Zero-Party Data:
The Perfect Matchmaker for Advertisers
A Guide to Building Consumer Relationships with Ads
Let's Be Real...Advertising Has a Relationship Problem
Brands use advertising to find customers and establish a long-term relationship – kind of like dating. Yet, advertising today seems like a terrible approach to dating. Imagine a potential suitor with these traits:
One-Way Conversation
No one wants to spend time with a person who only talks about themself. Like a good date, brands should strive for a two-way conversation.
Follows You Around
If you aren’t a match, the last thing someone wants is to be followed. If consumers aren’t a fit, take a hint and move on or change to meet their expectations.
Quantity > Quality
Brand advertising often prioritizes mass impressions. Imagine a date who only cares about being seen, with little consideration for good conversation. Brands should strive to balance impressions with meaningful connections that build brand equity.
Two-Way Relationships Yield Strong Brands
Click on brand logo to reveal brand story
Glossier gathers feedback through online channels to develop products that cater to individual needs like their best-selling fragrance built around a scent that adjusts to the customer.
Amazon emerged as a leading retailer because of their focus on consumer convenience, including the ability to personalize the shopping experience to a consumer’s expressed needs.
Nike's ad campaigns are based on conversations with real consumers, like "Dream Crazier" which was developed after receiving feedback that females are underrepresented in advertising.
Netflix disrupted the entertainment industry by enabling consumers to control their TV & movie experience.
Starbucks emerged as a leader by encouraging patrons to customize drinks, calling consumers by name and offering personalized offers and recommendations based on purchase history.
Fenty's inclusive approach to product design and marketing up-leveled the brand beyond just another celebrity endorsed product.
Good relationships are built on trust and mutual benefits achieved through listening and responding.
Digital Ads Offer Billions of Chances to Start a Conversation With Consumers
Estimated digital ad impressions in one year*:
108 Billion
4.7 Billion
2.1 Billion
*Pathmatics
Enter Zero-Party Data
Zero-Party Data
term,
Defined by Forrester as data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand.
Benefits of Zero-Party Data in Ads :
Real-Time Consumer Insights at Scale
Privacy-Friendly Personalization
Quality Website Visitors
Custom Audiences for Optimized Targeting
More Bang for Your Media Buck
Zero-Party Data Makes Ads More Personal & Engaging
Dynamic Display Ads
Video Ad Surveys & Engagement Cards
Try interacting with them!
The examples above are mock-ups of video and display ad units using ViralGains technology
But wait…only 1% of people who see my ads respond to the survey!
“I’m in the market for a new checking account”
Your ad campaign could yield thousands of survey responses - which is great for getting statistically significant ad measurement. But you’ll need more scale if you are building audiences for better targeting.
Click to Scale
Scaling Zero-Party Data
Lookalike Modeling
Find new consumers with similar traits to reach with awareness ads.
ViralGains offers two audience modeling options that will help optimize your ad campaigns at scale: VoiceAlike® by ViralGains and Lookalike Modeling.
- Increase consumer engagement
- Build brand trust
- Optimize ad spend
This optimization method has proven to:
Move people who saw the ad and are likely to agree to the next phase.
Example: Scaling In-Market Consumers with AI
Lookalike
4.6 Million Find new people with similar traits as responders.
VoiceAlike® 876 Thousand Move people who saw ad and are likely to agree to the next phase.
10,000 Responders
Audience Gold
Zero Party Audiences are valuable because they represent sentiment intentionally shared with the brand.
Click to Scale
“I’m in the market for a new checking account”
Four Ways to Leverage Zero-Party Data in Ads
Audience Research
Personalized Experiences
Advertising Measurement
Audience Segmentation
One Ad Unit: Multiple Benefits
Get more bang for your media buck by using dynamic interactions to make surveys responsive.
Immediately ask low intenders why they aren't likely to book to understand if it's an issue with the brand or if they simply don't plan to travel.
Segment survey responders into mid-high intenders for sequential messaging. Suppress low intenders and optimize distribution to find more high intenders.
Audience Research
Audience Segmentation
Understand if video creative has a positive impact on booking intent by comparing survey results to a control group.
Advertising Measurement
Your Guide to Zero-Party Ad Solutions
Click on the category below to learn more about each strategy
Audience Research
Advertising Measurement
Personalized Experiences
Audience Segmentation
Product Recommendation
New Product Adoption
Brand Lift Study
Audience Qualifier
In-Market Shoppers
Site Navigation
A/B Creative Testing With Sentiment
Reasons for Sentiment
Shoppable Video
Brand Values
Positive Brand Sentiment
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Moveable Middle
Ready to Swipe Right on Zero-Party Ad Solutions?
Negative Brand Sentiment
Email us for a free proposal at marketing@viralgains.com!
Or click here to leave your email address and we'll contact you!
