The internet is widely considered the most measurable of advertising media, but those easily tracked click-throughs and e-commerce sales don’t tell the whole story. Far from it. Internet advertising stimulates off-line sales, too—in most cases, our firm finds that online campaigns increase sales more at advertisers’ retail cash registers than on their websites. Data like that should embolden executives to shift ever more dollars to online advertising.
Some two million people worldwide have installed our firm’s tracking software on their PCs and given us explicit permission to observe their online activities. In return, these research panelists get various rewards, such as free network backup or file encryption, and a chance to have their opinions and behavior influence the future development of the internet. We use their information—including data about sites visited, searches conducted, transactions made, and content viewed—to produce aggregated, anonymous, syndicated market-research reports and, when clients commission them, issue-specific studies.
Our tracking helped reveal how online advertising influences consumers’ behavior. Measuring the online sales impact of an online ad or a paid-search campaign—in which a company pays to have its link appear at the top of a page of search results—is straightforward: We determine who has viewed the ad, then compare online purchases made by those who have and those who have not seen it. Analyzing the off-line sales impact requires a variety of other techniques, such as conducting surveys or drawing on the panelists’ profiles in clients’ frequent-buyer databases.
A recent study we conducted for a retailer with more than $15 billion in annual revenues—the vast majority of which come from its physical stores—had notable results. Over a three-month period, U.S. sales increased by 40% online and by 50% off-line among people exposed to an online search- and display-ad holiday campaign promoting the entire company. Because its baseline sales volumes are greater in physical stores than on the internet, this retailer derived a great deal more revenue benefit off-line than the percentages suggest. Even in terms of raw increases, though, online ads had a bigger impact on off-line than on online sales in a majority of our studies.
People tend to respond—with their wallets—more to search ads than to display ads (see the exhibit “Web Ads Boost In-Store Sales, Too”). However, search ads, which appear only after a viewer has expressed interest in a subject by initiating a search, are generally more costly per impression than are display ads. Consistent with other kinds of advertising, using both types of ads in one campaign increases sales more than the two, added together, do in separate campaigns.
A version of this article appeared in the issue of Harvard Business Review.
point72 asset management business management software management analyst apollo management sky property management select property management logistics management salary safety management waste management dump data management cash management elite property management grand forks nd waste management bill pay maine real estate management microsoft sql server management studio receivables performance management real property management of the triad western asset management online management medication management wells fargo asset management epic management archegos capital management utilization management high output management element fleet management waste management customer service square enix account management management consulting product management certification customer experience management american case management association what are the three main goals of data lifecycle management (dlm)? pathlight management yale school of management gva property management performance property management rental management companies near me best project management software stage management product management certification inventory management software sedgwick claims management property management greenville sc facebook ad management free project management software what is management staff management smx kass management pmi property management conflict management douglas elliman property management disk management windows 10 weight management anger management classes time management games key property management property management bend oregon planned management waste management mn community management call waste management waate management melvin capital management waste management houston lighthouse management project management app what is pain management jensen property management aqr capital management united property management apollo management healthcare management jobs identity management management jobs near me team management which resource management task deploys or activates personnel and resources? what is a pain management progressive management moderation management rbc wealth management sign in intel(r) management engine components health management vulnerability management relationship management property management las vegas abbreviate management product management certification human resource management salary intel(r) management engine components point72 asset management taylor management waste management pay bill project management resume asset management software army learning management system who is the principal federal official for domestic incident management? asana project management pmp management google ads management human resources management system time management skills residential property management kmb property management google project management certificate premier property management titan property management waste management tucson alamo management group money management time management strategies business management consultant ubs wealth management database management system investment management consultants association real estate management device management project management academy aws management console st clair county emergency management wbs project management management behaviours kw property management mynd property management anger management therapy harrisburg property management american management association which item is included in the nims management characteristic of accountability able property management category management emerson process management best wealth management firms change management pain management doctor near me sacramento delta property management health information management management of people property management bakersfield construction project management hudson homes management sql management studio time management definition health information management city property management disk management windows 10 what is agile project management goodwin management anger management (film) intel management engine waste management oakland lsi property management century property management regional management access management landmark property management vulnerability management pain management clinic access property management princeton property management crisis management device management android self management purina pro plan weight management sports management
Camellia Bhowmik