Considering the Click Through Rate

In a marketing campaign, the “click-through rate” refers to the number of clicks for a specific link, divided by the number of times that specific link was viewed (Reed College of Media, 2013.) I argue that this metric is one of the most important metrics to track during a marketing campaign, because it is one of the most clear cut ways to determine if a business has achieved the goal of driving customers to a particular site. It measures the amount of traffic that any particular ad or campaign drives to the organization’s website (Stokes, 2014.)

Native mobile advertising

One real-world example of the use of click-through rate as an effective measurement tool is the ever-increasing usage of mobile native ads. Mobile native ads engage the user with an ad experience that seamlessly integrates with the app or site the user is visiting. These types of advertisements are becoming the preferred ad format for marketers, as they provide a 57% higher click through rate than other forms of online advertising. They also bring a 33% increase in ad engagement over time (Tanwani, 2015.)

But why are they so successful in improving the ability of a business to accomplish an intended goal? In my opinion, it’s because technology has continued to become effortlessly blended into our lives. Awkward, invasive, distracting popup ads have become increasingly annoying, and can lead to ad fatigue, which means no one is going to pay any attention to your ad.

Digital ads, just like offline ads, must stay relevant, fresh and current. Otherwise, ad fatigue sets in and the click through rate drops, giving online marketers a problem to solve (Vallaeys, 2014.) To fix it, they must change the ads. But not just ad copy- it goes beyond that. Remember the old saying “The medium is the message?” Well, that idea is at play here. Native advertising is used to blend in perfectly with the user’s chosen experience. The ad truly becomes part of the medium, and the message is delivered to the user in a natural way.

Nonprofit organization email campaigns

Another example of click-through rate at work in the marketing mix is when it is used to measure the success of an email campaign for a nonprofit organization. Those who take a data-driven approach to their email marketing typically have higher success rates for their newsletters than those who don’t (Love, 2015.)

But the click-through rate is just one part of a chain of events that must occur to accomplish the intended goal. First, the recipient of the email must successfully receive and open that email. Then, they must click the link in your email. (This is what is measured by click-through rate.) When the measurement of the click through rate is followed up with a measurement of the conversion rate, marketers can determine how effective their email campaign was. Discovering what people choose to click on can give marketers insights into fundraising efforts, planned giving programs and the effectiveness of their website. It also gives them perspective of what they can improve upon for next time (Love, 2015.)

So the click-through rate plays an important role in determining the success of email campaigns and the effectiveness of new forms of advertisements, like native ads. What are some ways the click-through rate can be improved?

1.) Improve the position of your ads.

Things seen immediately, as opposed to those the user has to scroll to see, are more likely to catch their attention.

2.) Keep ad copy and keyword phrases similar.
Optimized ad copy (copy that is similar to the words that the user searches for) can greatly increase your rankings in search results.

3.) Choose low-competition keyword phrases.
It’s better to use a larger number of specific search phrases than to just use a handful of common and broad terms.

(Stokes, 2014.)

References:

Love, J. (2015.) The top email KPIs for nonprofit communicators. Business 2 Community. Retrieved Monday, January 26 2015 from http://www.business2community.com/non-profit-marketing/top-email-kpis-nonprofit-communicators-01136868

Reed College of Media. (2013.) Lesson 2: Basic Web Analytics. Retrieved Saturday, January 24, 2015.

Stokes, R. (2014.) 3 Steps to improve your ad’s click through rates. Entrepreneur. Retrieved Monday, January 26, 2015 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235827

Tanwani, 2015 http://e27.co/mobile-native-ads-can-get-57-higher-click-through-rate-vserv-20150121/

Vallaeys, 2014 http://searchengineland.com/4-reasons-why-your-ad-is-fatiguing-206706