When advertisers evaluate media spending, their main concern is the return on their investment. Online advertising is particularly measurable in this regard because immediate responses to an ad can be measured directly from the click to the purchase. However, online advertising is also responsible for driving additional purchases through the branding value of the ad impression itself, and this effect often goes unmeasured. Many online advertisers do not or cannot track the consumer who views an ad but does not immediately respond, and later purchases the product. This type of purchase, often referred to as a "view-based conversion" or "view-through," can now be quantified.

Whether or not there is a view-through effect is not the question. We know the effect exists. To what extent it drives sales is the question. In the absence of a definitive answer, marketers have concentrated on click-thru rates and click-based conversions when it comes to evaluating the return on their online advertising dollar. If the view-based conversions could be easily quantified, it could provide media companies with additional revenue opportunities and provide marketers an additional source of data to use for analyzing and justifying payout of possible advertising programs. However, marketers usually launch integrated campaigns using several different media vehicles, making accurate measurement of the view-based effect difficult.

Advertising in a Vacuum
But what if a marketer were to launch a new product offering by using only a single online ad vehicle? Clearly, it would allow the advertiser to understand the impact of both the creative and the ad vehicle on awareness and purchase intent. But more importantly, by isolating the ad vehicle, the advertiser could accurately quantify the view-based effect of an ad. In fact, it would even provide data to help understand the value of advertising over time.

That's exactly what Entersect Corp. did during the first quarter of 2003 with its new Locate America product. It advertised exclusively with The Gator Corporation's GAIN Network for the launch of the product. Since the product was brand new and had never been advertised before, all sales could be attributed directly to the GAIN ad campaign.

Background
Locate America is a new online background search product which was launched in January, 2003. At that time, with no advertising or promotion of any kind, it had no consumer awareness, no established price point and no advertising effectiveness track record. With the launch of Locate America, Entersect needed to have several questions answered, including whether or not online behavioral marketing can generate sales efficiently.

Entersect chose Gator as their first media partner because of its ability to target online users by behavior. Users of Gator products have granted permission for Gator to display targeted advertising to them based on their online surfing habits, so advertisers can reach users who display a specific behavior at any time. In Entersect's case, the target group was users who viewed other online background search sites.

The Test
Entersect ran a variety of creative executions through the GAIN Network, using both Browser Pop-unders (pop-unders which displayed the actual Locate America Web page), and GAIN Sliders (ads that "slide" out from the lower corner of a user's browser window). The ads offered users a preliminary search, which prompted them to search for a name in Locate America's vast databases. These preliminary searches would return the name of the person, their location and their age. If users wanted more information on the person, they could then purchase a more detailed report.

The GAIN campaigns recorded significant view-through numbers. More than half of the Locate America completed sales that came as the result of ads displayed during the test period were view-based sales.

Within a 45-day window from the day the campaign was first deployed, more sales resulted from view-through conversions than from those who initially clicked and responded to the ad:

Furthermore, the view-through traffic was better qualified, as it was 54 percent more likely to result in a completed sale than traffic resulting from ad clicks. From Entersect's standpoint, tracking view-through data allowed them to see that their campaign generated more than twice the number of sales that they might have otherwise thought, had they tracked only sales resulting from ad clicks.

This test definitively shows that less than half the value of an online advertising campaign comes from ad clicks. Once prospects are exposed to the ad message, they may return at a later date, based on their awareness of the product offering.

"I was surprised at how clearly we were able to isolate the branding effect of the campaign," said Andy Aranyi, president and chief marketing officer at Entersect. "The Gator program has really helped us optimize our ad spending by helping us quantify the real return of our online advertising."

The Verdict
Online advertising can have a significant branding effect, even when the ads aren't clicked. As evidenced by the overall view-through percentage of 1.38%, interested consumers do take notice of advertised brands and visit their websites later, at their own convenience. Sales based on clicks are only a fraction of the total picture of online advertising's effectiveness. The branding effect of properly targeted advertising can drive as many sales as the direct response attributes that prompt immediate action. It is important to complete the picture by tracking view-through data and pooling this information with click-through data. Advertisers who track view-through data often find that their highest-clicking ad isn't necessarily their best-converting ad. Click-through rate tells only a part of the story.