In the vein of last week’s cartoon on ROI, marketers are struggling to prove their digital efforts are working. Advertisers aren’t sure which measurements point to success, often relying on single metrics like the click-through rate.
Single metrics can give a false picture, particularly for campaigns that may be more about awareness than conversion.
I read recently that a whopping 60% of all clicks on mobile banner ads are accidents. Fat thumbs were identified as the main culprit. Only 16% claimed they clicked on mobile banner ads because they “like the company, product or service being promoted.” Just 13% of those surveyed said they clicked because “the ads are interesting.”
When you layer on problems with viewability and fraud, marketers have to be increasingly data-savvy about how they read the numbers. They can’t take metrics at face value.
As marketing becomes more data-driven, we have to continually question what data we’re letting drive us. Marketers need to work for a full picture based on their specific marketing goals. No single metric is the answer.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
RLM says
I like the cartoon and it is very timely. Right now, so much of my work is awareness driven and seeing the infinitesimal CTR drives me nuts. The upside is although the numbers aren’t large, I know the targeting is on point and when I see other metrics like avg page and time per session, I feel like the campaign is working.
Johnna Gluth says
The beauty of digital marketing today is how much targeting and tracking power there is. You’re spot on- impression counts and click through rate can be misleading and don’t tell the whole story, particularly if targeting isn’t highly segmented for the audience that makes sense for your organization. When using digital advertising- be it display banner ads, promoted social posts, there’s no reason not to be tracking “conversions” to determine if users are completing the desired action. Full disclosure- I do this for a living (I’m a Sr. Consultant at Capacity Interactive).
Depending on your goal, the definition of a conversion will vary: for an acquisition campaign, you may aim to get new visitors to your website and build awareness of a new program. The conversion there will be a key page view, tethered by data on time spent on the page and the page elements with which the user engaged (see info here: http://ideas.capacityinteractive.com/to-make-good-data-driven-decisions-you-need-good-data).
For a revenue driving conversion goal, you’ll need to track if those who clicked (or viewed) your ad proceeded to transact on your site (purchased a ticket, a membership, made a donation, etc.).
All of this has all been do-able for awhile but we often see that organizations don’t have it in place, and consequently aren’t making data-backed decisions. There are tools out there to help you take the next step (it can be daunting to make changes when time and resources are tight, but it will lead to efficiency and bolster organizational success). Lots of helpful info here: http://ideas.capacityinteractive.com/
Sara Richmond says
This is on my mind a lot. We’re always asked for metrics, but usually leaders just want one or two… and often the full story requires multiple metrics and some analytical thinking. Also reminds me of the “big data vs. small data” debate, and there is definitely something to having data that’s more direct and actionable… http://vennli.com/small-data-big-impact/
Maria Osipova says
Tracking full cycle ROI on campaigns should be a basic minimal requirement – between landing page invisible fields and Google analytics tracking there is no reason not to track beyond views and click throughs, in fact limiting the tracking to just those metrics is plain misleading if advertised ad generates views, but does not convert into inquiries or if those conversions are spammy and do not result in increased business. The measurement should go back to the original goal – if goal is just exposure, views are sufficient, given right audience targeting. If goal for campaign is increased downloads, than quality downloads and resulting revenue should be measured. This should be set up at the start of the campaign and not as an oversight at the end.
Allen Roberts says
Bob Hoffman has all the states on display ads in his ad contrarian blog, Absolutely hates them, with great humour
Martin Dimitrov says
The old school marketeer vs “millenal” marketeer. How you track the ROI of TV campaigns is the same tricky question? Do the TV ads drive sales, awareness, convertion or engagement? Almost nobody is using a single media campaign for measuring the convertion rate to the sales. In digital era the metrics are overcomplicated its same as all other traditional media results its all about brand awareness. Depends on campaign creative direction it can drive higher sales than putting your logo on 30 sec TV spot, but hoe effective is that?
The only single criteria and metric for me is the user engagement & brand WOM effect, a not so easy measurable , but its the right metric for each media that you use. Its about how you changed the brand perception in consumers minds , not in how many billboards or tv ads they saw your “stupid” (for them) and “piece if art” creative (for you and your agency). Everything else is how you can convince your management team that you did a great job, because marketing its more than 50% internal PR.
Julie McLagan says
Agree on the comparison to proving ROI on any kind of advertising. There is no reason to think the problem would go away just because it’s digital unless you’re planning to eye track everyone:) . Not all ads are CTAs.
Lori shecter says
Mobile advertising leaves much to be desired from a user experience as well as a marketing medium.
Matt Szaszko says
Very interesting topic indeed. When I was in house, I always insisted on setting up conversion goals, even for awareness campaigns. You can (and should) measure time spent on site, number of pages viewed or actions like button presses, sign-ups and such. These micro conversions can then be taken into account with attribution modelling even in complex user journeys. Granted, you should rely on cookie tracking with caution, and Google’s advertising ID isn’t foolproof either.
Do marketers have the chops for this? Usually no. That is why companies need to invest in house in digital talent and build capability across the organization.
Jose Suerte says
Love the cartoon. I also like Bob Hoffman’s take of digital marketing. It seems more smoke than fire. When asked how well the digital campaign has done you mostly get a lot of nuanced explanations that do not address the main reason you market: 1) to gain awareness and 2) Sell more stuff. We have started asking target consumers how they came to learn about a product. I can tell you it is not digital campaigns. The lack of actual real meaningful performance data, the fraudulent media reporting and the rise of Ad blocking makes it hard for me to justify investing in digital marketing.