Your banner ad's response rate might be double what you think it is

A couple weeks ago I wrote this post about making your web display advertising "blend in" better to improve your click-through rate.  That's certainly one way to go with your ads, but it's not the only way.

Hundreds of articles and studies have discussed the significant branding component a banner ad can have.  But few have said it as simply as Seth Godin in this blog post, where he compares banner ads to posters for Gonzaga University that features basketball players, banking on the fact that their big-name basketball team will help to lure prospective students.

A recent study from iProspect found that nearly as many people respond to a banner ad by doing a search for the product, brand or company (27%) as the number of people who actually click on the ad (31%).  Read full article on MediaBuyerPlanner here.  That's huge.  This study is saying you could basically take your CTR and double it, for a more accurate look at your banner ad's true response rate.  (Yes, I realize there are certain methodological flaws with doing exactly that...but go with me here for a second...)

In other words:

• If your bosses are measuring your campaigns solely on click-throughs, you should either try to optimize your ads to generate the most clicks (as I discussed on 7/21), or you should convince them why looking at CTR by itself is an incomplete picture of the campaign's success.  Sure, CTR can have a lot of value -- but it should never be the only metric you look at.
• If you can use a more sophisticated measurement mechanism to help you track the overall response to the ads -- whether through click-through, search, social media, etc. -- do it.  I'm sure there are a few ad tracking solutions out there that are already going in this direction.  But I guarantee you'll see a lot more popping up in the next few years, as the overall value of a banner ad is more broadly understood.