New research has outlined a strong correlation between those who click and those who buy, proving banner ad clicks are a genuine intent to purchase.
Criteo’s study “Measuring the Value of Users Who Click on Online Display Ads” intended to show that the bias against clicks is misguided and directly compared the findings to the 2008 comScore study, which argued very few people click on online display ads and those who do are not the kind of people worth advertising to anyway.
The comScore report said: “The demographics of clickers are skewed towards younger browsers aged 25 to 44 earning less than $40,000 per year. This is hardly an attractive target segment for most advertisers.”
But Criteo, which claimed they were able to measure user value directly, found clickers buy three times more frequently than non-clickers.
The comScore study findings also revealed that average click rates on display ads in 2008 were less than 0.1% and that two-thirds of internet browsers do not click on any display ads over the course of a month. However, Criteo’s study contradicted the results and showed 43% of very active buyers are clickers.
The third ‘myth’ Criteo intended to dispel was the belief that a small number of people are responsible for a disproportionate number of clicks. According to comScore, only 16% of internet browsers account for 80% of all clicks but Criteo’s findings showed 20% of browsers are responsible for 50% of clicks and sales.
Criteo also intended to reverse the comScore idea that there are a small group of browsers who have nothing better to do than to click on online ads, but who are not serious shoppers. According to Criteo's findings, the more browsers click, the more they buy.
Patrick Wyatt, head of business intelligence at Criteo, said: “There is a common though misguided belief among many marketers that very few people click on online display ads and those that do are not the kind of people to advertise to.
“Normally, marketers go to great lengths to get responses from customers, using the marketing channels in which they invest. So before writing off the click, it is worth taking a second look. What we found does much to counteract some of the myths that surround click-based advertising.”
