Bizo, a business-to-business ad targeting platform, recently released data that highlights who in the business world is most inclined to take action when presented with an online ad. With access to third-party certified demographic data on more than 85 million business professionals online, Bizo found that those working in the Legal, Retail, and Software industries were most likely to do what an online ad asks them to do, while people working in Operations, Legal, or Sales roles lead the pack from a job function perspective.
Bizo gathers and organizes vast amounts of non-personally identifiable business demographic information (e.g., industry, job function, company size, seniority). The company tracks conversion objectives or “actions” (e.g., white paper downloads, free trial sign-ups, online purchases) across the hundreds of targeted display campaigns it supports so it is able to get a rich, aggregate view of the demographic profile of business professionals that are most inclined to take action against an ad.
Ready for Action: Top 10 Industries and Job Functions
Based on campaigns run over a 12-month period across the 85 million business professionals currently in the Bizo network, the data showed the business audiences most likely to take action against a display ad as well as their Action Rate Index (ARI) ranking.
Top 10 industry segments included:
1. Legal (ARI: 223 percent)
2. Retail (ARI: 192 percent)
3. Software (ARI: 185 percent)
4. Media Publishing(ARI: 184 percent)
5. Wholesalers(ARI: 157 percent)
6. Telecommunications (ARI: 121 percent)
7. Hospitality/Hotels (ARI: 116 percent)
8. Real Estate(ARI: 108 percent)
9. Business Services (ARI: 108 percent)
10. Consumer Services (ARI: 107 percent)
Top 10 job functions included:
1. Legal (ARI: 257 percent)
2. Operations (ARI: 218 percent)
3. Consultants (ARI: 157 percent)
4. Sales (ARI: 156 percent)
5. Marketing (ARI: 147 percent)
6. Finance (ARI: 146 percent)
7. Government (ARI: 102 percent)
8. Education (ARI: 102 percent)
9. Scientists (ARI: 100 percent)
10. Engineering/Technical (ARI: 97 percent)
The ARI is determined by the rate at which users performed a desired action after receiving a display ad impression. The percentage is calculated by comparing the number of online ads shown to a segment of business professionals to the number of times that same set of business professionals took an action against online ads. An index was then created, normalizing the data.
“The typical business sales process is long, complex, and involves multiple decision makers, requiring sellers to build trusting relationships with their buyers. This means companies that market to business professionals need to reach, educate and motivate the right audiences to close the sale,” said Chris Mann, director of product management of Bizo. “The data released today highlights the power of data-driven online advertising, giving marketers insight into who is taking action in response to an ad, and enabling them to precisely target decision makers with ads that will impact the purchasing decision.”
