I just reread a Research Brief from the Center for Media Research that ties in well with and expands on my previous blog on What should your advertising do?

Media giants MediaMind and comScore have already reported that the advertising industry-wide decline in clickthrough rates appears to have plateaued, and that this all-important clickthrough metric illustrates only a small part of the overall return on the ad.

In fact, comScore found that only 20% of conversions took place directly after clicking on an ad. The other 80% of conversions were post-impression conversions, results of the branding and awareness that were created by the ad. 

I’ve had many marketers tell me that the only value to them is in the immediate one-off response, and yet the data shows that the immediate response is only 20% of the story.    This is excellent empirical data supporting the simple fact that advertisers should look to run campaigns over a period of time rather than just booking an ad, something we don’t do super well in the Christian market.  Beyond the immediate clickthroughs, you are still developing your brand relationship with the other 80% of those who did NOT click your ad. 

This is also encouragement for you marketers who agree with me that your advertising should be about Data Capture because your ads are giving you even better access to those who clicked.  If 80% of conversions were post-impression, then the fact that you DID obtain the person’s contact info means that you can directly impact your post-impression conversions. 

This is huge news for those of us who have long advocated for the need to look beyond the immediate, basic performance metrics to see the full value of online advertising.

Here are the two key tables from the article:

Read the full article on MediaPost.com.