Return to Guide
Audience Segmentation
Here are five ways to segment audiences using zero-party data in ads.
Sample Question & Answers
Activation
Case Study
Optimize ad distribution to increase share of qualified audiences. Create custom audience segments to nurture across platforms.
Audience Qualifier
Q: Do you or a loved one suffer from seasonal allergies? A: Yes, Sometimes
Optimize ad distribution to find more in-market shoppers. Segment in-market shoppers to drive them toward purchase with sequential ads.
Q: Are you considering purchasing a new car in the next six months? A: Yes, Maybe
In-Market Shoppers
Re-engage with additional content & new products or offers. Encourage them to share ads with easy social share buttons.
Positive Brand Sentiment
Q: What is your perception of our brand? A: Positive, Very Positive
These are likely new or lapsed customers so try different ways to win them over like special offers, new products, or alternative creative.
Q: How likely are you to consider our product? A: Somewhat Likely
Moveable Middle
Negative Brand Sentiment
Mitigate waste by suppressing these audiences and focus budget on those more likely to try the brand. Or try different creative like corporate responsibility or influencer ads.
Q: What is your perception of our brand? A: Negative, Very Negative
Audience Segmentation
Audience Qualifier
A pharma company wanted to generate awareness of a specialized cancer medication. To reach this niche market with ads, they used a ViralGains display survey asking people if they were familiar with a specific cancer treatment. If people responded “yes”, they would likely be a good candidate to learn about the new medication. ViralGains used VoiceAlike® AI to create inferred audiences familiar with the treatment and served display ads to both Zero Party & VoiceAlike® Audiences ViralGains Audiences drove a 30% lower bounce rate and 1.2x stronger pages/session compared to Crossix audiences.
Yes/Maybe Responders
Example of a ViralGains Survey with an audience qualifier question. People that answer "yes" or "maybe" will be segmented into Zero Party Audiences because they are familiar with this specific type of cancer and could benefit from the medication.
Sample Questions:
- Auto: Do you currently own an electric vehicle?
- Tech: What kind of gamer are you?
- Finance: Do you consider yourself a confident investor?
Sample Partners:
Audience Segmentation
In-Market Shoppers
A large U.S. regional bank leveraged zero-party data in its video ads to improve targeting. ViralGains transformed their ad into an interactive video with a customized survey that appeared upon video completion. The survey asked viewers if they were in the market for a checking account, helping the bank understand if they were reaching the right audience in real-time. The survey enabled the team to optimize ad placements, improving the percentage of in-market consumers reached by 12.5% points. ViralGains also created a Zero-Party Audience segment of the “Yes” responders, which they lookalike modeled and sequentially messagaged for further nurturing. The ViralGains audience segment had the highest CTR among 8 different line items.
Sample Questions:
“Yes” Responders
- Auto: How likely are you to purchase a new car in the next year?
- Travel: Do you plan on traveling to Boston in the next six months?
- Entertainment: Will you be watching the NHL playoffs this year?
ViralGains Audiences had the best CTR among 8 differnt line items!
Sample Partners:
Audience Segmentation
Positive Brand Sentiment
An analytics software company sought to attract prospective users and decision makers with online video ads for awareness, and display ads to drive site traffic. Zero-party data helped bridge the gap between these two tactics by finding people who declared mid-high brand perception, scaling them with audience modeling and driving action with lower-funnel display ads on partner DSPs.
The Results:
- Drove a 5.3% absolute lift in positive brand perception vs. a control, based over 2,700 survey responses
- Drove 28% higher CTR and 60% more efficient cost per engaged session than the Google Display Network
Sample Questions:
- How would you describe your overall opinion of [Brand]?
- How would your rate [Brand] in terms of quality?
- How likely are you to consider [Brand] in the future?
Display ads targeting VoiceAlike® Audiences via partner DSPs were 60% more efficient than Google Display Network.
Sample Partners:
Audience Segmentation
Movable Middle
An electric vehicle charging station provider used video ads to promote their charging stations across the country. During the awareness campaign they used a ViralGains survey to gauge viewer interest and identify three types of consumers:
- High interest (5 star responders)
- Some interest (2-4 star responders)
- Low interest (1 star responders)
High interest responders were directed to a map of charging stations. To optimize budget, they used VoiceAlike® AI to scale 2-4 star responders - also known as the movable middle - and sequentially messaged them with additional video ads, aiming to sway them to try their charging stations. The ads targeting the movable middle drove more efficient qualified traffic to the brand’s website, with 6-7x higher engagement and 6 times lower cost per engagement (CPE) than the original video ad. Additionally, the brand could measure interest by US regions to pinpoint which regions needed more brand awareness and education.
2-4 Star Responders
6x more efficient
cost per engagement vs. original video
Sample Questions:
- How would you describe your overall opinion of [Brand]?
- How likely are you to consider [Brand] in the future?
