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Not Seeing the Results Forest For the Statistics Trees

Charles Strauss, Website Advertising Manager

Charles Strauss photo

Advertising is all around us -- it's a simple fact of modern life.

Actually, strike the word "modern." The other night I watched a cable program on ancient Pompeii. The archaeologist who was being interviewed strolled down the excavated main street and pointed out political ads that had been carefully lettered on the city walls for a gentleman who was elected numerous times as mayor of the ill-fated city.

In addition to the political ads we see on city walls and billboards (some things never change!), some modern day advertising venues include website banner ads, TV commercials, radio spots and in-column displays in the paper.

There are obvious strengths and weaknesses to all of these forms, but one of the greatest strengths of website banner advertising is the high degree of tracking and accountability it offers. In fact, when you run a banner campaign on ArcaMax.com, the first email you will receive from me after your campaign has gone live will include a unique stats login. You will be able to see exactly, day-to-day, how many times your banners have been displayed, and how many clicks each has received.

On average, a banner ad on ArcaMax.com has a CTR (click-through rate) of .2%; in other words, every 1,000 times your ad is displayed, there should be a couple of users who click the ad and visit your website.

Now, here’s where it gets a bit muddy. Even though it seems counterintuitive, one nationally-know brand name advertiser on our website has told me that some of their ads with lower CTRs are actually outperforming other units in actual ROI (return-on-investment).

And, while every bit of data may prove helpful in evaluating a campaign, it's very easy to become overwhelmed with these campaign metrics and lose sight of the bottom line: was the campaign successful? In other words, are we guilty of "not seeing the 'results' forest for the 'statistics' trees?" A successful advertising campaign will have as its goal either branding (improving overall awareness of a manufacturer or retailer, or one of its products) or user engagement with a product.

For instance, I've recently been made aware via a multi-pronged web/TV/radio branding campaign, that Saturn has totally revamped its line of automobiles for the 2009 model year. Note that I’m not running out tonight to buy a Saturn; I’m not currently in the market. But, with the millions who have been exposed to the campaign, whether in the short term or later down the road, Saturn will most likely sell a bunch of new cars as a result of this campaign.

This week, an ArcaMax website banner client renewed his order with the following comments to me: "Charles, even though I didn't make the direct sale (and his sales are a very high-ticket item) that I'd hoped for, I had a tremendous percentage of your users opt-in to receive information from me at regular intervals." This client decided his campaign was a success at user engagement—he realizes that everything in life is a "numbers game," and we’re pleased that he’s chosen to promote his campaign for another 700,000 banner impressions on ArcaMax.com.

If your campaign successfully achieves either aim (branding or user engagement), you may consider it a success!

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions on how a banner campaign on ArcaMax.com can be used to promote your product or service. (If you mention this article when you contact me, I'll give you an extra 5% discount -- how's that for ‘user engagement’!)

This news arrived on: 03/25/2008