All digital campaigns measure clicks - as in how many people “clicked” on the ad. The Click-Through-Rate (CTR) is merely the beginning of the story. CTR’s serve a purpose. They allow you to gauge the results of your digital campaign in a very simple form and these metrics are important – however, they do not provide the complete engagement picture.
The national average Click-Through-Rate is .07% … so in essence consumers are more likely to summit Mount Everest than they are likely to click on an ad. CTR averages have a lot of variances … they vary based on geographic location, size of ad, type of ad, category of business and they absolutely have “accidental” clicks included (think “fat fingers” on mobile or distracted clicking on desktops). One research study found that about 60% of clicks on mobile phones could be accidental – due to small screen size or fingers slipping. Is this 60% number shocking, accurate, or even important? Not if you are measuring a more complete engagement picture. Keep in mind, even if someone is clicking a mobile ad by accident on their phone, that still points to the fact that the consumer SAW the ad.
And, there are ways to do mobile ads without getting the "false positives" of accidental clicks. In Mobile Conquesting, we use expandable ads that open and close within the app or website the person is using. If it was an intentional click, it allows for the user to convert WITHIN THE EXPANDABLE AD. Because the conversion (call now, send message, get directions, download coupon, etc.) happens within the expandable ad, the user doesn’t have to wait for the advertiser’s website to load.
If it is an accidental click they can close the ad without having been redirected to the advertiser's website.
What are other ways to know if your ad is working?
Focus instead on Total Engagement Rate and Conversions.
Total Engagement Rate includes clicks and View Through tracking. A View Through measures how many people are coming to a client's website AFTER seeing the ad but NOT clicking – coming back to view the website on their own at another time.
Combining both clicks and View Throughs give a much clearer picture of engagement. Here is a visual example:
Conversions are another way to measure whether or not your ad is working. A conversion can be anything you want a potential consumer to do when they come to your website. Here are just a few of the types of conversions you could track:
So remember - to see a more complete engagement picture and response to your digital campaign, it goes way beyond your basic click.
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