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(luò)廣告在過(guò)去十年中業(yè)已發(fā)展一樣，消費(fèi)者對(duì)個(gè)性化廣告的感受也已發(fā)生變化。在刷臉書(shū)動(dòng)態(tài)的時(shí)候，一些用戶(hù)很高興在推送中看到與他們最近的一條谷歌搜索相關(guān)的廣告，而其他人則擔(dān)心傳說(shuō)中的“老大哥”在監(jiān)視他們。

What consumers think of personalized ads

消費(fèi)者如何看待個(gè)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(xiàng)旨在考察消費(fèi)者如何應(yīng)對(duì)在線行為廣告的研究發(fā)表在《國(guó)際廣告學(xué)刊》上，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)許多消費(fèi)者擔(dān)心個(gè)性化廣告會(huì)帶來(lái)個(gè)人隱私泄露的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。該研究在一份聲明中表示：“對(duì)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的感知遠(yuǎn)比對(duì)利益的感知更為強(qiáng)烈?！?/p>

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

然而，后續(xù)的研究顯示，消費(fèi)者對(duì)此有一種相當(dāng)復(fù)雜的反應(yīng)。

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(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)名為“消費(fèi)者對(duì)個(gè)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(guó)成年人中，有43%的人認(rèn)為數(shù)字廣告的個(gè)性化很重要。29%的人表示，如果廣告是個(gè)性化的，他們更有可能進(jìn)行購(gòu)買(mǎi)，而31%的人表示個(gè)性化廣告能增強(qiáng)品牌忠誠(chéng)度。該公司將這部分受眾稱(chēng)為“即時(shí)消費(fèi)者”，可能是因?yàn)槭茉L者表示對(duì)看到反映“（他們）當(dāng)下情境”（即他們正在訪問(wèn)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(jié)果與不到一年后由社會(huì)正義組織全球見(jiàn)證和輿觀調(diào)查網(wǎng)委托進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究形成了鮮明對(duì)比，后者關(guān)注的是德國(guó)和法國(guó)社交媒體用戶(hù)對(duì)于個(gè)性化在線體驗(yàn)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(gè)人數(shù)據(jù)被用來(lái)向我投放任何廣告，無(wú)論是商業(yè)廣告還是政治廣告?！眱H有11%的人表示能夠接受個(gè)性化網(wǎng)絡(luò)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(duì)基于收入、健康信息、投票記錄、性取向、宗教觀、個(gè)人事件（如懷孕）、種族或民族、位置、性別和年齡等信息的個(gè)性化廣告。此外，有44%的人認(rèn)為平臺(tái)應(yīng)該公開(kāi)哪些公司正在為個(gè)性化廣告付費(fèi)以及目標(biāo)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(dāng)然，將這些研究放在一起看并不是嚴(yán)格意義上的同類(lèi)比較。各項(xiàng)調(diào)查中的參與者人口統(tǒng)計(jì)特征并不一致，問(wèn)卷調(diào)查設(shè)置的問(wèn)題也不相同。但即使考慮到這些變量，消費(fèi)者對(duì)于個(gè)性化廣告的看法仍然是一個(gè)有爭(zhēng)議的問(wèn)題，沒(méi)有一致的答案。

How online ads have evolved

網(wǎng)絡(luò)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(zhǎng)期以來(lái)一直是品牌及其廣告代理與其他所有人之間的一場(chǎng)貓捉老鼠的游戲。早期基于Flash技術(shù)的橫幅廣告經(jīng)常在瀏覽器兼容性方面遇到問(wèn)題，直到HTML5將網(wǎng)頁(yè)內(nèi)容顯示標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化。懸浮廣告（也稱(chēng)為插頁(yè)式廣告）被消費(fèi)者深?lèi)和唇^，以至于搜索引擎開(kāi)始將它們?cè)u(píng)定為該頁(yè)面的主要內(nèi)容，以遏制其使用。與此同時(shí)，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(tái)來(lái)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(shí)，網(wǎng)絡(luò)跟蹤器的應(yīng)用日益精進(jìn)，為廣告商提供了對(duì)個(gè)體消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行精細(xì)化追蹤的能力。當(dāng)你在谷歌或必應(yīng)上搜索某個(gè)內(nèi)容后，接下來(lái)的幾個(gè)月里，你很可能在不相關(guān)的網(wǎng)頁(yè)上看到與該搜索內(nèi)容相關(guān)的側(cè)邊欄廣告。這就是個(gè)性化網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告現(xiàn)象。