Sequentially messaged consumers reporting “some interest” with video ads featuring an Explorer Engagement Card that promoted their large number of charging stations.
Audience Segmentation
Negative Sentiment
A US retailer wanted to drive new customers to shop in-store for the holidays. They created a series of video ads, which included a ViralGains Multiple Choice Survey that asked the viewers if they would consider shopping at the store. ViralGains created high and low consideration Zero Party Audience segments and suppressed high consideration audiences from future ads for cost efficiency. They sequentially messaged low consideration audiences with display ads featuring different products and promotions to change their minds and drive in-store visits from new customers. The result: $8 Million increase in same-store sales were attributed to the audiences derived from ViralGains.
56K
Survey Submissions
Sample Questions:
- How would you describe your overall opinion of [Brand]?
- How likely are you to consider [Brand]?
- How likely are your to purchase [Brand or Product]?
Yes/Maybe
No
Suppress from future ads so as not to spend budget of those already likely to shop.
Lookalike model & retarget with display ads featuring new products and promos
Sample Partners:
Return to Guide
Audience Research
ViralGains Engagement Cards are customizable so brands can ask any question they want in their ads. Below are thought starters based on our customers’ most common questions.
Product Adoption
Reasons for Negative Sentiment
Brand or Product Values
Gauge product usage before, during and after the ad campaign.
Identify the main reasons people won’t consider trying a brand.
Understand which value proposition is most important to consumers.
What is the most important factor when buying laundry detergent?
Why do you hesitate to try Eco Clean Laundry Sheets?
Have you used Eco Clean Laundry Sheets to wash your clothes?
I’m loyal to another brand
Yes, I use them regularly
Scent
I don’t like the scent options
Yes, I’ve tried them once
Price
I’m skeptical that it cleans well
No
Eco-Friendly
It costs too much
Other
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Audience Research
Product Adoption
Video Ads + Consideration Survey
A FinTech company was launching a new QR Code payment product for micro business owners. They used ViralGains’s video and display surveys to measure baseline awareness of the product, video ad creative impact on consideration and product adoption. The campaign generated over 31.6 million ad impressions, 145,000+ click-throughs and 116,000+ survey responses in just four months. ViralGains provided these unique insights:
- 51% of survey responders reported high consideration after seeing the video ads – a 9.5% lift vs. control – which meant the ads were moving the needle.
- 7.3% of ad viewers that showed some product consideration reported usage by the end of campaign.
Changed these to numbers since 145 thousands & 116 thousands read strangely to me
The brand sequentially messaged mid-high consideration responders with a survey measuring product usage to gauge how many people converted.
Sample Questions:
- Intent: How likely are you to use [Brand] to accept payments in person?
- Usage: Have you used [Brand] QR Code to accept payments in person?
23
Audience Research
Reasons for Negative Sentiment
A leading smart voice assistant brand sought to drive brand love through video ads during the holidays, using both English and Spanish language ads. Using ViralGains’ dynamic surveys, the brand gauged brand perception and learned why people were hesitant to use their product in real time. This enabled them to:
- Measure brand lift by creative and audience to see which had the greatest impact.
- Learn that the two biggest reasons behind negative responses were “I don’t need one” (54%) and “Privacy concerns”(26%) – two objections they could address with future ads and content.
Sample Questions:
- Why are you unlikely to consider [Brand]?
- Why are you unlikely to travel to Vegas this year?
- If not [Brand], which other brand do you favor the most?
Sample Partners:
Audience Research
Brand or Product Values
A local health care provider wanted to increase consideration for their primary care services using display ads. Patient values were changing, thanks to the pandemic, so the brand wanted to understand what was most important when looking for a primary care provider.
ViralGains ran a locally targeted survey in order to:
- Gather insights on local customer values. For example, most customers valued Services Offered and Online Scheduling.
- Build five VoiceAlike® segments to sequentially message with display ads that matched each value. This tactic yielded click-through rates 2-3x higher than standard third party targeting tactics.
Display Ad Messaging
More Options Than Ever
24/7 Online Scheduling
Highly Skilled Primary Care
Same Day Appointments
5 Convenient Locations
Sample Questions:
VoiceAlike® Audiences 2-3x Higher CTR
- What do you value most in a bank?
- What is the most important feature in a car?
- Which statement do you agree with most?
vs. Third Party Audiences
Sample Partners:
Return to Guide
Advertising Measurement
Below are examples of how you can use zero-party data in your ads to measure advertising effectiveness.
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
Brand Lift Study
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Compare survey responses from a control survey (people not exposed to the ad) vs. exposed survey to see if there is a lift in positive brand sentiment.
Use the same survey across multiple creatives and compare the survey responses to see which creative drives the highest positive sentiment.
Use different survey questions reflecting key brand values on the same creative to understand which value the creative has the most impact on.
