Jour Fixe - Targeting via Information Exigents

Targeting via Information Exigents

We introduce information exigents as a novel means for targeting consumers during their search for information. An information exigent is a consumer’s imminent demand for information that manifests in queries posed to information sources such as search engines, experts, online communities, or generative AI. We propose that these information exigents contain signals of consumer characteristics that are typically unobservable during their searches (i.e., sociodemographics, prior experience, brand attitudes). Information exigents can thus serve as a new means for targeting consumers with desired characteristics. We showcase this potential by identifying information exigents from search queries of a consumer panel using unsupervised machine learning and linking them to panelists’ characteristics. A newly developed research app called TAVIX (Targeting via Information Exigents) helps managers create targeted search campaigns by compiling sets of queries that are indicative of specific target audiences. A field study in collaboration with a major European retail bank run for seven months showcases how these search query sets increase the effectiveness of targeting efforts in search engine advertising. We find that the campaign built with TAVIX outperforms the bank’s current campaign built by domain experts—in both customer acquisition rates and new customer revenue.