Getting them in the Funnel
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results"...WC
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The Eyeblaster funnel analysis shows display advertising is still very important to influence behaviors and get people in the sales funnel. As they move to buy at the conversion and buy choice points “search and display” are more and more important. A question you may ask on this may be, “Is there more to it?”
To try to answer that “Reach Beyond the Key Word” was a tag line that got my attention to read more. from “Eyeblaster”, a New York based media firm with offices world wide on all continents.
A review of the, Eyeblaster site shows credible content and research. Some fun stuff too plugs a need for better back-ends in advertising with a transparent view of the adverting business that is not always as slick and flashy as they would have us believe. It leaves the impressions that it takes work to be professional and get it right to bring out the value for a business to grow.
But why, you may ask, would I look at a US based model, when many of us work in Australasia where the markets are quite different. Firstly unlike Asia, they are willing to publish there research and be challenged. And second, no matter how different the cultures are that influence buying behaviors, the marketing fundamentals are still the same. It is all about the numbers and in the end without doubt, the US thinkers still have upwards of the best understanding and skill on how to interpret underlying marketing analytics in what is still the worlds most advanced market.
On a separate parallel, this week I had dinner in Bangkok with fashion designer and entrepreneur, Kate Wood. Kate is my daughter ans she is travelling though as part of her twice yearly buying runs to Thailand, India and elsewhere. She is also one who takes no prisoners in a very tough market in her quest to develop her own stamp on the fashion design world.
She argues that mature marketers, like the US and the Japanese leaders in retail technology are becoming less relevant in wider Asia as local counterparts with local value are evolving fast. This is especially so in places like India where the brain power and credibility is high on creative marketing and where they are now pushing Europe as suppliers with 30+ % if the worlds’ higher end fashion. In the end we both agreed it is all about the numbers and the process of understanding to make them work.
Like Australia NZ, Europe and Japan and in fact all developed nations with large economies, it seems what is now important is “search” which is used extensively by buyers in doing their research. Knowing how to leverage well with “search and display” is a conversation that is still incomplete. To help this the Eyeblaster research shows the relative maturing of the search value and differing buyers approaches in a range of sectors.
So how true is the statement that while Display increases reach to get people in the funneln Search is becoming more important as the buyer moves to intent stage.
Eyeblaster says, overall, for customers who used both search and display, 72% of conversions arrived as a direct result of the display channel.
Only 23% of the conversions were a direct result of the search channel. 5% were the result of display ads that were followed by a search.
Some verticals, such as B2B and Travel,try to focus on harvesting users who are already in the funnel and therefore have a larger portion of their conversions coming from search.
Everyday we are bombarded with material from Internet marketers who assert that Internet marketing is now king. It seems the Eyeblaster findings show that Display may still be the leading media format although they conclude that each channel plays a unique key role in the cycle.
While search harvests prospective customers that are already in the purchase funnel, it actually only reaches a limited number of people.
For all the sales people reading you may well ask. what is missing in this analysis?
It seems for many of us when we are supported by a good marketing campaign the job is easier, but the close on transactions is still mostly driven by face to face contact.
There seems little doubt that Display is still the sustaining factor that gets the funnels started. Ssearch and Display then helps with the education and conversion phase.
I wonder what the analysis would look like if live salespeople conversions were added to the channel mix.
To get Eyeblaster’s Search & Display: Reach Beyond the Keyword report, its is on their site.
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