Banner Ads Give Nearly as Many Searches as Clicks

Search-engine firm iProspect together with Forrester has published a study that suggests a much closer relationship between online display advertising and search than what many marketers may think. The study, “Search Engine Marketing and Online Display Advertising Integration Study” shows that more than half of internet users (52%) actively respond to display advertising on ad-supported websites. Among them, almost as many initially respond to an ad by conducting a search as those who click on the ad.

How many times have you not launched a banner campaign only to see that your “direct traffic” or Google searched have peaked? Seasoned online marketers have had their hunches about this but no statistical relationship until now.

Maybe it’s time to add more KPI’s to an online display campaign than clicks? Add Google searches, direct traffic, social media activity and traffic as well to get the full picture as much activity goes on on the side.

Summary of findings:

The key take-away from this study is that online display advertising is an effective channel on its own, but its power is substantially improved when it is paired with search engine marketing. Below are six findings that demonstrate the relationship between search and online display advertising that substantiate how and why the two should be used in conjunction with one another:

• More than half of Internet users (52%) actively respond to online display advertising, demonstrating that this is an effective channel to facilitate interaction with a brand; almost a third (31%) respond by clicking on the ad itself.
• Almost as many Internet users respond to online display advertising by performing a search on a search engine (27%) as those who simply click on the ad itself (31%). This finding speaks to the symbiotic relationship between the two channels, and the power of search engine marketing to boost the effectiveness of display. If marketers are going to invest in online display, they should consider search as a form of insurance for that investment as it will help them capture the demand that display advertising can create.
• Internet users are more likely to engage with and/or eventually make a purchase from brands that are already familiar to them. One third of Internet users (33%) who respond to online display advertising eventually purchase from a company/offering with which they are familiar – more than twice the number who eventually purchase after learning of an offering/company for the first time from online display advertising (14%).
• Nearly four in ten Internet users (38%) who respond to online display advertising learn about a brand for the first time as a result of their exposure to such an ad. This finding validates display as a viable channel for building brand awareness and not just driving sales.
• Nearly four in ten Internet users (38%) who respond to online display advertising also EVENTUALLY perform a search on the company, product, or service that is the focus of the online display ad to which they are exposed, and then visit the website from the search results; while 14% do the same but then actually purchase a product or service. When these two groups are combined and added to those that perform a search but DO NOT click on any of the results, the aggregate figure reveals that nearly half of Internet users (49%) who respond to online display advertising EVENTUALLY perform a search on a search engine for the company, product, or service that was the focus of the online display ad to which they were exposed. Not only does this finding demonstrate the power of display to drive search, but it also speaks to the fact that marketers will miss a considerable percentage of potential respondents if they don’t support their display efforts with search engine marketing.

Source: http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/online-ads-spark-nearly-as-many-searches-as-clicks-9044/iprospect-forrester-internet-users-respond-online-ads-clicked-ad-search-january-2009jpg/

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