Do you ever wonder what drives shoppers to make a purchase decision and how many times they must see a brand before committing? In nine years of specializing in digital programmatic advertising, our company has repeatedly observed (in our own system) that the number is irrelevant. It can range from one impression to several hundred. What really matters is that you, the marketer, are always in front of your target audience, no matter which medium or screen they happen to be browsing. If you aren't, pucker up — because you can kiss them goodbye.
The “Path to Conversion” has changed significantly over the last decade as a result of digital innovation and the evolution of e-commerce. It has morphed from a linear concept of awareness, consideration, conversion and evaluation to an intricate web of stages. Potential customers now weave in and out of these stages as they become influenced by a host of online and offline factors. Some examples of these distractions are:
• Competitor ads (both branding and conquest-based ads)
• Social interactions, whether in the form of comments, opinions or a thumbs up from our social peers
• Published content that has persuasive value via commentary, feature articles or reviews
Most marketers get caught up in balancing their budgets by capping off the number of impressions to individuals. This has not become common practice, it’s a traditional practice that’s been carried forward. Marketers do this in order to reach more consumers with fewer ads per person. If you’re serving the right market, you shouldn’t need caps.
By utilizing our own data, gathered by studying conversion reports, it becomes evident that impressions can range from a couple to several hundred over the course of a few months’ time. Why would capping make any sense?
As long as a marketer isn’t paying CPM (Cost Per Thousand), these repeated impressions are highly beneficial. Brand marketers should only be paying in the event of some form of engagement (i.e., per-click, full video view, etc.). With this strategy, hitting targets multiple times across multiple channels should cost marketers nothing unless the consumer engages.
This doesn’t mean that marketers should aim for fewer targets numerous times toward one outlet, such as Facebook. We’ve found that if this is done, there are some potential purchasers who could become annoyed, and nobody wants to rattle that cage. But if you’re supporting a true omnichannel campaign using multiple networks and devices, there should be no negative kickback.
Regarding the number of outlets upon which marketers should advertise, there’s really no “sweet spot.” Introduce many different outlets, which allows you to track the data to see which ones lead to the most conversions at the lowest cost.
Here’s an example of how one of our client’s potential customers was in and out of the marketer’s website. It authenticates that the winning advertisers are the ones staying in front of consumers the most:
On August 15, a customer clicked into one of two digital ad campaign providers (provider A) to a product in the online store, then bounced right away. The next day, he came back on his own and browsed 12 different pages on the website, looking for more products.
Three days later, he saw three ads (from provider B). He clicked in and added products to his cart. The next day, he clicked on the homepage from an in-house Facebook campaign, and after comparing products, he bought the item. After his purchase, the customer continued to browse other products in the store. Because of this secondary search, over the next few days, he saw six more ads from provider B.
On August 22, he clicked a Facebook ad into one of the products in the store. He browsed more products over the next few days. On the 25th, he visited the finance page. Over the next three days, he saw three more provider B ads on Yahoo News. He then searched for the website and came back once again. Provider B continued to hit him with ads, knowing that even after he made the purchase, he returned to browse other products. Within a week, another purchase was made — all because of the first-party data left behind, showing intent.
While Facebook might get the last-click attribution credit on the first purchase, it doesn’t take the Yahoo search and other media campaigns that provided major branding and courses of action into consideration — including that of provider B — which drove them there several times.
Disregarding these efforts by other mediums is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Without all of these other touch points, some of these outlets wouldn’t have had the chance to get credit. Provider B saw that the consumer kept looking at other products, even after making the purchase, so they stayed present — in front of him, driving him.
Marketers must be everywhere, seeing the full attribution touchpoints, not just first or last-click attribution. That’s why good digital companies track all of these steps and optimize based on the behaviors and conversions. This lets marketers see the customers’ full path to conversion and prevents wasted ad dollars, assuring every traffic-driving campaign gets credit where credit is due.
It’s like a concert. It’s not just the headliner artist that should get all the credit for the standing ovation -- there are several players that work as a team, from the band to the stage crew. Without those factors, the standing ovation couldn’t happen.
Any reputable programmatic digital company should be able to help you achieve your “standing ovation” by helping advertisers remain omnipresent, assuring that they’re there in the crucial I-want-to-buy-now moments.
So how many impressions are required to convert a customer? As many as it takes.
