72% of the conversions of cross channel search and display campaigns are a direct result of the display channel, only 28% are the result of the search channel. Nevertheless, cross channel campaigns create a powerful combination by pushing customers into the marketing funnel and pulling them towards the purchase.

Eyeblaster Research NoteSearch & Display: Reach Beyond the Keyword

February 2010

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Search and Display: Reach Beyond the Keyword

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Preaching to the ConvertedIn the old days, salesmen of yellow pages ads had an unbeatable line: “ask your customers how they got your number”. they knew that no matter how much money was invested in radio, print and tV advertising, many customers turned to the yellow pages for the business’ phone number as their last stop before calling.

these salesmen knew that the answers would over-represent the true value of yellow pages as its share of the marketing effort. this was harmless though, as even with a full page ad, yellow pages can only represent a limited portion of the advertising budget. besides, nobody would seriously consider shutting down all other advertising and spend it all on ads in the directory. Moreover, it was clear that, in many cases, the call generated from the yellow pages was triggered by an ad seen elsewhere.

the limits of the medium in generating sales are less clear with the modern equivalent of the yellow pages – the search engine. Marketers are lured by the ability of search to pull prospective customers located at the bottom of the marketing funnel, who are actively looking for their product. targeting these customers makes a lot of business sense. they have signaled their desire to buy a product by actively typing a keyword, and are far more likely to convert as compared to other prospects at the upper levels of the funnel or outside the funnel.

the purchase funnel is a theoretical marketing model that describes the customer’s journey towards the purchase. the further the prospective customer moves through the funnel, the higher the likelihood that he or she is going to purchase the product. While there are many variations to the funnel, in the most prevalent models, the customer moves from awareness through favorability, consideration and intent to purchase down to the purchase itself.

Search works on the lower parts of the funnel by targeting prospective customers in the consideration stage or in the intent to purchase stage and pushes them to complete their purchase. Display, on the other hand, works on all stages of the funnel. It brings new prospective customers into the funnel by generating awareness, while the impact of the engagement with the creative ushers prospects through favorability, consideration and intent to purchase.

as in the case of the yellow pages, search does not bring new prospects into the funnel, but rather moves existing ones through. this raises the question of scalability – the reach of search is limited to prospects that are already in the funnel. Furthermore, the number of those lucrative prospective customers with intent to purchase is limited. the question that arises is how to get more people into the funnel.

One way to increase the overall number of conversions is to extend the number of keywords. While it makes sense to explore other related keywords, at some point, keywords may lose relevance. Once the keywords purchased are extended too far, it would be the equivalent of buying an ad for taxis in the restaurant section of the yellow pages, since someone may need a lift.

When the campaign needs to be scaled beyond the number of prospective customers that can be solicited through search, display advertising comes into play. the difference between search and display is that in search, only prospects who have shown an active interest in the product by typing a keyword are shown the ad, while in display, the ad is pushed to all of the target demographic.

In the pull strategy used by search, prospective customers are only solicited deep in the funnel, and therefore their conversion rate tends to be high. In display, prospects may not even be in the funnel, which makes the conversion rate relatively low.

The Role of Search and Display in the Funnel

Dis

pla

y

Sea

rch

Repeat Purchase

Awareness

Favorability

Consideration

Intent to Purchase

Purchase

Search and Display: Reach Beyond the Keyword

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Getting them in the Funnelthe results of this study by Eyeblaster research suggest that advertisers who use display advertising to extend their reach beyond search receive the overwhelming majority of their conversions as a result of display advertising. by using a cross channel campaign, these advertisers use search in order to harvest prospects that are deep in the funnel, while using display to solicit as many additional prospects as possible and move them into and down the funnel.

the research was conducted on 207 advertisers in 21

Source: Eyeblaster research.

Data: cross channel campaigns served from June 2008 to august 2009.

Search and Display Conversions

Search only

Search after display

Display only

verticals, running cross channel search and display campaigns. campaigns were served between June 2008 and august 2009. campaigns were tracked using Eyeblaster’s channel connect for Search (cc4S).

cc4S enables effective management and integration of paid search marketing campaigns across all major engines and geographical markets and display campaigns. the cross channel campaign has unified reporting that enables users to compare results of search and display side by side.

72% 23%

5%

“One of nearly five search conversions was preceded by a display impression.”

Search and Display: Reach Beyond the Keyword

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the proportion of conversions generated by search as compared to conversions generated by display differs between verticals. 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. Other verticals, such as Entertainment and consumer Packaged Goods (cPG), try to allure more users into the funnel and expand reach, and thus use more display advertising, receiving the lion’s share of its conversions from there.

One caveat on interpreting these results: the share of display conversion vs. search conversion is based on observations from past campaigns, and is the result of the budget allocation decisions made by these advertisers. Other budget allocation decisions may have achieved different results. therefore, it should not be interpreted as a best practice for optimization or allocation of budget between search and display campaigns.

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. thus, one of nearly five search conversions was preceded by a display impression. conversions with a mixed search and display path may be the result of navigational search – people who are navigating to the site of Widget X, but searching “Widget X” instead of typing the Url.

conversions that resulted from display advertising followed by search are evidence of the effectiveness of display advertising. Display increases awareness and retention of the brand such that users remember the name of the brand or the company in order to search for it and get to its website. thus, display advertising creates a far deeper retention that lasts beyond the moments that the ad is viewed, as compared to search impressions.

Source: Eyeblaster research.

Data: cross channel campaigns served from June 2008 to august 2009.

Share of Display and Search Conversions by Vertical

Display Conversions

Search Conversions

Search and Display: Reach Beyond the Keyword

Bridging the Silos the main lesson from these findings is that each channel plays a unique role in a campaign. While search harvests prospective customers that are already in the purchase funnel, it reaches a limited number of people. Display increases reach by soliciting as many customers as possible and moving them into the funnel. therefore, the role of each channel is not mutually exclusive, as evidenced by the conversions that are the result of a combination of search and display.

While there is a clear need for a holistic view of cross channel search and display campaigns, many advertisers find it hard to compare the results from both channels. Eyeblaster’s cc4S integrates the reporting from both channels and provides an analysis of the path to conversion, by tracking all of the exposures to the campaign, and not only the last ad. With a holistic view of both channels, advertisers can make informed decisions on their campaign, and target prospective customers effectively into and throughout the funnel.

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