Q1
Q2
Q3
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Ad Measurement
Brand Lift Study
A popular hotel brand wanted to find people traveling to Las Vegas and convince them to stay at one of their hotels. The brand used a ViralGains survey in their video ads to measure booking intent. They compared this to a control group to see if the creative had a positive impact on booking intent. By the end of the campaign the hotel brand amassed over 50,000 survey responses and learned that 43% of ad viewers were likely/very likely to book with the brand – a 10% absolute brand lift vs. control.
Sample Questions:
- How familiar are you with [Brand]?
- How would you describe your overall opinion of [Brand]?
- How likely are you to consider [Brand] in the future?
Sample Partners:
Ad Measurement
A/B Creative Testing Sentiment
A luxury retailer sought to attract shoppers while highlighting key products from their brand partners. The brand used shoppable videos with a ViralGains survey to gauge likeliness to shop and understand which video creative drove lift in likeliness to shop vs. a control group. While all three videos drove a lift in consideration, the video featuring “home” outfits drove the highest lift. Since these insights were real time, they could allocate more budget to the “home” video ad.
Sample Questions:
Abosulte Lift in Consideration & Engagement Rate by Video Creative Theme
- How would you describe your overall opinion of [Brand]?
- How likely are you to consider [Brand] in the future?
Sample Partners:
Ad Measurement
Creative Impact on Brand Values
A major online retailer wanted to drive awareness during the holiday season with video ads. Being a large, global brand, it also wanted to understand the impact that their holiday video ad had on important brand values. ViralGains was able to measure brand lift for each question by creating three separate line items – each with the same video creative, but different survey questions. The “heartstrings” nature of the video ad was more likely to drive a lift in brand love than brand perception or impact.
Example of ViralGains’ Multiple Choice In-Video Survey Engagement Card
Survey Top 2 Box ↓
Brand Perception Do you believe NILE is for people like you?
Brand Impact Do you believe NILE cares about its impact on the world?
Brand Love Is NILE a brand you love?
% Share
61%
51%
36%
Absolute Lift
+5.6%
-2.2%
-0.04%
Based on 40,281 survey responses between 11/14/22-12/14/22
Return to Guide
Personalized Experiences
Below are examples of how you can use zero-party data in your ads to create personalized experiences.
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
Site Navigation
Product Reccomendation
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Shoppable Video
Create engaging ad units that help consumers find the right product through a series of questions.
Make it easy for consumers to navigate your content with Explorer Engagement Cards that lead to landing pages, videos and more!
Enable consumers to shop products featured in your video ads.
Which product are you most interested in?
Explore our brand!
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Personalized Experiences
Product Recommendation
After the video ad, the brand asked viewers about their preferences and redirected them to the appropriate landing page.
A cloud computing brand created solutions to help businesses maintain operational continuity in a hybrid work environment. To better serve businesses, the brand sought to understand the most important features of workplace solutions among their key audience of IT and business professionals. Sentiment was changing daily thanks to the pandemic and priorities varied greatly by organization. Because of this, the brand valued real-time feedback and the ability to respond accordingly. The brand partnered with ViralGains for its unique ability to capture zero-party data via ads and respond with ads relevant to those preferences. The brand captured over 573,000 survey responses, which directed the consumer to information about the product feature they cared about most, resulting in click-through rates 3.5 times higher than the industry average.
Sample Partners:
Each survey answer changed into a display ad which led to a corresponding landing page and created a custom audience for sequential messaging.
Personalized Experiences
Site Navigation
Online Video Ads with ViralGains Image Survey
A major apparel retailer sought to attract shoppers during the holidays. ViralGains transformed the retailer’s video ads into interactive units that helped viewers find the right gift by understanding for whom they were shopping. Not only did it facilitate shopping by driving the respondent to a landing page with gift ideas specific to their choice, but it also provided the brand with real-time insights about who people were shopping for at their store.
Sample Questions or Prompts:
Based on over 2,200 submissions
43%
30%
27%
- [Food & Bev] How can we help? Nutrition Info, Recipes, Shop Now
- [Auto] Learn more! Build & Price, Watch Video, Find a Dealer
- [B2B] Get to know us! Our Story, Our Difference, Schedule Demo
Sample Partners:
Friends Gift Guide
Baby & Kids Gift Guide
Partner Gift Guide
Personalized Experiences
Shoppable Video
A luxury retailer sought to attract shoppers while highlighting key products from their brand partners using different video ads featuring celebrity fashion stylists and models showcasing different looks. ViralGains transformed the creative into shoppable videos with hotspots to prompt viewers to learn more about each item featured in the video. This enabled the brand to:
- Showcase partner brands in a fun, aspirational video
- Enable viewers to shop directly from the video
- Learn which brands prompted the most engagement
With video engagement rates between 1.5%-2.5%, the retailer drove thousands of shoppers to shop key brand partners online while learning which brands featured in the videos drove the most interest among target consumers.
