HOW TO MEASURE YOUR BANNER AD RESULTS. A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO VITAL TERMS

So, you have already brainstormed, planned, created, A/B tested and aired your banner ads. Now what? You have to check if your digital advertising campaign is hitting the mark, of course.

Luckily, in eCommerce and online marketing, there are a lot of methods to analyze and measure the success (or the lack of it) of your efforts. In this article, we will list some of the most important metrics digital marketers use and briefly explain why each one of them is important.

From ad impressions to realized revenue, do not underestimate any of them. Careful analysis and reflection will provide you with valuable insights, inspire data-driven decisions and drive better future planning.

If you are still in the first steps and feel stuck with your creative process, don’t be discouraged. Make sure to check out our Creative Management Platform for inspiration. The good thing is that it will not only save you time and resources when preparing your banner ads but will also provide you with the needed resources and raw data to estimate the results of your campaign.

With that being said, let’s begin!

Impression

Refers to how many times your ad has been displayed on either web or mobile. Every time your ad shows on someone’s screen this counts as one impression. Keep in mind that an impression does not mean that someone has actually seen or interacted with your ad. Yet, this metric helps marketers measure the reach of their campaign.

Reach

Uses cookies to detect the number of unique ad views in order to estimate the exposure and the effectiveness of the ad. It is important to mention that this number is always lower than the impressions because one person (identified by the browser cookie) can see the same ad multiple times.

Cost

Reflects how much it costs you to prepare and run your campaign. Depending on your criteria, you can calculate every expense from the banner preparation to the execution of the campaign itself. However, some take under consideration only the actual media costs (the amount of money spent to display your banner ad for a specific time period).

Engagement/Interaction rate

Measures the user engagement level with specific content (social media posts, paid ads, etc). It is calculated by dividing the total number of interactions (likes, comments, shares, clicks) by the total number of impressions. The engagement rate is very useful when evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign. The higher the user interaction, the better its effect on the targeted audience.

CPM (cost per mille)

It is used in paid advertising and refers to how much you have to pay to have your banner ad displayed to 1000 viewers.

Clicks

Measures how many times people who have seen your ad have actually clicked or interacted with it. Usually, when users click on the ad, they are taken to a product or service landing page where they can learn more about your offer. Clicks are tracked and reported after every online promotional campaign and show the success of the campaign.

CTR (click-through rate)

Shows the percentage of viewers who clicked on the ad after seeing it. It is measured by the following formula: CTR = (clicks ÷ impressions) x 100%. A higher CTR rate means that the campaign has had success while a lower CTR rate suggests that the campaign needs to be adjusted. The CTR rate is part of the campaign’s key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure its performance and compare it to the results of other promotions.

CPC (cost per click)

How much you pay for each click that your ad banner has received. It is calculated by the following formula: CPC = Cost ÷ Clicks (eg. CPC = $100 ÷ 50 clicks = $2 per click). This is a useful metric to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different advertising channels.

Visit

Shows how many people who clicked on your ad banner actually landed on your page and visited your website. During one visit the user can browse through several pages. The page visit is ended when the user leaves the website or after a certain time of inactivity.

Bounce rate

Shows the percentage of single-page visits. This means that the user viewed only one page of your website took no action (eg, buy a product, fill out a form, subscribe to a newsletter) and then and then left. This is the formula you can use to measure the bounce rate: Bounce Rate = (Total number of single-page visits) / (Total number of entrances to the site).

Engaged Visit rate

Shows the percentage of people who browsed through more than one page or took an action. This metric provides insights into the quality of traffic coming from your banner ads. A high engaged visit rate means that both your ad and landing pages have done the trick and have resonated with the right audience.

Conversion

Refers to the specific action you want the visitor to make once the banner ad has directed them to your website. Those include, but are not limited to, buying a product, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a document, making a registration, etc. If you monitor your conversion rates and optimize your digital advertising campaigns to drive more conversions, you can greatly increase your return on investment (ROI) and expand your customer base.

Conversion rate

It is measured in percentage and shows how many visits ended up in taking the desired action. It can be calculated with the formula: Conversion Rate = Total conversions/ total visits*100.

Cost per conversion

Shows how much it cost you to acquire a single conversion. It can be calculated with the formula: Cost per Conversion = Total Cost / Total Conversions. This metric helps business optimize their campaigns and improve their ROI by making informed decisions and better allocating their marketing budget.

Revenue

The total amount of money your business has generated from the visits you have received from your banner ad. In eCommerce you can easily calculate how many buyers you have attracted thanks to your online advertising campaign. The next step is to identify new business opportunities, optimize campaigns and increase your profit.

Well, that’s that. We hope this list has been helpful for you and you will use it wisely.

In case you need further assistance do not hesitate to get in touch with us.