Display advertising online has been present for over two decades. They’re nothing new. Display advertising has changed significantly over the past 20 years in terms of content, format, and messaging. This is due to the fact that it has had to adapt to the changing landscape of the internet and consumer behavior.
The banner ad had a click-through rate of 44%. The average CTR for standard display ads has been slowly decreasing and was at around 0.1% in 2012, according to DoubleClick. This excludes video and rich media ads. Advertisers had to do something to ensure that their ads were seen as useful resources instead of annoying nuisances.
Even though it’s important to look at CTRs, it’s not the only thing to focus on. As more advertisers begin to see the value in online display ads, the focus has shifted from direct response advertising to ads that can be seen by the target audience. This shift allows advertisers to reach their target consumers more effectively. Even if this ad wasn’t clicked on, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t noticed or remembered. Advertisers are choosing to pay only for ads that result in performance, rather than pay for clicks or impressions. Advertisers want their ad to result in a purchase, which doesn’t always happen when someone clicks on the ad.
1. The ability of online display ads to influence people increases as they come closer to a purchase decision.
Display ads are more likely to influence people when they are looking into purchasing something, rather than when they have no intention of buying anything.
Advertiser action item #1:
It is important to create different ads with different messages that will appeal to both the researcher and the purchaser of your product or service. Advertisers are more likely to reach and engage their target audience when they use targeted impressions in combination with ads that are most likely to be received positively by the target audience.
Here are a few examples of Dell display ads and different creatives that have been used:
This text is focusing on particular features of the product that might appeal more to researchers.
2. The relevancy of ads cannot be understated.
Forty percent of people responded to an advertisement because it was relevant to a need or want, or relevant to the activity they were engaged in at the time.
Advertiser action item #2:
You can use data from previous searchers to target ads to users who are more likely to be interested in what you’re advertising. This is called audience data or lookalike modeling. Retargeting ads to potential customers based on their past activity or searches is valuable at this stage, as they can be reached all over the web while they comparison shop.
An established Canadian charitable organization ran a retargeting campaign in Q2 2015, using first and third party data lookalike modeling, and contextual targeting, to help drive existing and new users to their website. The campaign’s goal was to increase donations while reducing its cost per action. This allowed for more precise targeting, which then led to more efficient spending. The eCPA decreased by 689%, meaning that it cost $76 instead of the goal of $600.
3. Clicks on ads are not the only actions taken after seeing ads.
The majority of people said they would look online for the product featured in the ad, with the same amount saying they would click on the ad. Many people would search for more information online after seeing an ad that caught their attention, although it would not be as quick as clicking on the ad.
4. Clicks on ads are not the only actions that lead to purchase.
One third of those surveyed said they had made a purchase after seeing an ad online. Out of the people asked, 61% clicked and 44% searched before making a purchase.
5. The age of the target audience can impact when ads are most likely to influence them in the buying cycle.
- Overall, 18–25 year olds are most likely to be influenced by online advertising.
- At the beginning of the buying cycle, younger adults aged 18–34 are likely to notice and be influenced by ads much more than people aged over 35.
- At the later stages of the buying cycle, older adults aged 26–54 are 12% more likely that 18–25 year olds to have made a purchase as a result of seeing an ad.
6. Gender influences how much of an impact display ads have.
More women made an online purchase in the last 30 days, whereas more men made an offline purchase.
- 76% more women than men visited an advertiser’s website without clicking on the ad.
- 47% more women than men searched online for more information about the advertiser, product, or service.
- 43% more men than women visited the advertiser’s location.
- 33% more men than women contacted the advertiser.
7. Income influences how much of an impact display ads have.
- Web users who earned over $100k a year were 35% more likely to be influenced by an ad when exposed to something they hadn’t even thought about than those making under $50k a year.
- When ready to buy, people who earned under $20K were 12.5% more likely to be influenced by ads than those making over $100K.
8. Discounts don’t influence people if they are not relevant.
The results of the survey were surprising in that discounts or promotions in ads did not have more of an impact on people. It’s likely that the ads with coupons were irrelevant to the searcher’s needs or wants and, therefore, had no impact. We surveyed people to see what reasons they had for taking action after seeing an online ad. Around 40% of people surveyed said that they took some sort of action after seeing an advertisement because it related to something they needed or wanted, as opposed to simply being interested in the product.
What is YouTube CTR?
The YouTube click-through rate (CTR) displays how many users clicked on your video after being registered as an impression.
The YouTube CTR only captures a fraction of your video’s total views, as it doesn’t take into account impressions from external websites or end screens.