Distribution of Hotspot Engagement
Brands Featured
% of Hotspot Interactions
Brand A
11%
Brand B
9%
Brand C
12%
Brand D
17%
Brand E
10%
Sample Partners:
Brand F
10%
Brand G
14%
Summary
You just learned a lot about zero-party data ad solutions! So as a reminder, here are the different strategies you can choose from to drive campaign optimizations, learn more about your consumers, measure ad effectiveness and deliver better ad experiences.
Personalized Experiences
Advertising Measurement
Audience Segmentation
Audience Research
Brand Lift Study
New Product Adoption
Product Recommendation
Audience Qualifier
Site Navigation
A/B Creative Testing On Sentiment
Reasons for Sentiment
In-Market Shoppers
Shoppable Video
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Brand Values
Positive Brand Sentiment
Moveable Middle
Negative Brand Sentiment
Return to Guide
Ready to Swipe Right on Zero-Party Ad Solutions?
See how we can apply a similar zero-party data powered strategy to your ad campaign by filling out this short form!
GET STARTED
www.viralgains.com
www.viralgains.com
ViralGains- Zero-Party Data: The Perfect Matchmaker for Advertisers
ViralGains Marketing
Created on May 19, 2023
Packed with practical advice, real-world case studies, and industry best practices, this guide equips advertisers with the knowledge and tools to harness the power of zero-party data - intentionally shared consumer data - within their advertising strategies.
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Transcript
Zero-Party Data:
The Perfect Matchmaker for Advertisers
A Guide to Building Consumer Relationships with Ads
Let's Be Real...Advertising Has a Relationship Problem
Brands use advertising to find customers and establish a long-term relationship – kind of like dating. Yet, advertising today seems like a terrible approach to dating. Imagine a potential suitor with these traits:
One-Way Conversation
No one wants to spend time with a person who only talks about themself. Like a good date, brands should strive for a two-way conversation.
Follows You Around
If you aren’t a match, the last thing someone wants is to be followed. If consumers aren’t a fit, take a hint and move on or change to meet their expectations.
Quantity > Quality
Brand advertising often prioritizes mass impressions. Imagine a date who only cares about being seen, with little consideration for good conversation. Brands should strive to balance impressions with meaningful connections that build brand equity.
Two-Way Relationships Yield Strong Brands
Click on brand logo to reveal brand story
Glossier gathers feedback through online channels to develop products that cater to individual needs like their best-selling fragrance built around a scent that adjusts to the customer.
Amazon emerged as a leading retailer because of their focus on consumer convenience, including the ability to personalize the shopping experience to a consumer’s expressed needs.
Nike's ad campaigns are based on conversations with real consumers, like "Dream Crazier" which was developed after receiving feedback that females are underrepresented in advertising.
Netflix disrupted the entertainment industry by enabling consumers to control their TV & movie experience.
Starbucks emerged as a leader by encouraging patrons to customize drinks, calling consumers by name and offering personalized offers and recommendations based on purchase history.
Fenty's inclusive approach to product design and marketing up-leveled the brand beyond just another celebrity endorsed product.
Good relationships are built on trust and mutual benefits achieved through listening and responding.
Digital Ads Offer Billions of Chances to Start a Conversation With Consumers
Estimated digital ad impressions in one year*:
108 Billion
4.7 Billion
2.1 Billion
*Pathmatics
Enter Zero-Party Data
Zero-Party Data
term,
Defined by Forrester as data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand.
Benefits of Zero-Party Data in Ads :
Real-Time Consumer Insights at Scale
Privacy-Friendly Personalization
Quality Website Visitors
Custom Audiences for Optimized Targeting
More Bang for Your Media Buck
Zero-Party Data Makes Ads More Personal & Engaging
Dynamic Display Ads
Video Ad Surveys & Engagement Cards
Try interacting with them!
The examples above are mock-ups of video and display ad units using ViralGains technology
But wait…only 1% of people who see my ads respond to the survey!
“I’m in the market for a new checking account”
Your ad campaign could yield thousands of survey responses - which is great for getting statistically significant ad measurement. But you’ll need more scale if you are building audiences for better targeting.
Click to Scale
Scaling Zero-Party Data
Lookalike Modeling
Find new consumers with similar traits to reach with awareness ads.
ViralGains offers two audience modeling options that will help optimize your ad campaigns at scale: VoiceAlike® by ViralGains and Lookalike Modeling.
This optimization method has proven to:
Move people who saw the ad and are likely to agree to the next phase.
Example: Scaling In-Market Consumers with AI
Lookalike
4.6 Million Find new people with similar traits as responders.
VoiceAlike® 876 Thousand Move people who saw ad and are likely to agree to the next phase.
10,000 Responders
Audience Gold
Zero Party Audiences are valuable because they represent sentiment intentionally shared with the brand.
