How Market Research Can Optimize Your Display Ad Spend

While there are many strategies and tactics on the digital advertising landscape, one method in particular that has the potential to generate enormous ROI is display ads.

As the name suggests, display ads are text, video and/or audio ads that are shown on websites that align with an advertiser’s target audience. For example, an insurance company pitching its travel insurance products might publish display ads on tourism-themed websites, while a project management software vendor might publish display ads on websites that cater to project managers (note in many cases, businesses do not purchase and publish display ads themselves, but use a digital advertising agency – however, the point is still the same in that display ads are not “spray and pray” advertising – they are strategically targeted to desirable customer groups).

However, as we noted in the introduction to this article, display ads have the POTENTIAL to be profitable. That means while some businesses are reaping substantial ROI – often surpassing any other kind of advertising they are doing online or offline – there are many more businesses that are not having fun at the display ads party. The difference between the two? Surprisingly, it’s not that successful display advertisers are spending more than their unsuccessful counterparts and competitors. Ironically, many of them are spending LESS! Rather, it is that the former is typically taking advantage of market research.

Below, we highlight the 4 key ways that market research helps optimize your display ad spend:

1. Market research helps ensure that ads are being published to the right people, on their right websites, at the right time.
2. Market research reveals critically important design elements that attract interest and generate clicks. Indeed, it may not seem like an important detail, but display ad size, orientation, colors, fonts, graphics and button placement all combine to play a pivotal role in an ad’s success – or lack thereof.
3. Market research highlights the key messages that display ads need to contain. For example, businesses may believe that their core value proposition – and therefore the content that should be in their ad – revolves around their price advantage. However, market research may reveal that this messaging is actually filtering out higher quality and more profitable customers who are more interested in product quality and after-sales support.
4. Market research helps identify what customers want to experience after they click on a display ad. For example, a display ad targeting a professional group (e.g. project managers) may generate the most ROI if the click takes customers directly to a product demo video, while a display ad targeting consumers searching for a personal loan may generate the most ROI if the click takes them to an online loan calculator app.

Learn More

To learn more about how market research can optimize your display ad spend – and help you reap the enormous profit potential of this game-changing customer acquisition method – contact the Communications For Research team today. You’ll speak with our co-CEO Colson Steber to discuss your display ad opportunities and how CFR’s market research can identify the optimal spend and placement of these ads.

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