目）的廣告感興趣。

The Innovid results stand in contrast to a study commissioned by social justice organization Global Witness2 and YouGov3 less than a year later on German and French social media users’ views about personalized online experiences. In February 2021， 57% of those polled said， “I don’t want my personal data being used to target me with any ads， either commercial or political.” Only 11% were OK with it.

因諾維德的研究結果與不到一年后由社會正義組織全球見證和輿觀調(diào)查網(wǎng)委托進行的一項研究形成了鮮明對比，后者關注的是德國和法國社交媒體用戶對于個性化在線體驗的看法。在2021年2月的調(diào)查中，57%的受訪者表示：“我不希望我的個人數(shù)據(jù)被用來向我投放任何廣告，無論是商業(yè)廣告還是政治廣告。”僅有11%的人表示能夠接受個性化網(wǎng)絡廣告。

The respondents were largely against personalized ads based on income， health information， voting records， sexual orientation， religious views， personal events （like pregnancy）， race or ethnicity， location， gender and age. Additionally， 44% said platforms should disclose which companies are paying for personalized ads and how the targeting works.

受訪者普遍反對基于收入、健康信息、投票記錄、性取向、宗教觀、個人事件（如懷孕）、種族或民族、位置、性別和年齡等信息的個性化廣告。此外，有44%的人認為平臺應該公開哪些公司正在為個性化廣告付費以及目標投放的工作原理。

Of course， looking at these studies together isn’t technically an apples-to-apples comparison. Participant demographics weren’t consistent across the surveys， nor were the questions. But even when considering the variables， consumer sentiment on personalized ads remains an open question without a consensus answer.

當然，將這些研究放在一起看并不是嚴格意義上的同類比較。各項調(diào)查中的參與者人口統(tǒng)計特征并不一致，問卷調(diào)查設置的問題也不相同。但即使考慮到這些變量，消費者對于個性化廣告的看法仍然是一個有爭議的問題，沒有一致的答案。

How online ads have evolved

網(wǎng)絡廣告是如何發(fā)展的

Online advertising has long been a game of cat-and-mouse between brands and their ad agencies on the one hand and everyone else on the other. Early Flash-powered banner ads often ran into browser compatibility problems before HTML54 standardized webpage content displays. Hover ads5 （also known as interstitials） were so reviled by consumers that search engines began grading them as that page’s primary content to discourage their use. In the meantime， the print advertising industry collapsed in on itself， forcing advertisers to seek new digital platforms for their content.

在線廣告長期以來一直是品牌及其廣告代理與其他所有人之間的一場貓捉老鼠的游戲。早期基于Flash技術的橫幅廣告經(jīng)常在瀏覽器兼容性方面遇到問題，直到HTML5將網(wǎng)頁內(nèi)容顯示標準化。懸浮廣告（也稱為插頁式廣告）被消費者深惡痛絕，以至于搜索引擎開始將它們評定為該頁面的主要內(nèi)容，以遏制其使用。與此同時，印刷廣告業(yè)自身也陷入了崩潰，迫使廣告商尋找新的數(shù)字平臺來展示他們的內(nèi)容。

Simultaneously， cookies6 were being refined to provide granular tracking of individual consumers. Search for something on Google or Bing today， and for months afterward， you’re likely to see sidebar ads relating to that search on unrelated webpages. This is the phenomenon of personalized online ads.

與此同時，網(wǎng)絡跟蹤器的應用日益精進，為廣告商提供了對個體消費者進行精細化追蹤的能力。當你在谷歌或必應上搜索某個內(nèi)容后，接下來的幾個月里，你很可能在不相關的網(wǎng)頁上看到與該搜索內(nèi)容相關的側邊欄廣告。這就是個性化網(wǎng)絡廣告現(xiàn)象。

How businesses should approach online ads

企業(yè)應該如何應用網(wǎng)絡廣告

When do personalized ads cross personal boundaries？ That’s the question at the heart of another study featured in a 2021 edition of Computers in Human Behavior Reports shared online by ScienceDirect. This investigation determined “people hold quite negative attitudes towards personalized advertising.”

個性化廣告何時越過了個人界限？這是2021年《計算機與人類行為報告》在線版（由ScienceDirect分享）中另一項研究的核心問題。這項調(diào)查顯示，“人們對個性化廣告持相當負面的態(tài)度”。

However， the authors acknowledged a “personalization paradox，” in which personalized ads can be both effective and ineffective because consumers accept them only up to a point. It was said a “tipping point” occurs when companies serve consumers higher prices based on personal data they’ve collected about them， further fueling those “negative perceptions” about the businesses and how their personal information is being used.