Click to Scale
“I’m in the market for a new checking account”
Four Ways to Leverage Zero-Party Data in Ads
Audience Research
Personalized Experiences
Advertising Measurement
Audience Segmentation
One Ad Unit: Multiple Benefits
Get more bang for your media buck by using dynamic interactions to make surveys responsive.
Immediately ask low intenders why they aren't likely to book to understand if it's an issue with the brand or if they simply don't plan to travel.
Segment survey responders into mid-high intenders for sequential messaging. Suppress low intenders and optimize distribution to find more high intenders.
Audience Research
Audience Segmentation
Understand if video creative has a positive impact on booking intent by comparing survey results to a control group.
Advertising Measurement
Your Guide to Zero-Party Ad Solutions
Click on the category below to learn more about each strategy
Audience Research
Advertising Measurement
Personalized Experiences
Audience Segmentation
Product Recommendation
New Product Adoption
Brand Lift Study
Audience Qualifier
In-Market Shoppers
Site Navigation
A/B Creative Testing With Sentiment
Reasons for Sentiment
Shoppable Video
Brand Values
Positive Brand Sentiment
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Moveable Middle
Ready to Swipe Right on Zero-Party Ad Solutions?
Negative Brand Sentiment
Email us for a free proposal at marketing@viralgains.com!
Or click here to leave your email address and we'll contact you!
Return to Guide
Audience Segmentation
Here are five ways to segment audiences using zero-party data in ads.
Sample Question & Answers
Activation
Case Study
Optimize ad distribution to increase share of qualified audiences. Create custom audience segments to nurture across platforms.
Audience Qualifier
Q: Do you or a loved one suffer from seasonal allergies? A: Yes, Sometimes
Optimize ad distribution to find more in-market shoppers. Segment in-market shoppers to drive them toward purchase with sequential ads.
Q: Are you considering purchasing a new car in the next six months? A: Yes, Maybe
In-Market Shoppers
Re-engage with additional content & new products or offers. Encourage them to share ads with easy social share buttons.
Positive Brand Sentiment
Q: What is your perception of our brand? A: Positive, Very Positive
These are likely new or lapsed customers so try different ways to win them over like special offers, new products, or alternative creative.
Q: How likely are you to consider our product? A: Somewhat Likely
Moveable Middle
Negative Brand Sentiment
Mitigate waste by suppressing these audiences and focus budget on those more likely to try the brand. Or try different creative like corporate responsibility or influencer ads.
Q: What is your perception of our brand? A: Negative, Very Negative
Audience Segmentation
Audience Qualifier
A pharma company wanted to generate awareness of a specialized cancer medication. To reach this niche market with ads, they used a ViralGains display survey asking people if they were familiar with a specific cancer treatment. If people responded “yes”, they would likely be a good candidate to learn about the new medication. ViralGains used VoiceAlike® AI to create inferred audiences familiar with the treatment and served display ads to both Zero Party & VoiceAlike® Audiences ViralGains Audiences drove a 30% lower bounce rate and 1.2x stronger pages/session compared to Crossix audiences.
Yes/Maybe Responders
Example of a ViralGains Survey with an audience qualifier question. People that answer "yes" or "maybe" will be segmented into Zero Party Audiences because they are familiar with this specific type of cancer and could benefit from the medication.
Sample Questions:
Sample Partners:
Audience Segmentation
In-Market Shoppers
A large U.S. regional bank leveraged zero-party data in its video ads to improve targeting. ViralGains transformed their ad into an interactive video with a customized survey that appeared upon video completion. The survey asked viewers if they were in the market for a checking account, helping the bank understand if they were reaching the right audience in real-time. The survey enabled the team to optimize ad placements, improving the percentage of in-market consumers reached by 12.5% points. ViralGains also created a Zero-Party Audience segment of the “Yes” responders, which they lookalike modeled and sequentially messagaged for further nurturing. The ViralGains audience segment had the highest CTR among 8 different line items.
Sample Questions:
“Yes” Responders
ViralGains Audiences had the best CTR among 8 differnt line items!
Sample Partners:
Audience Segmentation
Positive Brand Sentiment
An analytics software company sought to attract prospective users and decision makers with online video ads for awareness, and display ads to drive site traffic. Zero-party data helped bridge the gap between these two tactics by finding people who declared mid-high brand perception, scaling them with audience modeling and driving action with lower-funnel display ads on partner DSPs.
The Results:
Sample Questions:
Display ads targeting VoiceAlike® Audiences via partner DSPs were 60% more efficient than Google Display Network.
