The usefulness of longstanding advertising metrics has been a focal point in recent years, particularly as the measurement of attention has gained prominence. We look at where it all stands today.
Advertising is more complex and fragmented than ever before. There are numerous channels and platforms to choose from, with advertisers constantly bombarded with data.
Some businesses manage to use this data effectively to help refine campaigns, although others struggle with measuring the success of advertising campaigns and understanding what is truly working.
Gaining this understanding without a common measurement for success can prove difficult too, with many stakeholders having differing opinions on what “success” really means.
From attention-based metrics to CPM, marketing teams and their advertising support acts are juggling a lot of plates – and this is causing some to fall off.
What are advertising metrics?
Advertising metrics are often classed by either a single data point or a set of data points that marketers use to monitor and assess the effectiveness of their campaigns.
These metrics encompass a variety of activities used to support and promote a campaign, such as form submissions, social media analytics, and video viewing duration.
Depending on the type of campaign elements and its intention, you might choose a variety or focus on a single point of success.
How does a business implement useful success metrics?
To implement strong metrics, a business needs to define its key objectives before selecting the corresponding metrics that directly measure progress toward those goals. Typically, campaigns are judged based on pre-agreed key performance indicators (KPIs).
When measuring the success of advertising campaigns, marketing teams and supporting ad tech companies need to consider a variety of metrics based on what type of ad they’re running. These include:
● Engagement rates
● Organic traffic
● Paid traffic
● Conversion
● Views
● Shares
● Downloads
● Cost per lead (CPL)
● Cost per acquisition (CPA)
Using these figures helps marketers understand every aspect of their strategy within a broader context. Whatever metrics are chosen as a mark for success are consistently monitored to show whether a campaign is achieving its objectives.
How could a single advertising metric help track success?
An agreed-upon benchmark for successful campaigns could help to improve advertising standards as it would make it more difficult to inflate numbers in a way that is all too common with some existing performance metrics.
Several existing benchmarks can be used to measure the success of advertising campaigns. But would moving to a single benchmark help? In theory, yes.
Tying these numbers together into one single metric would help to ensure that advertisers focus on a single point of success and how it integrates into the most valuable metrics such as long-term customer value.
Is it practical to use a single metric for all advertising campaigns?
A single success measurement would have to take into account factors such as attention and customer lifetime value to give a more accurate measure of the true success of advertising campaigns.
With the many varying elements of an ad campaign, it would be difficult to ensure that this metric takes into account the value of each element as, ultimately, different platforms and target audiences require different measurement approaches.
Furthermore for this single point of success to create any valuable results, there has to be diligent data control and management, or else the results can be skewed or simply be outright wrong.
Why click-through rate should not be relied upon for advertising success
Click-through rate (CTR) has long been one of the go-to metrics for measuring the success of online advertising campaigns. However, in recent years, CTR has come under fire from advertisers and marketers alike.
One of the main criticisms of CTR is that it doesn’t take into account the quality of clicks. For example, a click from a bot, or someone who is not interested in your product or service, is not going to be valuable.
Another criticism of CTR is that it can be easily manipulated; the practice of using clickbait headlines and images to get people to click on ads is well known. While this may appear beneficial on the surface, it frequently leads to reputational damage and harm in acquiring new customers.
The role of attention in a unified measurement
Attention is one of the most important factors in advertising. After all, if nobody is paying attention to your ads, they’re not going to have any impact.
In March 2023, the IAB hosted its first summit focusing on standardizing attention measurement, and one of the key points mentioned was that “there was no clear agreement on what constitutes attention.”
In the digital age, there are more distractions than ever before, which makes it increasingly challenging to capture and hold people’s attention.
Attention metrics are still very much in their infancy, with many technologies available to help track the success of a campaign.
However, for them to become embedded into any business strategy, understanding how these numbers support existing metrics will be vital to achieving true success.
What’s the future for advertising metrics?
The industry needs to come together to develop a benchmark that is fair and accurate. This benchmark should consider factors such as attention, customer lifetime value, and the quality of clicks.
Following Cannes 2023, Mark Slade, VP Brand and Managing Director Brand Partnerships, (UK, DE, FR) at Digital Turbine, summed it up perfectly in a LinkedIn post, saying: “We can’t fall into the trap of listening to whoever shouts the loudest, as digital often can.”
By developing an agreed-upon benchmark for successful advertising, the industry can move towards a more transparent and effective advertising landscape and begin producing stronger and more effective campaigns.
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