然而，研究的作者們也承認了一個“個性化悖論”，即個性化廣告可能既有效又無效，因為消費者只在一定程度上接受它們。據(jù)稱，當公司基于收集到的消費者個人數(shù)據(jù)向他們提出更高報價時，就會出現(xiàn)一個“臨界點”，這進一步加劇了消費者對商家及其個人信息使用方法的“負面看法”。

Douglas Karr， founder of marketing technology publication Martech， cautions against careless personalization. “There’s nothing more insulting than getting an email with an intro like ‘Dear [FIRST NAME].’ Not only are you not listening to your customer as they grant you the privilege of access to their personal information， you didn’t even take the time to validate the data before pushing them a message. It’s basically letting them know that you don’t care about them.”

營銷技術出版物Martech的創(chuàng)始人道格拉斯·卡爾警告說，個性化營銷不能隨意?！笆盏揭环庖浴H愛的［某某］’開頭的電子郵件，沒有比這更冒犯的了。你不僅沒有在客戶給予你訪問他們個人信息的特權時傾聽他們的意見，甚至在推送消息之前都沒有花時間驗證數(shù)據(jù)。這基本上是在告訴他們，你不在乎他們。”

Situations when personalized online ads are acceptable and when they aren’t—and to whom—may seem like a giant gray area. That’s why businesses may be better off focusing on personalization that isn’t specific to an individual， but to their audience en masse. A conjoint analysis can help companies determine consumer preferences and use the results to guide marketing decisions. Customer segmentation is another option， as you’re usually breaking customers into major groups （like geographic ones） without getting insensitively personal.

個性化網(wǎng)絡廣告何時可接受，何時不可接受，以及向誰展示，這些問題似乎是一個巨大的灰色地帶。因此，企業(yè)最好將注意力集中在不針對個人，而是關注廣大受眾的個性化上。聯(lián)合分析可以幫助公司確定消費者偏好，并使用分析結果來指導營銷決策。客戶細分是另一個選擇，這種方法通常會將客戶分成主要群體（如地理群體），而不會麻木地觸及個人層面。

When collecting data on customers， businesses should be forthcoming about not only doing so but also about how that information will be used and protected. That transparency demonstrates the ethics you value as a company and signifies to the consumer that you respect them and their privacy. If a data breach does occur， be honest with your customers and do everything you can to mitigate the damage.

在收集客戶數(shù)據(jù)時，企業(yè)不僅應該明確告知客戶他們正在收集數(shù)據(jù)，還應該說明這些信息的用途和保護方式。這種透明度展示了公司所秉持的道德觀，并向消費者表明你尊重他們和他們的隱私。如果確實發(fā)生了數(shù)據(jù)泄露，請誠實地告知客戶，并盡你所能減輕損失。

After decades of light-touch regulation， some consumers are understandably concerned about the risks to their privacy that personalized online ads pose， alongside wider issues surrounding workplace monitoring and state surveillance. Yet， at the same time， companies are pouring resources into customized advertising in an attempt to make up for collapsing print advertising revenue and increasing consumer blindness to traditional banner ads. However， targeted online ads aren’t as extreme as some other methods， like facial recognition advertising， and if done well， can attract customers rather than turn them off.

在幾十年的寬松監(jiān)管之后，一些消費者擔心個性化網(wǎng)絡廣告給他們隱私帶來的風險，以及有關工作場所監(jiān)控和國家監(jiān)控的更廣泛問題，這是可以理解的。然而，與此同時，公司正在投入大量資源到定制化廣告中，以彌補印刷廣告收入的下降和消費者對傳統(tǒng)橫幅廣告的日益忽視。但是，定向網(wǎng)絡廣告并不像其他一些方法（如面部識別廣告）那樣極端，如果做得好，可以吸引客戶而不是讓他們反感。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1 stream在線收聽（或收看）。 2一家非政府組織，成立于1993年，長期關注腐敗、環(huán)境和企業(yè)公平等社會問題，常發(fā)布調(diào)查報告，用調(diào)研成果來挑戰(zhàn)所謂的權威，推動制度變革。 3一家致力于國際數(shù)據(jù)調(diào)查與分析的組織，成立于2000年。

4互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的新一代標準，是構建以及呈現(xiàn)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)內(nèi)容的一種語言方式，被認為是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的核心技術之一。 5插頁式廣告是一種全屏廣告，會覆蓋廣告投放應用的整個交互界面，通常出現(xiàn)在應用內(nèi)容之間，展示在應用流程的自然過渡點上，例如活動之間的切換處、暫停處，或游戲關卡之間的暫停中。

6 cookie網(wǎng)絡跟蹤器（記錄上網(wǎng)用戶信息的文件）。