Commentary

Conversion Rate Increases Up 56% or More

Microsoft executive David Barlin said he believes a campaign combining display ads and email marketing can yield highly impressive conversion rates.

Barlin -- a product planner for Windows Live Mail, who works on the Hotmail and instant messenger products -- said company research shows integrated campaigns using banner ads and search can lead to conversion rate increases in the 22% to 56% range.

But he's convinced further research will indicate using banner ads linked with email marketing will boost conversion rates at a level above the up to 56%. 

 

The research effort â€" testing what's termed “engagement modeling” â€" is being led by Young-Bean Song, who joined Microsoft from Atlas Solutions.

Not surprisingly, one scenario Barlin proposed to marketers was combining a takeover of the entire display inventory on Hotmail for a week to build exposure, and then following that up with an email effort touting a specific offer. 

“If you can whet somebody's appetite for what you're about to offer them, they're more likely to respond and buy,” he said. 

A display-plus-search campaign has limits, he said, since marketers can't control when a person performs a search. But, in contrast, they have complete control over when an email is distributed (as well as where, be it Hotmail, YahooMail or AOL). 

“Search is waiting until the user is proactive,” he said. “With email, (the marketer is) being proactive.” 

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