In a recent eMarketer article, a survey was conducted by Jivox asking brands and agencies about the use of data to dynamically update digital advertising creative. The idea of using first party consumer data is attractive to brands and agencies since fresh data on consumer behavior may point to increased opportunities and engagement.
So, let’s back up. When we talk about first party data, that’s the data companies gather about their customers. First party data often includes transaction, loyalty and customer service data to help inform sales and marketing decision as well as customer service initiatives. First party data often provides the most accurate way to tie marketing and sales initiatives to customer engagement and ultimately their path to purchase.
What the eMarketer article revealed is that the use of data to dynamically optimize or customize advertising creative is a wide spread practice, in fact, two-thirds responded this was a key part of their creative process. However, when asked about core benefits or goals related to dynamically updated creative, the core benefits realized focused on engagement and Click Through Rates (CTRs) which suggests most of the dynamic creative approaches focus on banner ads. While focusing on banner ads and CTRs has its benefits, it ignores a critical path to purchase which is the brand or franchise website.
As reported by xAd, Secondary Action Rates, are a better indicator of campaign success compared to CTRs since banner ads frequently encourage website visits to gather more information, connect with brands, or print maps to know where the nearest location might be. In order for dynamically optimized creative to be more effective, it must also sync up with website conversation data. Including the website as part of the campaign, conversion data and purchase data can then be used more effectively to dynamically upgrade both the banner campaign and the website creative to maximize success.
With websites acting as the digital hub, syncing first party data with banner CTRs and website conversion data, provides a much clearer view of campaign success and the consumer path to purchase. This has a multiplier effect when a brand or franchise organization operates and manages multiple location-specific sites. In the case of a franchise or multi-location brand organization, managing hundreds or even thousands of sites, first party data and website conversion data by location, market, and creative content provides greater visibility into location-specific data which is key to mobile marketing efforts. Utilizing all of these data inputs allows brands to drive multi-faceted campaign optimization strategies to not only achieve improved click through rates, but understand what encourages prospects to convert by location so success can be dynamically replicated across multiple websites and online creative.
DevHub works closely with agencies and brands to sync up online banner campaigns and data inputs to dynamically adjust website creative to match campaign creative and goals to ensure higher conversion rates and support traffic for local retail outlets and franchise locations. Contact us to learn more about our agency and multi-store solutions.
About the author: Michael Taylor is an international digital marketing and sales strategist, helping companies understand digital transformation and how to build competitive digital portfolios. Michael is a former Sr. Analyst and Business Development Director with BIA/Kelsey acting as an advisor for DevHub.