Before making a deeper connection, consumers want to have confidence that their clicking time is worth the effort. HypeCouncil's founder shows how to make them glad they said yes to your brand.
Consumer confidence in online advertising has eroded to an all-time low. We package clever, but elusive, copy and flashy graphics inside of a display ad and buy up every available impression on the internet only to wonder why no one is clicking. What are we exchanging with consumers that gives them the confidence to interact with our message? Simply broadcasting a message to the masses doesn't necessarily leave consumers with enough information, or the confidence, to act on what they see.
I've often likened this confidence-building process to asking someone out on a date. I haven't been single for a number of years, but I remember the delicate dance of trying to engage a person in conversation as an entrée into spending some more quality time together.
A long time ago in a pub far away, I happened upon an attractive woman who was chatting with some mutual friends of mine. Aside from the occasional comment directed to the group, this woman and I said very little to each other. Still, she seemed nice and she was a knockout, so at the end of the evening, I sidled up to her and made some wise comment -- I can't remember now what it was, but it was probably related to the band Hanson and how important they were to modern American music. Whatever I said was enough to make her smile and nod which, for me, was a real bonus. And so, I asked her out.
She said "no." Not, "I have plans." Not "I have a boyfriend." Not even "Hanson. Are you kidding me?" She just said "no."
I eventually got over the rejection, but a few years later, I bumped into this woman again at a party. We struck up a more direct conversation that lasted most of the night. I finally worked up the courage to ask her about that fated evening and why she didn't go out with me. She told me that she had no clue about who I was and what I was about, and she didn't want to invest her time and energy based on a two-second conversation. She said that she needed more to go on before making that kind of a decision. I asked her out again, and this time she said "yes." We've been together ever since.
I learned two very valuable lessons that night. Never, EVER bring Hanson into a conversation with the opposite sex. It only serves to prove that you are, in fact, a moron. More importantly, I learned that the less you allow a person to engage with you, the less likely you are to get that person to do what you want. The same works with online advertising; the more you commit to engage the consumer, the more of a commitment you get in return.
As online marketers, we underestimate the level of commitment involved when a consumer clicks through to a website. The consumer is making several assessments in the blink of an eye -- will this be a waste of time? Will the site I click to be safe? Will the information I seek be relevant? Will I get what I need efficiently? There is a risk vs. reward scenario that we all play out when deciding to interact with an online advertisement. If we rely too heavily on the website destination to do our talking, we will likely find that no one will be around to listen.
There are a dozen or more practical applications of this for online advertising. Let's take a look at banner ads and use three examples to determine the level of information that is shared prior to making a commitment to act or, in this case, to click.
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