Given the critical nature of attribution management to advertising analytics, we have created the Attribution Management Buyer’s Guide for marketers to use when selecting an advertising analytics and optimization platform. The Guide is intended to highlight key attribution management features and functionality that should be available in any advertising analytics solution you select.
This is the fourth blog in a 10-part blog series for the Attribution Management Buyers Guide. This fourth section focuses on Banner/Display Advertising.
Most companies have been determining if banner advertising is effective by measuring it the same way they do their pay per click ads, meaning they look at the number of times the banner gets clicked compared to its conversions to its cost. When evaluated under this method, banner advertising rarely looks as if it is performing well enough to continue to invest ad dollars towards. However, there is a hidden value in banners that can only be discovered through proper attribution.
The real value of the banners is their impressions, which help to build brand awareness and to introduce people to your product and services. It’s after being exposed to banners that consumers want to learn more about your business. Typically, after banner exposure, the next activity is to do either a natural search or click on a PPC ad so the user can get to your site, rather than clicking on the banner itself.
If you’re valuing banners the same way you do paid search ads, you will never see the influence that banners have on guiding people down the path to conversion.
If you are doing banner advertising, it is a must that you select an attribution management vendor that measures a banner’s effectiveness not only in terms of clicks, but also the influence impressions have on consumers. A banner ad can have influence even if no click occurs; therefore, preferred attribution management systems should be able to incorporate banner view‐throughs and banner clicks in their attribution management offering.
Attribution Management Buyers Guide Part 5 – Exclusions
At times, certain ads in a purchase path should not be given credit for the eventual sale. The most common example of this is when a paid search ad for a branded term is clicked at the end of a path, where the branded ad would be excluded because it is simply used for navigational purposes. The user is already sold on purchasing from your site after clicking on one or a series of your ads, then later types in your brand name and clicks on the paid ad to get back to your site before ultimately converting.
By having an attribution management system that allows for exclusions, you can ensure that you’re giving credit to ads involved in the sales process, not the navigation process, and your attribution calculations will be more accurate. Look for a vendor that offers the ability to exclude clicks that should not receive credit.