NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> LE Targetting has cut CTR; note on FlyCast
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> LE Targetting has cut CTR; note on FlyCast
Leonid Delitsin (silent_at_netcom.com)
Sat, 26 Jul 1997 22:53:53 -0700 (PDT)
"Mark J. Welch, Attorney at Law" <markwelch_nospam_at_ca-probate.com> wrote:
> Prior to targeting, my LinkExchange banner had a
> click-through of about 150:1, due to its very specialized
> nature (and its poor design, I concede). With targetting,
> the click-through ratio (CTR) originally increased very
> slightly, but then it plummetted to a range between
> 250:1 and 300:1 (e.g. 0.3% to 0.4%).
It is not easy to make any conclusions, until the number of the
impressions is known.
The simplest explanation would be that everyone has seen this banner,
and it simply "burned out".
One of our site owners received a very rude letter from an angry
reader, who has seen the same animated ad in the bottom of the
page again and again (http://www.bannermarket.com/b/cgu3.gif)
This reader wrote: SHUT HIS MOUTH!
(the jaw on this funny animated banner moves).
The ad is supposed to be seen by Russian students and immigrants in
the US. Well, it is, and it starts to annoy them. The owner of
the banner does not want to change the creative: his objective
is not clicks but sales! He does not want to deceive anybody. He
just wants to be there in case they ever need him).
>From our experience, the impact of the categories on the click ratio
seems to be lower than that of the ad freshness (similar to what
you observe with 1 and 2 FlyCast impressions).
However, the high click ratio is not necessarily the only
objective. It could be the objective for an ad of a magazine or a
search engine that wish to boost their traffic. But this could be not
the only objective for a merchant.
Consider another case: we employ a data base of Russian domain names
to show the banners of SpyMarket (security products), to the employees
of non-St.-Petersburg banks on several selected sites (hackers,
software, finances, etc.). The company is located at St. Petersburg
and does not want local advertising.
The bank employees make not more than 1-2% of Russian traffic. The
number of the selected sites is not large either.
So, we apply both domain and content targeting, but I do NOT promise
SpyMarket higher click ratio then they are getting on general sites
(currently 3%).
The SpyMarket webmaster was already frustrated that his banner gets
just 3% of clicks, and not 10% as, say, daily Internet reviews or
latest scandals.
But his products are not scandals! His products are boring devices.
Nevertheless, he replaced his straightforward
"Industrial espionage - threat for your business!"
banner with several puzzling banners.
One banner says "Small dictophone, big trouble".
Another banner says: "Every rat knows: security first!"
(http://www.bannermarket.com/b/spymarket_7.gif)
These banners are puzzling. Every student, every kid, or every
housewife, not just the entrepreneurs - everyone clicks.
Should we expect that these banners will have higher click ratio
when only bank employees, supposedly busy adult people, see them?
No. They could not click at all. May be they do not need these devices.
I only can suggest that the ad will be seen by more appropriate
audience then Russian Academy of Science or Moscow State University
students/employees voting for the best joke of the day.
The employees of the banks now see very few banner ads on the
selected sites. SpyMarket wants to be there in front of their eyes.
Well, not a big deal for this company, since their products are not
cheap.
But after clicking once, why should people click again, unless they
really need it? Eventually we will just catch all of them - and they
will stop clicking at all.
Basically SpyMarket pays for its presence in front of their eyes,
just like a banner on the side of the road.
> In my opinion, what this means is that the sites
> should LOWER their prices for targeted buys (I
> had already dropped my "minimum bid" rate from
> $15 to $10 and now I have slid it down to $7 CPM).
Yes, in case if the buyer wants to resell the traffic. But not
necessarily if he or she wants to sell something else. In the example
above - what is the value of a curious kid or a student, clicking on
SpyMarket banner, if they do not need the dictophone detectors anyway?
A banner is a measurement tool. It measures the interest of a
particular audience to some particular product.
The hypothetical example below is what I would expect:
Number SpyMarket banner
click ratio
Students 20% 3%
Bank 2% 1%
employees
Unknown 78% 2%
Total 100% 2.18%
Formally the worst click ratio is when the bank employee sees the
banner. They already know, what this is about. They are not curious.
The best could be to show the ad to the students. They are fresh,
ready to surf and to digest new INFORMATION.
Sincerely yours,
Leonid Delitsin
SPUTNIK.RU Advertising Network, LLC ZHURNAL.RU - Russian Internet Magazine
1313 N. Market Street, Suite 3410
Wilmington, DE, 19801-1151
phone: 608 259 8463 608 262 9269
http://www.sputnik.ru/ http://www.zhurnal.ru/
http://www.bannermarket.com/
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