Re: what's a good click-through rate?

From: Mike Vaughn <MikeV_at_800.com>
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 13:55:53 -0500 (CDT)

MEREDITH MILLER ASKED:
>>What is the average click-through rate for banners? I have
>>a client who is upset with the .49% click-through rate her
>>banners have received over the last month...

TO WHICH CLAUDIA BRUEMMER REPLIED:
> In a recent ClickZ series on the nuts and bolts of online
> advertising <http://www.searchz.com/Articles/0429992.shtml>
> Michael Aaron said the current industry average is
> speculated to be around .15 percent (according to
> NetGravity, March).
>
> ClickZ questioned this low figure and asked Aaron to verify
> it, which he did, with Nielsen Media Ratings. I told Ann to
> expect a rash of email questioning that figure.
> Surprisingly, no one did.

I just find it interesting that some people find this number
acceptable at any level.

Remember when banner ads first came out? We were looking at
a 50% click through. Apparently because it was a hot, new
thing. The luster wore off and the rate went steadily down.
Just a year ago I heard that 1 to 2% is average. Now 0.15%
is average?! You've got to be kidding. Even a decent direct
mail campaign gets 2% response.

Now that CTRs suck, I'm starting to hear the branding
excuse. It goes a little something like, "Well sure, you
don't get a lot of click through, but you sure did increase
brand awareness." Yeah right. Who did the thousands of
dollars of market research for that figure again? It's an
ok excuse if you're talking about an established brand like
Levi's, but certainly not if you're a new company just
starting the branding process.

Banner ad sales are a joke. I don't see any advertiser
benefiting from this type of medium. Just the people
selling the banner space. Never before have consumers
filtered out an advertising message so quickly and so
easily.

I see that history is repeating itself with formats like
In-stream, and e-mail attachments. Same deal... fun at
first, but then it gets old and ignored while advertisers
continue to spend the big bucks. Kinda silly ain't it?

In short, your client SHOULD be upset with a 0.49% click
through rate.

Mike V
writer/producer
MikeV_at_800.com

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Received on Fri May 28 1999 - 15:10:31 CDT