According to recent research from Maxifier among senior decision makers in digital marketing agencies, 68% viewed conversion rates as either extremely or very important when optimizing online display campaigns focused on brand awareness, compared with 59% who cited brand engagement. Importance of Factors Optimizing Brand Awareness Campaign (% of Respondents) FactorExtremely ImportantVery ImportantImportant Audience targeting 32% 33% 28% Price 27 30 29 Conversion rate 26 42 19 Post-impression conversion 26 32 25 Brand engagement 23 36 29 Behavioral targeting 18 36 29 Click-through rate 15 38 24 Contextual targeting 11 34 39 Source: Maxifier, February 2012 The report demonstrated the growing importance of optimization, for both brand and direct response campaigns, in order to ensure campaigns deliver to their advertiser’s objectives. On average, brand campaigns are optimized 10 times in the U.S. while for direct response campaigns it is slightly higher at 11 times. The result of this optimization is that across brand and direct response campaigns one in 10 websites on average are dropped from campaigns, equating to seven sites for brand campaigns and eight for direct response. This highlights the necessity of publishers to demonstrate performance to ensure they are not marginalized. Jonathon Shaevitz, CEO at Maxifier, says that “... the research highlights the importance agencies still place on performance for online advertising campaigns, whether... brand awareness or direct response... (and) that optimization is now... a very important element of every campaign...” Shaevitz continued by noting that “...there seemed to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of the word ‘optimization’... “ The research also reveals that the U.S. American campaigns are typically longer (47% last three months or more, compared to 16% in the U.K.), and advertisers invest larger budgets into display, video and mobile campaigns than their U.K. counterparts. In the US, direct-response campaigns account for 54% of total ad budgets, and brand campaigns account for 41%. By contrast, in the UK, marketers invest more heavily in direct-response campaigns over branding campaigns. Display Budget Percentage Allocated to Type of Advertising (% of Respondents by Group) Type of CampaignTotal AllocationUKUS Direct Response 56% 67% 54% Branding 41 31 43 Other 3 2 3 Source: Maxifier, February 2012 U.S. advertisers indicated uncertainty as to the most effective type of metric, with cost per conversion, conversion rates and a measured increase in brand awareness garnering equal weight in gauging campaign success. In the U.K., cost per conversion was cited as paramount, followed by new business signups and conversation rate. Importance of Factors Evaluating Direct Response Campaign Website Effectiveness (% of Respondents) FactorExtremely ImportantVery ImportantImportant Conversion rate 39% 26% 11% Post impression conversions 29 23 22 Price 28 26 22 Audience targeting 21 31 26 Behavioral targeting 20 26 24 Click through rate 14 34 24 Brand engagement 14 28 26 Contextual targeting 10 32 25 Source: Maxifier, February 2012 The study also shows the more mature online advertising landscape in the U.S. compared to the U.K. in terms of technologies for the buying and selling of online advertising. Demand Side Platforms are used more widely in the U.S. than in the U.K. (22% and 14%, respectively), as are exchanges (32% and 24%, respectively). Shaevitx concludes by noting that “... the growing complexities and challenges around online advertising means publishers today need to... manage their inventory, increase performance and... demonstrate ROI to retain and... increase business... ” For additional information, please visit Maxifier here.