Click rates are not enough
Online advertising intermediaries offer measurement tools that don't just count clicks
Online advertising brokers offer measurement tools that don't just count clicksBy Patrick HedigerFor a long time now, spending on online advertising has not been bubbling up the way Internet euphorics imagined. Anyone who advertises on the Web now wants to know how successful the campaign is. Online advertising companies are trying to address this concern.
"We have set ourselves the goal of making the efficiency of online advertising in Switzerland truly measurable," says Peter Strassmann, Managing Director of ActiveAgent (Switzerland) GmbH, explaining his ambitious goals. A functioning measurement of success is also urgently needed. After all, the days of placing ads on the Internet just to be considered modern are over. And simply counting the clicks on one's own banners is no fun anyway, given average click rates, and is no longer enough. Many marketing managers, especially at companies in the so-called old economy, are no longer satisfied with the online reporting they have been offered up to now.
It is no longer enough for them to receive data on banner click rates, page visits and ad impressions. They want a performance evaluation of online advertising that is similar to the measurement methodology and informative value of offline campaigns.
gnen corresponds. Online advertising brokers and marketers are trying to meet this need. Says Strassmann: "Sustainable and professionally conducted success monitoring is becoming increasingly crucial, because it is the basis for continuous optimization of advertising efficiency. Today, the success of online advertising is no longer measured on the basis of so-called ad clicks, but in the form of more in-depth analyses."
Determine the opinion of visitors with pop-ups
ActiveAgent's plans are definitely a step in the right direction, but it will have to be seen in daily use whether the methods really deliver what they promise. For example, ActiveAgent's customers will be able to use ActiveSite Analysis (ASA) to gain insight into net reach, ad space efficiency, user origin, visit frequency analysis, page view times, user paths through the site, and more. All of this data is gathered with the aim of aligning advertising efforts with the behavior of the target group and thus achieving optimized results for the online presence.
Another tool, ActiveUser Analysis, is designed to gather the opinions of site visitors via questionnaires using pop-up windows that suddenly appear. The advertiser can determine what exactly is to be queried. Another tool is ActiveImpact Analysis, where randomly selected users of a website are asked about the recall values of a brand or advertising subject via pop-up windows or e-mail. Two issues arise in connection with these three tools. First, there is the question of how many users will be willing to participate in these surveys. Secondly, the increasingly strict data protection regulations, especially in Europe, could mean that not so much data can be collected.
Not only ActiveAgent, but also the other online advertising companies want to offer their customers ever better success controls. 24/7 Media Europe, for example, has entered into a partnership with the online market research company Dynamic Logic for this reason. The AdIndex measurement system is designed to measure the impact of online advertising.
Learning to speak the language of brand owners
AdIndex is designed to be able to quantify traditional brand metrics such as brand awareness or attitudes. "Big advertisers believe in brand advertising," explains Egbert van Acht, Marketing Director 24/7 Media Europe. That's why, he says, in times when branding is becoming increasingly important, you have to speak the same language as brand advertisers on the Internet, too.
At Real Media, the launch of a corresponding tool is planned for June. According to Michael Maurantonio, Sales Support Manager at Publimedia Webadvertising, this tool will also document the user's movement in the longer term and thus also help to research the long-term effect of banners. Studies show that users do not always click on a banner immediately, but only visit the advertised website later. Publimedia Webadvertising already conducts surveys of Internet users about websites and online advertising on behalf of its clients.
The practicality still has to be proven
Other marketers have also already planned or initiated corresponding steps. In addition to marketers and intermediaries, however, market research companies also offer analysis tools for online campaigns, such as NetValue with Ad-Impact.
Most of the solutions announced have yet to prove themselves in practice. If they succeed in providing useful data with watertight methods, they will help to strengthen trust in online advertising and thus possibly bring it further growth.
