Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

In the past couple of years, advertisers have expressed two main concerns about online advertising. Is it measurable? And, does it work for branding? In last week’s post,
Web Metrics 101 , I explained how metrics can be confusing, but do exist and do allow us to measure online advertising’s effectiveness. And, I have been saying for years that online advertising is an effective branding tool. So today, when I opened my inbox, I almost cried for joy upon seeing that ComScore just concluded a study proving it.

According to the study, conducted with pharmaceutical marketing consultancy Evolution Road , driving traffic to a branded website is the most effective form of online pharmaceutical marketing. The results showed an incremental patient adherence rate that was 20 percentage points higher and a new start rate for prospects that was 5 percentage points higher than those who did not visit the website and than the control, respectively.

Online ads improved adherence rates among existing patients, showing a 4-point lift in adherence among patients exposed to an ad and a 9.5-point lift among patients who interacted with an ad.

The study encompassed 32 individual studies, involved more than ten prescription pharmaceutical brands and used the ComScore million-person panel for behavior observation. ComScore executive vice president Bridget O’Toole said “The most effective online marketing tool… is the brand’s Web site… visits to a brand Web site (though) are achieved through the use of a variety of offline and online tactics, such as online banner ads, search and offline advertising… marketers (should) develop fully-integrated campaigns… raise awareness, educate consumers, … (and) drive visitation to a site.”

Exposure to, and, even more so, interaction with banner ads yielded an increase in brand awareness and favorability among current and potential patients. Exposure to an ad significantly impacted both aided and unaided brand awareness and interaction boosted both types of awareness even more.

So, what does this mean for online advertising? Although the study concentrated on pharmaceutical advertising, with ComScore’s endorsement, online advertising should be considered as effective a branding tool, if not more so, than other, more expensive, less targeted traditional media like print and television. Advertisers take note: it’s time to re-think your media buy.

Rachel

Visit ComScore’s Press Center to view the study’s press release.

In my opinion, understanding web analytics sometimes feels like predicting the weather. There are some standards in place already. Like 90% chance of rain probably means it’s going to rain. But, more often than not, some level of disagreement exists. Metrics definitions, the validity of measurement and third party reporting/accreditation are sources of debate for web analysts, salespeople and advertisers. So, when everyone’s prediction differs, how do you know who’s right?

One of the buzz words that attempts to answer this predicament is transparency. Transparency means defining how you will measure something, applying industry standards when possible and being consistent.

With that in mind, I have defined the most common online metrics. Let the clarification begin!

Rachel
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Clicks: A metric which measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad or linked editorial content. There are three types of clicks: click-throughs, in-unit clicks and mouseovers.

Click-through rate (CTR): The average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, expressed as a percentage.

It is important to understand the limits of click-through rate as the sole metric by which an advertisement’s effectiveness is measured. CTR measures the percentage of people who clicked on the ad to arrive at the destination site, but does not include the people who arrived at the site later as a result of seeing the ad. CTR is a measure of the immediate response to an ad, but not the overall response to an ad.

Clicks had more value when Web site traffic was accepted as a measure of success regardless of where users went after they landed on the site. The trend towards profitability, along with advanced tracking capabilities, has resulted in less interest in click-through rates and more interest in conversion rates.

Conversion rate: The percentage of visitors who take a desired action.

Examples of desired actions include sales, registrations, downloads, and virtually anything beyond page browsing. A high conversion rate depends on several factors: the interest level of the consumer, the attractiveness of the offer and the ease of the action to name a few.

The interest level of the consumer can be maximized by reaching the right visitor, in the right place, and at the right time.

The attractiveness of the offer depends on relevancy, includes the value proposition and how well it is presented. Small, impulse items (like groceries) typically have a higher conversion rate than large, shopping items.

The consumer’s ease in completing the desired action is largely dependent on site usability, intuitive navigation and fast loading pages.

Demographics: Common characteristics used for population or audience segmentation, such as age, gender, household income, education, marital status, etc. A network with a strong demographic that is in line with an advertiser’s desired target audience will be more effective than a broad national network.

Impression: A single instance of an online advertisement being displayed. Ad impressions indicate how many times an advertisement is seen in total.

Page View: A request to load a single HTML page. Page views indicate how many times a webpage is seen in total.

Search Engine Optimization: The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search. For more information on SEO and Google, check out Google Papers , a list of publications and white papers written by Google employees.

Stickiness: The amount of time spent at a site over a given time period.

Unique Visitors: Individuals who have visited a site or network at least once in an allotted time frame, often a 30 day period.

Most measurements of unique visitors are estimates. Sites often calculate unique visitors based on IP address information and through cookies. However, many factors may skew the results.

Traffic rating companies typically calculate unique visitors by monitoring actual usage of a group of volunteers (called panel data), then applying the results to a network’s population. Some, notably Quantcast , use direct publisher data and panel data.