ClearSaleing media attribution research: The return of display and its reemergence as key revenue driver

ClearSaleing, one of the key media attribution providers, just released an interesting new research study hinting at the return of display advertising and its reemergence as a key revenue driver (as long as companies can accurately track display impact). 

Granted, this is probably old news for advertisers that have already reached a point of diminishing returns in channels such as paid search a while ago and are now heavily relying on display ads to continue to grow. However, what might still be news is exactly how much revenue they might have been missing out on by only optimising for the last campaign touch point or the 'last click' before a sale which misses 9 out of 10 ad engagements and is unlikely to be a display ad.

The ‘last-click gets all the credit’ attribution model introduced by Google and favoured by so many others over the years is just not representative of how consumers interact with advertising, which is especially true for display ads that are hardly ever clicked on but nevertheless significantly influence consumer's purchase decisions over time.

To shed some more light on this issue, ClearSaleing analysed over 1.1 billion impressions, 81.5 million clicks and 3 million conversions between January and April 2011 and found that multi-step purchase paths (as opposed to last click only) are responsible for a full third or 36% of total revenue - and exactly that revenue is threatened (or unrealised) if your company only relies on last click attribution. In addition to the above, it also seems that multi-step purchase paths are likely to increase average revenue per order by 41% which is another great reason to invest in display advertising.

(download)

Check out the Datalicious Supertag: Container tag for smarter tag management

Create a targeting matrix to coordinate ad re-targeting and ad-sequencing and increase response rates

PointRoll released some interesting data last month on how not only ad re-targeting but also ad sequencing can help to lift interaction and response rates. We've been making some noise about this for a while as part of our targeting matrix development exercise in our analytics courses but it's great to see some independent data on this. 

Essentially what we're talking about is the basic fact that advertising needs to be relevant to stimulate engagement and responses. In addition to re-targeting, which is used to display consumers highly targeted ads based on their past content consumption (e.g. recency and frequency of certain product categories viewed), marketers should also consider ad sequencing or in other words story telling (e.g. exchange or evolve the message with time). 

Screen_shot_2010-11-18_at_12

To better understand the different messages, segments, channels and data points that would be involved in creating a coordinated targeted end-to-end user experience across your various channels we recommend starting with a simple targeting matrix as shown below. 

A targeting matrix helps to determine at a high level what segments we are talking to, how the message should change over time with consumers moving along the purchase cycle and what channels we have available to deliver our messages as well as the different data points we can use to segment users.

Screen_shot_2010-11-18_at_3

Please let us know if the above has triggered some ideas, we would love to work with you and your agencies to develop a customised targeting matrix and enable the underlying technology to help you deliver more targeted advertising.

Check out the Datalicious Supertag: Container tag for smarter tag management

Dwell rate: New display advertising metrics and benchmark report from Eyeblaster

Eyeblaster just launched an interesting new report that shows a correlation between dwell time for interactive ads and  increased conversion rates. 

The connection is sort of obvious but nevertheless good to see some confirmation and wonder if we will see some more mini applications within display ads now comparable to Facebook apps.

Highlights of the report include
  • Ads with a high Dwell Rate are more likely to have a high Conversion Rate.
  • A new study by Microsoft, comScore and Eyeblaster shows Dwell’s effectiveness.
  • High Dwell triples brand related search, increases traffic by 69% and brand engagement.
  • Placements in which users spend ample time on the web page increase Dwell Rate.
  • Ads that are more visible over the publisher’s content have a higher Dwell Rate.
  • Combining video into creative increases Dwell Rate by 29% and doubles Dwell Time.
Download the full research report here.
http://bit.ly/benchmarkByEb
Screen_shot_2010-05-06_at_6
Check out the Datalicious Supertag: Container tag for smarter tag management

Eyeblaster research: Share of display and search conversions by vertical

The debate around whether display influences search behaviour or not has been going on for a while but I don't think anyone really doubts the impact on search anymore, the question is how much. So it's nice to see some research on how this differs by vertical. The below Eyeblaster graph shows the share of search and display conversions by vertical. 

Interesting to see would be how the impact of display on search behaviour differs depending on the brand awareness in market for a particular brand. Datalicious client research indicates that the weaker the brand awareness in market for a particular brand, the stronger the impact of display advertising on search behaviour and conversions.

Screen_shot_2010-03-06_at_2

Request the full Eyeblaster report here
Check out the Datalicious Supertag: Container tag for smarter tag management

Old News: Travelocity Offers Hope in Evolution of Display Advertising

Travelocity Offers Hope in Evolution of Display Advertising. Targeted Audience and Real-Time Campaign Updates Put Brand's Efficiency Ahead of the Industry Curve

An early sign of hope for the channel comes from Travelocity, whose best-performing online ad campaigns came after the No. 2 online travel agency sought to deliver customized messages based on its visitors' site search history.

Last year, the travel site dumped the old way of online display ads, such as serving up generic messages like "Find low fares on Travelocity. Book now." Its messages are now targeted in real-time based on visitors' most recent search activities.

Travelocity's targeted approach has yielded big improvements over its previous online campaigns; new campaigns require fewer ad impressions to convert site visitors to purchasers, driving Travelocity's cost-per-transaction down 79%. It also saw a 230% increase in bookings; click-through rates jumped 651%.

via adage.com

Wow, nice press release but unfortunately Vodafone was doing the same thing already two years ago with our help, I know we should have started writing our blog earlier. Back then we dynamically wrote Eyeblaster re-targeting tags into pages based on product pages visited, external search terms as well as internal site search terms which then allowed us to customize the display banner activity outside the Vodafone website. Drop us a line if you're interested in a similar solution to improve your media ROI. It's not rocket science, can be implemented quickly and only needs a bit of planning.

Check out the Datalicious Supertag: Container tag for smarter tag management