A study by ComScore found that 50 percent fewer people click on display ads compared to two years ago, prompting marketers to speak up about the value of click-through rates and possible alternatives. Reported by Kunur Patel for Ad Age, ComScore s study also found that a clicking core responsible for the majority of measured click-through shrunk from 16 percent who made up 80 percent of clicks last year to 8 percent accounting for 85 percent of this year’s activity. The number of overall clickers among internet users fell to 16 percent from 32 percent in 2007.
Perhaps anticipating that its findings would fan the flames for those who think it’s time to reevaluate what the measurement means, ComScore incorporated alternatives to CTR into the study. It measured behavior such as brand site visitation and brand searches by people over a proximate period of time after getting exposed to display ads. ComScore found that these behaviors are being influenced by the ads. People exposed to banners were 65 percent more likely to visit the advertised brand’s site within one week of exposure, and 45 percent were still more likely to do so after four weeks. Users also conducted more searches based on ad exposure, and once exposed to both banner ads and search placement people were twice as likely to make an online purchase.
These types of alternative measurements are taking a foothold. Among marketers Ad Age interviewed, one agency has devised a system for clients where they assign dollars to various consumer behaviors such as the amount of time spent at a web site. Others question whether ad creative is compelling consumers to click-through at all. Most see the solution as monitoring different behaviors, as done in the ComScore study, and viewing the value of online display ads through a larger lens.
Throughout this article and other recent coverage of falling click-through rates, it s surprising not to see data tied to motivation driving the behavior. In an academic study reported in NY Times yesterday, and picked up by [a]list daily, most Americans object to advertisers tactics in monitoring online behavior to target ads to them. Perhaps some of these same people see a flashing, dancing banner as nothing but a giant trap to place a cookie on their computer and start following them online. This could be why, as ComScore’s study found, people respond to a banner ad on their own terms, visiting the brand site or searching for the product but not clicking on the ad. Given these findings, creative in banner ads could start communicating differently with consumers too, perhaps less caught up in getting them to click on the ad. In short, banners should start selling the product, not the ad.
Recent media reports for both U.S. and UK clearly show the online ad sector continues to grow, and is forecast to keep expanding as advertising dollars shift from other media sectors. It seems the right time to put its system for measuring effectiveness under the microscope and reevaluate which metrics matter most. ComScore s study certainly sends that message, as does Ad Age s coverage.
Ad Age concludes the article with five tips on moving away from complete reliance on click-through rates.
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