Sample Partners:
Audience Segmentation
Movable Middle
An electric vehicle charging station provider used video ads to promote their charging stations across the country. During the awareness campaign they used a ViralGains survey to gauge viewer interest and identify three types of consumers:
- High interest (5 star responders)
- Some interest (2-4 star responders)
- Low interest (1 star responders)
High interest responders were directed to a map of charging stations. To optimize budget, they used VoiceAlike® AI to scale 2-4 star responders - also known as the movable middle - and sequentially messaged them with additional video ads, aiming to sway them to try their charging stations. The ads targeting the movable middle drove more efficient qualified traffic to the brand’s website, with 6-7x higher engagement and 6 times lower cost per engagement (CPE) than the original video ad. Additionally, the brand could measure interest by US regions to pinpoint which regions needed more brand awareness and education.2-4 Star Responders
6x more efficient
cost per engagement vs. original video
Sample Questions:
Sequentially messaged consumers reporting “some interest” with video ads featuring an Explorer Engagement Card that promoted their large number of charging stations.
Audience Segmentation
Negative Sentiment
A US retailer wanted to drive new customers to shop in-store for the holidays. They created a series of video ads, which included a ViralGains Multiple Choice Survey that asked the viewers if they would consider shopping at the store. ViralGains created high and low consideration Zero Party Audience segments and suppressed high consideration audiences from future ads for cost efficiency. They sequentially messaged low consideration audiences with display ads featuring different products and promotions to change their minds and drive in-store visits from new customers. The result: $8 Million increase in same-store sales were attributed to the audiences derived from ViralGains.
56K
Survey Submissions
Sample Questions:
Yes/Maybe
No
Suppress from future ads so as not to spend budget of those already likely to shop.
Lookalike model & retarget with display ads featuring new products and promos
Sample Partners:
Return to Guide
Audience Research
ViralGains Engagement Cards are customizable so brands can ask any question they want in their ads. Below are thought starters based on our customers’ most common questions.
Product Adoption
Reasons for Negative Sentiment
Brand or Product Values
Gauge product usage before, during and after the ad campaign.
Identify the main reasons people won’t consider trying a brand.
Understand which value proposition is most important to consumers.
What is the most important factor when buying laundry detergent?
Why do you hesitate to try Eco Clean Laundry Sheets?
Have you used Eco Clean Laundry Sheets to wash your clothes?
I’m loyal to another brand
Yes, I use them regularly
Scent
I don’t like the scent options
Yes, I’ve tried them once
Price
I’m skeptical that it cleans well
No
Eco-Friendly
It costs too much
Other
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Audience Research
Product Adoption
Video Ads + Consideration Survey
A FinTech company was launching a new QR Code payment product for micro business owners. They used ViralGains’s video and display surveys to measure baseline awareness of the product, video ad creative impact on consideration and product adoption. The campaign generated over 31.6 million ad impressions, 145,000+ click-throughs and 116,000+ survey responses in just four months. ViralGains provided these unique insights:
Changed these to numbers since 145 thousands & 116 thousands read strangely to me
The brand sequentially messaged mid-high consideration responders with a survey measuring product usage to gauge how many people converted.
Sample Questions:
23
Audience Research
Reasons for Negative Sentiment
A leading smart voice assistant brand sought to drive brand love through video ads during the holidays, using both English and Spanish language ads. Using ViralGains’ dynamic surveys, the brand gauged brand perception and learned why people were hesitant to use their product in real time. This enabled them to:
Sample Questions:
Sample Partners:
Audience Research
Brand or Product Values
A local health care provider wanted to increase consideration for their primary care services using display ads. Patient values were changing, thanks to the pandemic, so the brand wanted to understand what was most important when looking for a primary care provider.
ViralGains ran a locally targeted survey in order to:
Display Ad Messaging
More Options Than Ever
24/7 Online Scheduling
Highly Skilled Primary Care
Same Day Appointments
5 Convenient Locations
Sample Questions:
VoiceAlike® Audiences 2-3x Higher CTR
vs. Third Party Audiences
Sample Partners:
Return to Guide
Advertising Measurement
Below are examples of how you can use zero-party data in your ads to measure advertising effectiveness.
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
Brand Lift Study
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Compare survey responses from a control survey (people not exposed to the ad) vs. exposed survey to see if there is a lift in positive brand sentiment.
Use the same survey across multiple creatives and compare the survey responses to see which creative drives the highest positive sentiment.
Use different survey questions reflecting key brand values on the same creative to understand which value the creative has the most impact on.
Q1
Q2
Q3
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Ad Measurement
Brand Lift Study
A popular hotel brand wanted to find people traveling to Las Vegas and convince them to stay at one of their hotels. The brand used a ViralGains survey in their video ads to measure booking intent. They compared this to a control group to see if the creative had a positive impact on booking intent. By the end of the campaign the hotel brand amassed over 50,000 survey responses and learned that 43% of ad viewers were likely/very likely to book with the brand – a 10% absolute brand lift vs. control.
