IS DISPLAY ADVERTISING

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EFFECTIVE ?

POST CLICK IS NOT THE SOLE DISPLAY AD EFFECT

HOW PEOPLE MAKE BUYING DECISIONS?

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In offline world we accept that the purchase decisions can and are influenced by many

varied factors and it may take some time before the consumer will make up his mind. Before

a purchase is made, there must be a need, then a customer seeks information about the

available offer, compares different options and only then makes a decision whether to buy

or not. The same situation is with online buying. Internet is not just about instant purchase

decisions, especially in service sector.

Conversion – performance of a particular action (e.g. purchase, registration at a website or subscription to a newsletter) by an internet

user who entered a given website.

In the web analytics world, it is generally agreed that conversion, or performing a particular

action (e.g. purchase, registration at website or subscribing to a newsletter) by the internet

users who visited a given website, is attributable to the last traffic source. In consequence,

most conversions concerned in analyses are linked to direct traffic or redirection from

a search engine, i.e. the last place visited by an internet user before they reached the

website in question. However, such assumption has some drawbacks.

RESEARCH

INITIAL NEED

The Path Starts Here

EVALUATION

PURCHASE

The Path Ends Here

Advice

Criticalinfluences

Brandawareness

Information

Brand loyalty

Channelsused

Purchaseexperience

Brandperception

Fig. 1. Consumer decision-making process.

1

1

3

Depending on the type of product, the process may take several days or weeks.

Usually, it also involves 3 or 4 visits to websites of the brands whose offers are being

compared. This is reflected in the user engagement statistics. Gemius research shows

that customers who make a purchase spend more time on and display a more active

approach to a website, compared to those who don't make a conversion (see Table 1).

Table 1. Converting vs. all users behaviour on the website, client example.

Source: gemiusPrism

All users 07m 02s

28m 17s 1h 13m 04s29,12Converting

users

Average visitduration

11m 56s5,27

Average time Page views/ visit

A conversion made during the first visit after the interaction with an ad is called an

instant conversion. It mainly takes place in case of low engagement products advertised

online. The decision-making process is short, so is the customer's path leading them to

a conversion. However, in analysed case occured that only about 30% of all conversions

happen in such short notice after exposure to a campaign. Normally, a user needs more

time to decide. A conversion taking place after more than one interaction with an ad is a

long-term conversion. In such circumstances, the role of advertisement in the decision-

making process is crucial but often neglected by marketers as it is hard to monitor.

A user, when exposed to an ad, may take two paths: click on it or not. If they choose to click,

and then a conversion took place, there's no doubt the success must be credited to the

advert. But what if the user didn't click on the ad? Can one take it for granted that the

communication did not work in this case? Not really. The ad could have been memorized

by the user, who may then enter the brand website directly or through a search engine at

a later time.

spent per visitor

100%

80% 79.50%

60% 60.10%

40% 44%

20% 20.40% 23.40% 24.70%27.50%

0%

1h 6h 12h 24h 5d 10d 20d 20+d

100%

Fig. 2. Conversions – visit sources, client example.

Source: gemiusPrism

Direct

64%

Search

27%

PPC

5%

Website

3%

Display

1%of conversion visits come from PC

Only 1%

dislpay

According to the latest IAB Europe data, in 2013 display ads in Europe noted the largest

increase in ad spend among all categories, reaching €9.2bn (14.9% increase compared

to 2012). Does this mean we are witnessing irrational behaviour on the part of marketers?

Why would anyone invest in ads that do not work? Or it is the method of display creative

measurement that don't take into account the entire influence such type of ads has on

consumers?

percentage of converting users

Fig. 3. Cumulative percentage of converting users, client example.

Source: Gemius

Cumulative

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When analysing data for one of the Gemius clients (a telecom company) on the direct

effectiveness of different sources of traffic it turned out that as little as 1% of conversions

came from display ads. The same result is observed in other cases, with variations of +/- 2%

depending on the branch.

ONLY 1% OF CONVERSIONS COME FROM DISPLAY ADS - MYTH

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RESEARCH

INITIAL NEED

EVALUATION

PURCHASE

Advice

Criticalinfluences

Brandawareness

Information

Brand loyalty

Channelsused

Purchaseexperience

Brandperception

Fig. 4. Consumer decision-making process.

Firstsource

Assist

Lastsource

Advertisers may direct their communication to customers at different stages of the decision-

making process. An ad may appear at such time as to trigger a need (first source), foster

information search (assist), or provide a final argument to persuade a customer to make

a conversion ( last source ).

FIRST SOURCE, ASSIST VS. LAST SOURCE ADVERTISING

HOW TO MEASURE THE ACTUAL INFLUENCE OF A DISPLAY AD ON CONVERSION VALUE?

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Gemius has checked that in cooperation with its clients. It turned out that the measurement

of the factual influence of a display ad on conversion should take into account:

To verify this theses in above mentioned marketing effectiveness analysis we assumed, that

if an individual visits a website within 30 minutes after seeing an ad, this would mean that

you are dealing with the "post view" effect and the visit should be attributed this particular

display ad.

The manner in which the consumer makes a purchase decision (immediate conversion

vs. long-term conversion, with the latter requiring some time for pondering and revisiting

the site on several occasions).

1.

The decision process stage, where the advertiser conveys his message to the consumer

(first source, assist, last source).

2.

The fact that post click is not the only effect of display ads.3.

Fig. 5. Conversions – visit sources through the path, client example.

When sources of consumer conversions are analysed with consideration of the path leading to them, as well as the post view effect, it turns out that display ads are not responsible for the mere 1% of conversions, but:

3.7% of conversions were direct consequence of display ads,

in 9.3% of cases the conversions were supported by display ads,

2.5% of new users who made conversions came to the website thanks to display ads.

DISPLAY DOES WORK IN THE END

Display generated 2.5% of new customers

(source of first visit)

3.7%of conversion visits came from dislpay.Source: Gemius

Natural search PPC Website Social media

First AssistLast

source First AssistLast

source First AssistLast

source First AssistLast

source First AssistLast

source

DisplayDirect

First AssistLast

source

50.8%

20.6%

20.3%

2.5%

5.6%

0.1%

42.2%

21.8% 20.2% 9.3% 5.8%

0.6%

60.2%

18.5% 15.1% 3.7%

2.4% 0.1%

Source: Gemius

POST VIEW REALLY MATTERS

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64%

Fig. 6. Last visit sources by conversion type and campaign interaction (PV vs. PC), client example.

PC-Instant PV-Instant PC-Long term PV-Long term

28% 4%

4%

Some auxiliary analysis showed that among all the converting users, 92% were post view

ones, who are by 25% more eager to make a purchase compared to the users not exposed

to the ad.

HOW TO SELL WITH ONLINE ADS?

The above approach to measuring display ad effectiveness is a part of a Gemius project

concerning the increasingly popular subject of modelling attribution.

When making their purchase decisions, users visit websites of the brands whose offers they

take into account. Importantly, these are not only the landing pages devoted to the online

campaigns. The customer choices and decisions are influenced by advertising at different

stages of the decision-making process. Gemius has the appropriate knowledge and tools to

envisage the customer decision-making process and recommend solutions for optimization

of marketing activities concerning particular products.

Fig.7 Post Click and Post View conversion rates, client example.

0.19% 0.04% 0.14%0.11% 0.26% 0.15%

Post-viewPost-click

orPost-view

Post-click and

Post-viewPost-click No contact All

Source: Gemius

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