subject: Marketing Analytics Of Online Ads [print this page] There are many different metrics that one could use to try and measure the effectiveness of online advertisement. Some of the most common include click-through rate and impressions. These are not necessarily, however, the most important or relevant. Before we jump in and start tracking the most obvious metrics, its important first to do some analysis.
The Context of the Situation
As always, understanding the context of a situation is extremely important if we are to understand the analytics. Lets look at a study recently done about the current click-through rate of online ads. The study shows that in the past two years, the percentage of internet users that actually click on online ads has dropped from 32% to just 16%. Whats more, if you look at the total amount of clicks on ads across the entire population internet users, the study finds that just 4% of them account for 50% if all clicks.
What the Context Tells Us
So, if you decide to track click-throughs like everyone else does, you are probably only tracking about 4% of the internet population. Further, the trend shows that the percentage of internet users who click on ads is decreasing, so the amount of people you are able to track will only decrease with time. Once we see this context, we realize that click-throughs are not such an effective metric to use if we want to discover the effectiveness of an ad campaign. (Unless, of course, you are targeting the 4% of internet clickers.)
What to Do About It
Instead of using this conventional and less useful metric, why not try and connect your online ad campaigns with real measures of success? Track increased visitors to specific portions of your website the ad was aimed at promoting, and better, increased goal conversion in those sections. Track increased search volume for your product or brand you where promoting to show if there is greater awareness. Launch the campaign only in certain geographical regions so that you can test those against a control group not exposed to the ads.
These are just a few ideas to get you thinking about more effective ways to measure your online ad campaigns. What has been successful for you?
by: Curtis Seare
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