It is time to rethink the measurements we use to assess online advertising campaigns. CTR have long been the de facto measure and our overzealous marketing side, has allowed us to hail this as the greatest ROI tool ever. However, simply because we can measure an actual consumer ‘action’ does not mean that we should stop there. By simply measuring CTR, we are missing at least half (or more) of the picture. Numerous studies have proven that the impact of online advertising campaigns goes beyond clicks, and clicks are not capturing other enduring memory affects such as brand recall, recognition and attitude towards the brand. In a recent study using eye-tracking tools, researchers found that consumers avoid looking at banners, yet even when they ‘avoid looking at them’ they are still influenced by them. The brand awareness was four times greater than the industry average CTR of .7% (from DoubleClick) and unaided brand recall was 19 times greater than the industry average CTR.
