Overview: Advertising is key to the business model of many online services. Personalization aims to make ads more relevant for users and more effective for advertisers. However, relatively few studies into user attitudes towards personalized ads are available. We present a San Francisco Bay Area survey (N=296) and in-depth interviews (N=24) with teens and adults. People are divided and often either (strongly) agreed or disagreed about utility or invasiveness of personalized ads and associated data collection. Mobile ads were reported to be less relevant than those on desktop. Participants explained ad personalization based on their personal previous behaviors and guesses about demographic targeting. We describe both metrics improvements as well as opportunities for improving online advertising by focusing on positive ad interactions reported by our participants, such as personalization focused not just on product categories but specific brands and styles, awareness of life events, and situations in which ads were useful or even inspirational. Presented at: The Targeted Ads workshop as part of the 24th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW 2015) from May 18 to 22, 2015 in Florence, Italy. Full Paper download: http://katiequehl.com/

1. People’s Perception of Personalized
Ads
Katie O’Donnell Quehl – Indiana
University
Henriette Cramer – Yahoo Labs

2. gain insight into user perceptions of ad personalization
User study
296 SF Bay Area respondents*
* Later survey (n=6000 to expand on this study available in whitepaper)
SF Bay Area, diverse socio-economic backgrounds
13 teens (7 male, 6 female, ages 15-18)
11 adults (6 male, 5 female, ages 27-52)
Survey Interviews

3. Users have a general sense of personalization

4. Personalized/behavior
al
“The anti wrinkle product.
Oh, I know why they're
sending me this, because I'm
over a certain age, that's
why. I'm sure that's it.”
Interviewees differentiate between different types of
targeting...
‘Everyone gets that
one’
it goes upon what your
likes and dislikes are. If
you search it, generally
that means you like it.
You’re going to search
for something you
want, or you like
Random/non-targeted
Demographics/targete
d
“Credit cards and
cars and financial
stuff. Yeah, I think
Yahoo is like focused
towards the business
person.”
– P17, teen male
(without a credit card,
or a license)
contextualized ads
adapted to viewing context
...but only appear aware of
personalization
when a specific ‘reason’ can
be thought up

5. Split attitudes towards personalized
ads
US-representative survey (n=6000)
55% say that they like personalized ads
49% want personalized ads that ‘target to what I
like’
45% to target to ‘who I am’.
62% think they can recognize personalization.
Bay area survey (n=293)
“I like receiving ads that are personalized to me”

6. Useful, inspirational, and NOT annoying

7. Photo courtesy of Flickr user linecon0 under Creative Commons 2
When I was looking at prom dresses […] I think that it’s probably one of the only times that
I’ve clicked on other ads.
It’s because I was desperate. It was the week of prom so I was looking for dresses online
and I think there were ads and I was just going from website to website trying to find one.
“
I bought [the jacket] so … show
me a shirt that goes with it.“ ”

8. A loyalty-reward system […] this is actually an oddly interesting comparison, because
this is one situation where I love that they know my behavior, my past behavior, as
opposed to ads where I often find it annoying or intrusive.
“
”
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Joelogon under Creative Commons 2.0

9. “ I don't like companies or brands that just always market what they are trying
to sell.
They are human too, not like they’re a big Corporation.”

10. if I’m looking at a fashion
magazine and I see an ad I like,
or find it inspirational, I’ll put it up
on my wall […]
The ones I do cut out are from
like [fashion/style] magazine or
something, so if I’m trying to be
fashion forward […]
I find it inspirational or if it’s a
style I want to try.
“
”

11. Anxieties & concerns

12. Perhaps if I was purchasing
adult stuff, and [her son] saw
the ads […].
He knows that those ads are
personalized. He knows that
they come to you because of
what you do in there.
Yes, that would be extremely
embarrassing […] to explain
to him
“
”
Photo courtesy of Flickr user orinrobertjohn under Creative Commons 2.0

13. Picking the right ‘engagement’ metric
“If I’m searching the next [video on Youtube] and
I see a Geico ad with the lizard on it […]’ I’ll
watch this all the time. I’m not necessarily
going to buy Geico insurance, but I want to
see what the lizard has to say”
“Usually, I don't click directly on ads. For
example, if I saw that [clothing store] one, I
might click on it but I just really go open a new
tab and then type in the URL because I just
feel like that’s safer.”
What’s a
click?
What does a non-click
mean?

14. Accentuate the positive,
eliminate the negativeUseful, inspirational
Anxiety to click & social concerns
Predicting interest lifecycle (substitute vs.
complement needs; major life events vs. common
purchases)
Beyond basic product categorization, include
personal lifestyle and brand preferences
Don’t expect a click & be unobtrusive
Getting it right, can be wrong. Social
consequences are more salient than
abstract data concerns.
Evaluate on long-term revenue
Include other engagement metrics (e.g.
searches, subscribing etc.) Katie O’Donnell Quehl –
Indiana University
(Kaodonne@indiana.edu)
Henriette Cramer – Yahoo
(Henriette@yahoo.com)

15. Peoples’ Perception of Personalized
Ads
Katie O’Donnell Quehl – Indiana University (Kaodonne@indiana.edu)
Henriette Cramer – Yahoo Labs (Henriette@yahoo.com)