Why engagement trumps clicks

Ariel Geifman
Search Posted on September 06, 2011
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How to increase engagement?
There are myriad rules and techniques that can help advertisers increase user engagement and dwell. Some of the more successful ones include embedding video into banners, creating in-banner games, using expandable banners to allow users to explore the brand, and delivering visually appealing ads both in terms of size and creativity. Thus, the rule of thumb is to create ads that deliver experience, and not just signs that send you somewhere else.

Here are three examples:

HBO's "True Blood" homepage takeover is a great example of how to hook users to your ad and keep them engaged to create a memorable experience. Homepage takeover is a very visible format that takes advantage of the full canvas to expose users to the brand message. Homepage takeovers achieve dwell rate of slightly more than 5 percent and 46 seconds of dwell duration.

The ad starts with a quick three-second video to get users to notice the ad. Then users are invited to choose the colors of the wallpaper ad that surrounds the content, making this a customizable ad that increases engagement. The sensual ad truly delivers the appeal of "True Blood."

This Nike ad takes engagement to a whole new level. It starts as a small 234x60 messenger ad. However, when users click on it, it becomes a truly full-screen experience of an app that allows users to explore the brand. It includes multiple screens, videos, and more. The visual implementation is simply eye candy. This ad is a revolutionary way to say bye-bye click-through rate, and hello engagement and phenomenal user experience.

H&M decided to put the term "direct response" advertising on its head, while letting users engage with its catalogue directly on the banner. Instead of grabbing a fraction of the users to go to the brand's actual site to view the entire catalogue, this ad took out the unnecessary step and allowed users to view and flip the collection on the banner itself.

These advertisers didn't settle for clicks. They wanted engagement. Imagine if TV ads featured a call to action like "click on channel 2983 for more..." It's highly unlikely that the viewers would leave their programming to click on the ad. So, why would online users behave any differently? Once you realize that the aim is to impress rather than making users press a button, there is no limit to creativity.

Ariel Geifman is principal research analyst at MediaMind.

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Comments

Wenhan Zhou
Wenhan Zhou September 7, 2011 at 5:36 AM

Great article with great examples as well. We have done some online display advertising as well and I must say, banners do capture attention even if they don't directly have clicks. Having a prominent branding on the banner on CPM basis is a great way to get more for your $$$ BTW: Can't someone remove the spam post? - Wenhan, m-Rich Media ADVocate, Design & publish mobile apps, sites & ads within minutes! (http://mobdis.com)

Earl Cole
Earl Cole September 6, 2011 at 11:58 AM

Nice article, Ariel. I couldn't agree with you more. Our media tech company actually measures CPE (cost per engagement) and CTR. Being that there are different levels of engagement, we have developed a new system that ranks the various points within video advertising... the next phase of hyper-brand marketing.

Dieter Van Roekel
Dieter Van Roekel September 6, 2011 at 10:09 AM

This seems very sensible and sounds like a solid piece of analytics, a refreshing break from the iMedia norm. I hope to see more analyses in the future!

Ariel Geifman
Ariel Geifman September 6, 2011 at 8:33 AM

We measured it by brand related keyword searches post viewing the campaign. We found that people that viewed campaigns with very high Dwell were 3 times more likely to search for the brand as compared to people who viewed an ad from a campaign with very low Dwell. -Ariel

Dieter Van Roekel
Dieter Van Roekel September 6, 2011 at 8:17 AM

Hi Ariel, this makes sense to me also, it is fair to say that people's eyes follow the mouse, rather than the other way around. How did you measure the effectiveness of the high Dwell campaigns? Are we talking about the DR now?

Ariel Geifman
Ariel Geifman September 6, 2011 at 6:46 AM

Hi Dieter, Dwell is not a silver bullet for measuring the branding effectiveness of banners. However, our research finds that it is avery good proxy. Our research that was done by comScore shows that Dwell differs from click by measuring the exposure to the ad (since people follow the mouse with their eyes). The result is that campaigns with high Dwell were more effective. Hope that helps. Ariel

Dieter Van Roekel
Dieter Van Roekel September 6, 2011 at 6:23 AM

Ariel, this is a great post, I am completely agreeing that the click is a misrepresentation of a consumer's propensity to purchase as well as a weak indicator of the so called "brand effect". How do you feel though about the so called "dwell" for non interactive banners? How do you think it differs from the click given that it still involves the mouse movement? My hypothesis would be that the demographic of dwellers is similar to that of clickers in the oft quoted comscore report; people for whom the novelty of the banner is still great. Do you suggest that all banners become large rich media constructions?