By Michaleen Craig
Developer
Nielsen’s latest global online consumer survey found that 90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. In other words, when purchasing an item, people value opinions of friends and relatives over anyone else.
Know what online medium gets a mere 33% of consumer trust?
Not blogs
Not brand websites
Not search engine advertisements
The drum roll please … Banner advertisements!
The only medium that consumers value less are mobile advertisements (24% of consumer trust).
Why the bad rap for banner advertisements? Like any other sort of ad, they are targeted. Any Internet marketing agency worth their weight in clients should be A/B testing the banner ads to determine best designs, best sizes and best ad placements. MicroArts has seen great success in conversion rates for our clients’ banner advertisements.
Based on the chart above, brand websites earn 70% of consumer trust. This stat leads me to believe that consumers are NOT clicking on banner ads because they don’t trust the destination of the ad. Sure some banner ads allow you to pitch a baseball or punch a monkey (which is of course entertaining) … but what are you really getting yourself into? No one wants to get lost in a sea of pop-ups.
Don’t waste time fooling consumers. When you fool someone into pitching a baseball, yes, you do increase your conversion rate … but what are the odds of turning that conversion into a sale? Better yet, what is the ROI on the advertising campaign?
Clients should expect ROI on their banner ads. ROI makes everyone happy. Happy clients make us happy. In order to improve ROI on banner ads, Internet marketing agencies need to put the trust back into banner ads. Include your brand in your advertisement … not just your logo. Your brand is the key to gaining consumer trust. A consumer will feel your brand when they see your banner advertisement and, because of that trust, they can be sure that clicking on your banner ad will take them to your trusted brand website.
Want to improve ROI on your next banner ad campaign? Give MicroArts a call.