But online advertising companies have also recognized the signs of the times at the level of general advertising research: According to Martin Radelfinger, Managing Director of AdLink Switzerland, discussions are currently taking place at a pan-European level between marketing and intermediary companies about standardizing online advertising research. For example, discussions are to be held on which tools are to be used for impact research.
"We have set ourselves the goal of making the efficiency of online advertising in Switzerland truly measurable," says Peter Strassmann, Managing Director of ActiveAgent (Switzerland) GmbH, explaining his ambitious goals. A functioning measurement of success is also urgently needed. After all, the days of placing ads on the Internet just to be considered modern are over. And simply counting the clicks on one's own banners is no fun anyway, given average click rates, and is no longer enough. Many marketing managers, especially at companies in the so-called old economy, are no longer satisfied with the online reporting they have been offered up to now.
It is no longer enough for them to receive data on banner click rates, page visits and ad impressions. They want a performance evaluation of online advertising that is similar to the measurement methodology and informative value of offline campaigns.
gnen corresponds. Online advertising brokers and marketers are trying to meet this need. Says Strassmann: "Sustainable and professionally conducted success monitoring is becoming increasingly crucial, because it is the basis for continuous optimization of advertising efficiency. Today, the success of online advertising is no longer measured on the basis of so-called ad clicks, but in the form of more in-depth analyses."
Determine the opinion of visitors with pop-ups
ActiveAgent's plans are definitely a step in the right direction, but it will have to be seen in daily use whether the methods really deliver what they promise. For example, ActiveAgent's customers will be able to use ActiveSite Analysis (ASA) to gain insight into net reach, ad space efficiency, user origin, visit frequency analysis, page view times, user paths through the site, and more. All of this data is gathered with the aim of aligning advertising efforts with the behavior of the target group and thus achieving optimized results for the online presence.
Another tool, ActiveUser Analysis, is designed to gather the opinions of site visitors via questionnaires using pop-up windows that suddenly appear. The advertiser can determine what exactly is to be queried. Another tool is ActiveImpact Analysis, where randomly selected users of a website are asked about the recall values of a brand or advertising subject via pop-up windows or e-mail. Two issues arise in connection with these three tools. First, there is the question of how many users will be willing to participate in these surveys. Secondly, the increasingly strict data protection regulations, especially in Europe, could mean that not so much data can be collected.
Not only ActiveAgent, but also the other online advertising companies want to offer their customers ever better success controls. 24/7 Media Europe, for example, has entered into a partnership with the online market research company Dynamic Logic for this reason. The AdIndex measurement system is designed to measure the impact of online advertising.
Learning to speak the language of brand owners
AdIndex is designed to be able to quantify traditional brand metrics such as brand awareness or attitudes. "Big advertisers believe in brand advertising," explains Egbert van Acht, Marketing Director 24/7 Media Europe. That's why, he says, in times when branding is becoming increasingly important, you have to speak the same language as brand advertisers on the Internet, too.
At Real Media, the launch of a corresponding tool is planned for June. According to Michael Maurantonio, Sales Support Manager at Publimedia Webadvertising, this tool will also document the user's movement in the longer term and thus also help to research the long-term effect of banners. Studies show that users do not always click on a banner immediately, but only visit the advertised website later. Publimedia Webadvertising already conducts surveys of Internet users about websites and online advertising on behalf of its clients.
The practicality still has to be proven
Other marketers have also already planned or initiated corresponding steps. In addition to marketers and intermediaries, however, market research companies also offer analysis tools for online campaigns, such as NetValue with Ad-Impact.
Most of the solutions announced have yet to prove themselves in practice. If they succeed in providing useful data with watertight methods, they will help to strengthen trust in online advertising and thus possibly bring it further growth.
But online advertising companies have also recognized the signs of the times at the level of general advertising research: According to Martin Radelfinger, Managing Director of AdLink Switzerland, discussions are currently taking place at a pan-European level between marketing and intermediary companies about standardizing online advertising research. For example, discussions are to be held on which tools are to be used for impact research.
