Display advertising is far from dead. Rather, it's the way that many marketers think about and measure the channel that needs to be laid to rest. Here's why.
When was the last time you (intentionally) clicked on a display ad that wasn't work related? Better yet, have you ever actually bought anything because you clicked on a display ad?
If you're like the vast majority of consumers, you're not clicking. And if you're not clicking, traditional measures of display ad effectiveness would conclude that your exposures to online banners are not leading to conversions.
But such traditional measures fail to consider the entire consumer lifecycle, says Dean Donaldson, digital experience strategist for Eyeblaster. Thus, budgets that are being appropriated based on the frequency of display ad clicks are grossly underestimating the value of impressions that don't generate an immediate consumer action.
Want proof? Consider the washing machine Donaldson just purchased. After visits to six separate stores, Donaldson says he found himself just as clueless as when he started his search. And so he did what every good digital experience strategist would do: He went online. He did a search on a brand of washing machine that he'd seen in multiple stores. He read some impartial reviews. He compared prices at different outlets on Pricerunner.com. When he found the outlet with the best price, he researched that company in a similar fashion. In the end, he made a more informed purchase and managed to beat the prices and the delivery times being offered at the brick-and-mortar stores.
Throughout this researching and purchasing process, Donaldson notes that he came across several display ads for the brand of washing machine he was investigating. But he didn't click on them. In fact, he didn't even go to the manufacturer's website until after his washing machine arrived, when he needed to register the warranty.
But the moral of the story isn't that brands should stop investing in display ads and their own websites. Rather, brands need to be rethinking how they measure the ROI of such channels, and they need to constantly be looking for new ways to innovate with their display budgets, Donaldson says.
Indeed, with click-through rates estimated a paltry 0.5 percent, marketers should be taking a closer look at what is happening with the other 99.5 percent of exposures. In this respect, Donaldson notes that by combining search and display data, Eyeblaster has found that up to 30 percent of online paid-search clicks leading to conversions can be traced back to exposure to an online advertisement.
Beyond the promising combination of search and display data, certain high-impact display technologies are changing the way people interact with online ads. Take, for example, Pepsi's "Dear Mr. President" social media campaign, which enabled users to record and upload their own submissions within the banner ads themselves. Donaldson says 14 percent of all user-generated messages submitted during the campaign were uploaded to YouTube via display ads.
In short, display advertising is far from dead. Rather, it's the way that many marketers think about and measure the channel that needs to be laid to rest. Those who begin to look at their campaigns in a more holistic manner will be better positioned to understand the lingering effects of their display ad spend.
Lori Luechtefeld is editor of iMedia Connection.