Sample Questions:
Sample Partners:
Ad Measurement
A/B Creative Testing Sentiment
A luxury retailer sought to attract shoppers while highlighting key products from their brand partners. The brand used shoppable videos with a ViralGains survey to gauge likeliness to shop and understand which video creative drove lift in likeliness to shop vs. a control group. While all three videos drove a lift in consideration, the video featuring “home” outfits drove the highest lift. Since these insights were real time, they could allocate more budget to the “home” video ad.
Sample Questions:
Abosulte Lift in Consideration & Engagement Rate by Video Creative Theme
Sample Partners:
Ad Measurement
Creative Impact on Brand Values
A major online retailer wanted to drive awareness during the holiday season with video ads. Being a large, global brand, it also wanted to understand the impact that their holiday video ad had on important brand values. ViralGains was able to measure brand lift for each question by creating three separate line items – each with the same video creative, but different survey questions. The “heartstrings” nature of the video ad was more likely to drive a lift in brand love than brand perception or impact.
Example of ViralGains’ Multiple Choice In-Video Survey Engagement Card
Survey Top 2 Box ↓
Brand Perception Do you believe NILE is for people like you?
Brand Impact Do you believe NILE cares about its impact on the world?
Brand Love Is NILE a brand you love?
% Share
61%
51%
36%
Absolute Lift
+5.6%
-2.2%
-0.04%
Based on 40,281 survey responses between 11/14/22-12/14/22
Return to Guide
Personalized Experiences
Below are examples of how you can use zero-party data in your ads to create personalized experiences.
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
A/B Creative Testing
Site Navigation
Product Reccomendation
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Shoppable Video
Create engaging ad units that help consumers find the right product through a series of questions.
Make it easy for consumers to navigate your content with Explorer Engagement Cards that lead to landing pages, videos and more!
Enable consumers to shop products featured in your video ads.
Which product are you most interested in?
Explore our brand!
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Discover the Case Study
Personalized Experiences
Product Recommendation
After the video ad, the brand asked viewers about their preferences and redirected them to the appropriate landing page.
A cloud computing brand created solutions to help businesses maintain operational continuity in a hybrid work environment. To better serve businesses, the brand sought to understand the most important features of workplace solutions among their key audience of IT and business professionals. Sentiment was changing daily thanks to the pandemic and priorities varied greatly by organization. Because of this, the brand valued real-time feedback and the ability to respond accordingly. The brand partnered with ViralGains for its unique ability to capture zero-party data via ads and respond with ads relevant to those preferences. The brand captured over 573,000 survey responses, which directed the consumer to information about the product feature they cared about most, resulting in click-through rates 3.5 times higher than the industry average.
Sample Partners:
Each survey answer changed into a display ad which led to a corresponding landing page and created a custom audience for sequential messaging.
Personalized Experiences
Site Navigation
Online Video Ads with ViralGains Image Survey
A major apparel retailer sought to attract shoppers during the holidays. ViralGains transformed the retailer’s video ads into interactive units that helped viewers find the right gift by understanding for whom they were shopping. Not only did it facilitate shopping by driving the respondent to a landing page with gift ideas specific to their choice, but it also provided the brand with real-time insights about who people were shopping for at their store.
Sample Questions or Prompts:
Based on over 2,200 submissions
43%
30%
27%
Sample Partners:
Friends Gift Guide
Baby & Kids Gift Guide
Partner Gift Guide
Personalized Experiences
Shoppable Video
A luxury retailer sought to attract shoppers while highlighting key products from their brand partners using different video ads featuring celebrity fashion stylists and models showcasing different looks. ViralGains transformed the creative into shoppable videos with hotspots to prompt viewers to learn more about each item featured in the video. This enabled the brand to:
- Showcase partner brands in a fun, aspirational video
- Enable viewers to shop directly from the video
- Learn which brands prompted the most engagement
With video engagement rates between 1.5%-2.5%, the retailer drove thousands of shoppers to shop key brand partners online while learning which brands featured in the videos drove the most interest among target consumers.Distribution of Hotspot Engagement
Brands Featured
% of Hotspot Interactions
Brand A
11%
Brand B
9%
Brand C
12%
Brand D
17%
Brand E
10%
Sample Partners:
Brand F
10%
Brand G
14%
Summary
You just learned a lot about zero-party data ad solutions! So as a reminder, here are the different strategies you can choose from to drive campaign optimizations, learn more about your consumers, measure ad effectiveness and deliver better ad experiences.
Personalized Experiences
Advertising Measurement
Audience Segmentation
Audience Research
Brand Lift Study
New Product Adoption
Product Recommendation
Audience Qualifier
Site Navigation
A/B Creative Testing On Sentiment
Reasons for Sentiment
In-Market Shoppers
Shoppable Video
Creative Impact on Brand Values
Brand Values
Positive Brand Sentiment
Moveable Middle
Negative Brand Sentiment
Return to Guide
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