Cross-device tracking is one of the most valuable tactics available to marketers today—for good reason. With U.S. consumers using more connected devices than ever, marketers need to reach their audiences seamlessly across all these touchpoints.
The vast majority of Americans—97%—now own a cellphone of some kind, with nine in ten owning a smartphone, a significant increase from just 35% in the first survey of smartphone ownership conducted in 2011. According to Pew Research Center, 82% of Americans own a desktop or laptop computer, and 65% of households own a tablet. Hub Entertainment Research reports that 79% of U.S. homes now own a smart TV (such as Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire), a sharp increase from 2020, when only 66% of households reported owning one.
For a primer on connected TV and how to get started, here’s a crash course on connected TV advertising.
What is Cross-Device Tracking & Targeting?
In uncomplicated terms, cross-device targeting is the practice of serving ads to the same consumer across multiple devices, including mobile phones, desktops, tablets, and connected TVs. Cross-device tracking enables this by identifying individual users across their different devices, while cross-device marketing refers to using this strategy in advertising campaigns.
Cross-device targeting allows you to reach consumers on their desktop, mobile, and tablet devices while ensuring you can track when a customer converts on a secondary device. It also enables you to identify your first- and third-party data audiences across their additional devices, expanding the available inventory for your digital advertising campaigns.
Marketers face the challenge of reaching their consumers in a unified way across all media and devices. Cross-device tracking and targeting allow you to do just that.
Why does it matter?
Recent data shows that U.S. internet households now own an average of 17 connected devices, reflecting the increased adoption of smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, and other devices, according to Parks Associates.
This rise in connected device ownership highlights the growing need for marketers to adopt cross-device strategies to effectively reach consumers across their multiple screens and devices.
Cross-Device Targeting allows advertisers to:
- Reach users on multiple devices: Whether a consumer is browsing on their phone, watching TV, or shopping on a desktop, you can reach them with a consistent message.
- Track conversions across devices: With cross-device tracking, you can see if a user viewed an ad on their smartphone and then converted on their desktop.
- Expand your targeting capabilities: Use first-party and third-party data with cross-device targeting to open up more inventory for your campaigns.
- Tell a consistent brand story: Cross-device targeting opens up more advertising channels for marketers and allows advertisers to share their brand’s story consistently while reaching users across all of their devices.
How Does Cross-Device Tracking Work?
Contrary to cross-device targeting—the advertising tactic—cross-device tracking is more of an umbrella term that applies to the ways platforms or data companies identify like users across multiple devices. The goal is to know, with near certainty, that mobile device X belongs to the same person as laptop Y and Roku Z.
There are two main approaches:
- Deterministic Matching: This method uses unique identifiers, such as login data, to identify users across devices. For example, when someone logs into their Facebook account on their mobile device and desktop, deterministic data matches these devices to one user. Deterministic data is typically more accurate but requires users to log in across devices.
- Probabilistic Matching: This approach uses algorithms and statistical modeling to make educated guesses about which devices belong to the same user. By analyzing factors such as IP addresses, browsing patterns, and device types, probabilistic models create a likely connection between devices. While not as precise as deterministic matching, marketers can track users without needing login information.
Key Methods for Cross-Device Identity Resolution:
Marketers can use cross-device identity resolution platforms to match devices accurately and deliver privacy-compliant campaigns. Forrester estimates that cross-device identity resolution will become increasingly critical as privacy regulations evolve and cookies phase out. The types of cross-device identifiers include:
- First-party registration data: This is your login registration data. When a user logs in to their Google account, for example, on their mobile device, laptop, and tablet, a consistent profile is created across all of those devices.
- Third-party cookies: Cookies are small text files that log information when you visit a website. Your web or mobile browser picks up and stores this information, which historically has been the backbone of anonymously identifying users across the web.
- Device IDs: Device IDs are identifiers associated with your device. With the rise of mobile devices, apps have dominated usage, which does not allow cookies to work.
- OS-generated: Identifier made available by the operating system of that device
- Android Device ID: Now, Google Advertising ID or IDFA (Apple).
- Fingerprinting: A statistical ID made by device attributes received on an ad call and stored server-side. (i.e., device type, operating system, user-agent, IP address, timestamp, etc.). Examples of these types of IDs include companies such as TapAd, Adelphic, Drawbridge, and more.
Why Use Cross-Device Targeting?
Reaching users on multiple devices is convenient and highly effective. In fact, consumers are 30% more likely to convert when targeted across multiple devices.
Within Choozle, cross-device targeting is key to campaigns that involve first-party and third-party data, especially in verticals like eCommerce and CTV. Cross-device targeting lets you:
- Expand your reach by identifying users across multiple devices, increasing your campaign’s impressions.
- Apply frequency capping to control how often an individual sees an ad across devices, ensuring a cohesive brand experience without overwhelming the consumer.
- Improve attribution by understanding the full journey a consumer takes, from seeing an ad on mobile to converting on desktop.
Curious about how Connected TV advertising fits into this strategy? Cross-device targeting ensures that you can retarget users on mobile after they’ve viewed your CTV ads.
Best Practices for Cross-Device Targeting
- Holiday Campaigns: Cross-device targeting is essential during the holiday season when consumers are actively shopping across devices. Ensure your campaign reaches potential buyers when they’re browsing on mobile and completing purchases on desktop.
- Pair Display Campaigns with Connected TV: A key strategy is to combine Connected TV advertising with display ads. Use cross-device targeting to follow up with viewers who saw your TV commercial and push them to convert on other devices like mobile or desktop.
- Conversion-Based Campaigns: Apply cross-device targeting to track conversions across multiple touchpoints. Whether you’re running campaigns for hotel bookings or retail sales, ensure that consumers who view ads on one device can convert on another seamlessly.
- Small Audience Campaigns: For campaigns with narrow audiences, cross-device targeting increases the available impressions, ensuring your message reaches more users without sacrificing precision.
- Improve Customer Experience: Consumers use multiple devices to complete tasks. Ensure your ad campaigns create a smooth, consistent experience across devices to maximize engagement and conversions.
The Bottom Line
Cross-device targeting offers marketers an incredible opportunity to deliver consistent, effective messaging across the devices their consumers use daily. By leveraging the latest identity resolution techniques, you can build campaigns that engage consumers wherever they are—whether on a smartphone, desktop, or TV.
For more insights on building a cross-device strategy, check out our Cross-Device Overview Guide.