How businesses should approach online ads

企業(yè)應(yīng)該如何應(yīng)用網(wǎng)絡(luò)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(gè)性化廣告何時(shí)越過(guò)了個(gè)人界限？這是2021年《計(jì)算機(jī)與人類(lèi)行為報(bào)告》在線版（由ScienceDirect分享）中另一項(xiàng)研究的核心問(wèn)題。這項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，“人們對(duì)個(gè)性化廣告持相當(dāng)負(fù)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(rèn)了一個(gè)“個(gè)性化悖論”，即個(gè)性化廣告可能既有效又無(wú)效，因?yàn)橄M(fèi)者只在一定程度上接受它們。據(jù)稱(chēng)，當(dāng)公司基于收集到的消費(fèi)者個(gè)人數(shù)據(jù)向他們提出更高報(bào)價(jià)時(shí)，就會(huì)出現(xiàn)一個(gè)“臨界點(diǎn)”，這進(jìn)一步加劇了消費(fèi)者對(duì)商家及其個(gè)人信息使用方法的“負(fù)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(yíng)銷(xiāo)技術(shù)出版物Martech的創(chuàng)始人道格拉斯·卡爾警告說(shuō)，個(gè)性化營(yíng)銷(xiāo)不能隨意。“收到一封以‘親愛(ài)的［某某］’開(kāi)頭的電子郵件，沒(méi)有比這更冒犯的了。你不僅沒(méi)有在客戶(hù)給予你訪問(wèn)他們個(gè)人信息的特權(quán)時(shí)傾聽(tīng)他們的意見(jiàn)，甚至在推送消息之前都沒(méi)有花時(shí)間驗(yàn)證數(shù)據(jù)。這基本上是在告訴他們，你不在乎他們?！?/p>

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(gè)性化網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告何時(shí)可接受，何時(shí)不可接受，以及向誰(shuí)展示，這些問(wèn)題似乎是一個(gè)巨大的灰色地帶。因此，企業(yè)最好將注意力集中在不針對(duì)個(gè)人，而是關(guān)注廣大受眾的個(gè)性化上。聯(lián)合分析可以幫助公司確定消費(fèi)者偏好，并使用分析結(jié)果來(lái)指導(dǎo)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)決策。客戶(hù)細(xì)分是另一個(gè)選擇，這種方法通常會(huì)將客戶(hù)分成主要群體（如地理群體），而不會(huì)麻木地觸及個(gè)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(hù)數(shù)據(jù)時(shí)，企業(yè)不僅應(yīng)該明確告知客戶(hù)他們正在收集數(shù)據(jù)，還應(yīng)該說(shuō)明這些信息的用途和保護(hù)方式。這種透明度展示了公司所秉持的道德觀，并向消費(fèi)者表明你尊重他們和他們的隱私。如果確實(shí)發(fā)生了數(shù)據(jù)泄露，請(qǐng)誠(chéng)實(shí)地告知客戶(hù)，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(fèi)者擔(dān)心個(gè)性化網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告給他們隱私帶來(lái)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，以及有關(guān)工作場(chǎng)所監(jiān)控和國(guó)家監(jiān)控的更廣泛?jiǎn)栴}，這是可以理解的。然而，與此同時(shí)，公司正在投入大量資源到定制化廣告中，以彌補(bǔ)印刷廣告收入的下降和消費(fèi)者對(duì)傳統(tǒng)橫幅廣告的日益忽視。但是，定向網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告并不像其他一些方法（如面部識(shí)別廣告）那樣極端，如果做得好，可以吸引客戶(hù)而不是讓他們反感。

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>

1 stream在線收聽(tīng)（或收看）。 2一家非政府組織，成立于1993年，長(zhǎng)期關(guān)注腐敗、環(huán)境和企業(yè)公平等社會(huì)問(wèn)題，常發(fā)布調(diào)查報(bào)告，用調(diào)研成果來(lái)挑戰(zhàn)所謂的權(quán)威，推動(dòng)制度變革。 3一家致力于國(guó)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(biāo)準(zhǔn)，是構(gòu)建以及呈現(xiàn)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)內(nèi)容的一種語(yǔ)言方式，被認(rèn)為是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的核心技術(shù)之一。 5插頁(yè)式廣告是一種全屏廣告，會(huì)覆蓋廣告投放應(yīng)用的整個(gè)交互界面，通常出現(xiàn)在應(yīng)用內(nèi)容之間，展示在應(yīng)用流程的自然過(guò)渡點(diǎn)上，例如活動(dòng)之間的切換處、暫停處，或游戲關(guān)卡之間的暫停中。

6 cookie網(wǎng)絡(luò)跟蹤器（記錄上網(wǎng)用戶(hù)信息的文件）。