One of the most important metrics for content creators to focus on is engagement. Having a low CTR will mean that people are less likely to see your videos as suggestions.
Conversely, a high CTR rate prompts more reach.
What are Impressions on YouTube?
The “YouTube impressions” metric refers to the number of times people saw your video as a suggested video.
YouTube only counts an impression when the thumbnail is visible on the page for longer than one second and at least 50% of the thumbnail is visible.
The number of times your ad is seen in a search results page is called an impression. Impressions are limited to thumbnail views and don’t include clicks or video views.
Impressions are tracked in order to understand how effective the video thumbnail is in persuade users to open the video.
You should monitor impressions in addition to CTR.
How to Check the Click-Through Rates of Your YouTube Videos
There is no doubt that the best metric to check how much traffic your thumbnails and titles are generating is CTR.
To calculate YouTube CTR, divide the number of times an ad is clicked by the number of times it is shown. The formula for determining a click-through rate is to take the number of clicks and divide it by the total impressions. This number is then multiplied by 100.
This means that, out of every 1000 views of your video, 100 people clicked on it. Your CTR would be 10%.
On YouTube, there are two different CTR metrics you can measure:
- Average CTR for all videos
- The CTR for each individual video
To find your average CTR for all videos, go to the Creator Studio and click on Analytics.
What is a Good CTR on YouTube?
The amount of clicks you get on your videos varies depending on how many subscribers you have, what area your video is focused on, how many views it gets, and how long it’s been up on YouTube. For example, you’re likely to see a higher click-through rate when you first upload a video. The majority of the views at this time are from subscribers.
If the video ends up on “What’s next” on YouTube, the number of people who see it will increase, but the proportion of people who click on it is likely to decrease.
A high CTR is any percentage that is higher than the average for your channel.
For example, if you are currently averaging a 3%, you should strive to increase that to 4%, 5%, 6%, and so on.
According to YouTube, approximately half of the channels on the site have a Click-Through Rate (CTR) of 2-10%. You can use this as a gauge for how your YouTube channel is doing in terms of click-through rate.
Based on our research and the feedback from marketers, the average CTR on YouTube is between 4-5%.
PRO TIP: Analyze Your YouTube Channel Performance Like a Pro
To determine which types of videos are most popular with your audience, you can track engagement metrics such as watch time, number of views, and likes and dislikes for each video individually using a variety of tools, including YouTube.
Now you can quickly monitor your video content performance in a single dashboard that monitors fundamental metrics, such as:
- Average watch time. How much time do viewers spend watching your video content?
- Watch time by video. Which videos drive most of your audience watch time each month?
- Subscribers gained vs lost. How quickly are you gaining or losing subscribers?
- Number of likes, comments and shares. How engaged is your audience?
You can now improve your YouTube channel performance by using ourDatabox template which was created by our video marketing experts. This software is easy to use on its own or as part of marketing reports. It’s also free!
It is very easy to set up, you don’t need to know how to code.
To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Get the template
Step 2: Connect your YouTube account with Databox.
Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.
Tips to Increase YouTube CTR
Now that we’ve talked about some of the basics, we can move on to ways you can increase your YouTube channel’s click-through rate.
Create Captivating Thumbnails
Your CTR (click-through rate) percentage is significantly affected by your thumbnails, to the point where they can determine the success of your channel as a whole.
Thumbnails are more than just a small content frame, they are the teasers that tell viewers that a video will be interesting.
Thumbnails can have a big influence on whether or not people will watch your videos. If someone is scrolling through a list of videos and sees an interesting thumbnail, they are more likely to click on that video than one with a boring thumbnail.
Write Compelling Video Titles
“Title optimization” was ranked as the second most important thing that can increase your YouTube’s CTR by marketers who participated in our survey (after “thumbnail optimization”).
YouTube users are more likely to click on a video with a catchy title, but this doesn’t mean that the title is clickbait.
Don’t write checks your content can’t cash.
Test Different Thumbnail and Title Combos
Just because a certain thumbnail or title formula has worked well in the past, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment with new ideas.
If you’re worried about click-through rates, just remember that more people clicking on your video title or thumbnail increases the chances you’ll rank for a given search result. This, in turn, will eventually improve your YouTube CTR, Jackson Gartner, CEO of White Peak Digital, says.
You can improve your video’s click-through rate by testing different combinations of video thumbnails and titles to see what works best for you. This is done by performing A/B testing.
Build a Loyal Following
It is easier to get more traffic to your channel and increase your CTR if you have a large, loyal following.
The kind of energy and attitude you project will attract similar people to you. YouTube is an excellent way to show the world what kind of person you are.
