I was speaking with Nate Elliott from Jupiter Research last week and he choked on his muffin at the idea that clickthrough rate on banners might be a useful guide to levels of overall engagement across a campaign.
I wasn't really arguing that clickthrough rate alone can unlock the secrets of the ancients: but I do think that it might be a useful indicator to how well a campaign is performing (taken alongside other metrics, like the obvious ones of cost per sale).
Funnily enough, where we have run brand research alongside an online campaign, there is often a correlation between campaigns with a high CTR and campaigns which deliver good uplifts in brand metrics.
And the new mantra in PPC search is that it is important to focus on CTR alongside cost per click. CTR is, for search engines like Google, a measurement not of brand impact but of relevance - and campaigns delivering high CTRs are rewarded, via the Quality Score, with a lower cost per click.
Of course, that isn't a disinterested decision by the search networks. The calculation they make of (crudely) high rank = CPC x CTR also magically ensures that the listings that appear highest on the page are also those which deliver the most revenue.
No one is talking about a system like this for display advertising, but it would make some sense for publishers. It would essentially reward banners that are the most interesting to their customers, delivering more relevant content through editorial and advertising. It would also be a good incentive for clients to keep their banner creative fresh and interesting - which would be good for everyone.
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