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One of the many draws of programmatic advertising is the promise of efficiency, but there are plenty of examples of businesses taking “efficiency” too far. In this week’s blog from Genius Monkey, we’re taking a look at another way some advertisers cut out too many steps with the issue of programmatic “black boxes.” Let’s dive in!
What is a Programmatic Black Box?
A black box is a system where advertisers spend ad money with little control as to how, when, and where ads are placed. The promise of such systems is convenience; money in, maximum conversions out.
A popular example is Google’s Performance Max, as well as Meta’s Advantage+. There are also many self-serve platforms that are fully automated or “AI-driven,” and they all offer zero insight into how they go about placing ads.
The danger of this type of product lies in the obscurity of its placing methods; with no idea of who, when, or where the ads are being placed, the only control advertisers have is blindly increasing the budget until it stops working.
Alternatively, an advertiser’s campaign may inexplicably tank with no recourse other than drastically pulling all spending. Either way, it’s a lose-lose scenario for advertisers in the long term.
AI and automation have their place; the Genius Monkey platform leverages AI to find ideal placements, but is managed by human experts who know how to run a campaign. Machines are useful, but they can make lots of mistakes on their own.
Let’s look at some more specific examples of the shortcomings of programmatic black boxes:
Heavy Emphasis on Low-Funnel and Retargeting
Digging through the data has demonstrated that black box systems spend a lot of money chasing low-funnel consumers. In the short-term, this can look like a strategy that pays off, as more consumers convert and revenue begins pouring in.
A savvy advertiser will instantly recognize the issue; neglecting the other aspects of the funnel (such as top-level brand marketing or middle-funnel information-based campaigns) will mean the bottom-funnel consumers eventually dry up.
A healthy programmatic strategy involves targeting all levels of the sales funnel, and it’s impossible for advertisers to strike that balance when pouring their ad spend into a black box. Black box platforms lead to incidental successes and head-scratching drops in the metrics.
Harder Attribution for Continual Optimization
A strong programmatic campaign is also an agile one, where an expert can make prudent adjustments based on the metrics the campaign is offering. Black box programmatic makes that job an even harder challenge, since it offers little insight into the customer journey.
Without the ability to note customer touch-points, advertisers are unable to tell when and where their ads are having the greatest impact. Genius Monkey solves this issue with full customer journey reports, letting advertisers see every interaction.
Some black boxes like Performance Max and Meta Advantage+ do offer attribution reports to a degree, but are sorely lacking in detail and consistency. They will show conversions without detail to the level or quantity of view-throughs that drove them. Since these platforms continually experiment with different creatives and keywords, advertisers won’t know exactly which combination ultimately led to the conversion.
Additionally, some black boxes disallow the selection of negative keywords, or words that the advertiser definitely does NOT wish to target. This can be an important part of converting in a competitive market, since overly-generic keywords can lead to wasted spend or getting continually outbid.
Easier Duplicate Bids and Cannabalized Conversions
Ad validation is an essential part of the programmatic process, ensuring that ads are being placed in ideal environments as promised by the publisher. In a programmatic black box, the advertiser has much less control over where those ads are being placed.
This drastically increases the risk of duplicate bids. The black box service could be placing bids against itself and greatly raise the price, and the advertiser would never know. This is another area where Genius Monkey’s customer journey reports and verification systems come in handy.
Most black box services don’t offer much in the way of data, and advertisers will have a tough time getting them to communicate with other programmatic platforms if they’re running multiple campaigns. Some black box services cover a wide range of ad types, which can have a serious negative impact on existing campaigns.
There are many examples of P-Max cannibalizing placements for an advertiser’s campaigns and taking credit for the conversion. Catching this kind of behavior takes a great deal of care and attention that most advertisers simply don’t have, costing further money and time. The extra resources and the dubious attribution mean it’s very difficult to judge the incremental value of black box services.
Managed Campaigns: The Solution to the Black Box Problem
To summarize quickly, the main issues with self-serve and black box programmatic services are:
- They overly emphasize bottom-funnel and retargeting efforts
- They offer little data on the customer journey, limiting campaign agility
- They turn advertising into a place-and-pray guessing game where advertisers aren’t even the ones making the guess
- They are more susceptible to duplicate bidding and other cross-campaign mishaps
- They silo off the efforts advertisers make in other campaigns, since they don’t allow cross-platform synchronization
In short, these types of platforms offer a short-term gain but a long-term loss, delivering limited results through potential damaging methods. Black boxes are not a good solution for healthy advertising; luckily, there exists an alternative that addresses each of these concerns.
Enter managed campaigns: where an expert team of real people work with the advertisers to ensure they reach their goals. Genius Monkey is an example of these managed platforms, allowing advertisers to make more nuanced decisions regarding when, where, and in front of whom their ads will appear.
A full-funnel strategy will keep the results coming by continually introducing and moving customers through the funnel. The Genius Monkey platform is regarded as one the best choices for full-service programmatic campaigns, because our team has eyes and ears on every single campaign.
If you’re ready to start increasing conversions AND understanding exactly how your marketing contributes to that success, then it’s time to talk with the experts at Genius Monkey. Tired of not feeling in control of your own advertising destiny? Get in touch with us today!
