• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 17, 2009

Eyeblaster will release a study this week that supports the importance of conversions--the moment when a consumer exposed to an ad performs a desired action. It also looks at the marketing funnel and strategies that marketers can do to boost a direct response.

The new study, "Trends in Conversions," relies on data representing more than 2,000 campaigns that ran in 2008, as well as nearly 30 billion impressions. It shows how marketers can effectively boost direct-response performance by capturing data directly from banner ads, compared with sending the consumer to the Web site to collect information.

Key findings from the report reveal that capturing data remains the key to improving performances in marketing campaigns across many industries and forms of digital media. From standard advertising to search, the marketing funnel identifies how marketers can increase the effectiveness of campaigns by capturing the data and putting it to good use.

"Many clients are focused on click-through rates, but we found conversion rates are higher," said Amit Rahav, VP of marketing at research firm Eyeblaster, emphasizing that the elimination of steps can drive higher direct-response rates. "If your objective is to collect leads to target consumers at another time with specific offers, conversions inside the banner are much better."

Rahav said it's important to track the consumer through the entire process, even if it takes 90 days from the time they show interest in the product, to the purchase or download. "Most consumers will be exposed to many days of advertising from everyday lives and searching on the Web," he said. "Tracking that experience is a more valid approach. You need to report on cross-channel interaction and not just the last click."

Eyeblaster's findings show that the ability to capture data within a banner is nearly eight times more effective at addressing conversions than click-through rates (CTR), revealing that consumers are more likely to fill in a banner than click on it.

An analysis of a health campaign in the report reveals that CTRs jump from .10% conversions to .60% for in-banner submissions. When comparing the data capture within a banner, 1.06%, versus on-site, .20% and .51%, marketers can see that by removing several required steps the conversion rate is five times that of standard display and double the rates for rich media ads.

Conversions-in-banner ads offer a conversion rate five times higher than in-site conversions. Advertisers should identify opportunities for shorter time lines. Typically, this is relevant for more simple conversions, but even mobile cellular contracts have been successfully sold in banner ads, Rahav said. The research in the study details a European mobile operator as an example.

Microsoft recently released a report through its research division detailing the time line in the marketing funnel. Rahav agrees with Microsoft's finding that the funnel remains important--adding that Eyeblaster offers advertisers a product called Channel Connect, which measures a path across channels to conversion. He calls Microsoft's view on conversions "limited" because the funnel ends at a purchase or download from a brick-and-mortar store or online site, respectively.