Can we finally prove that online ads trigger as many searches as clicks

According to a new study by iProspect, over half of internet users (52%) actively respond to display advertising on ad-supported websites. Among them, almost as many initially respond to an ad by conducting a search as those who click on the ad. Results from iProspect’s “Search Engine Marketing and Online Display Advertising Integration Study” suggest a closer relationship between search and online display than many marketers think, noting that internet users initially respond to online display advertising as follows:

• 31% respond by directly clicking on an ad.
• 27% respond by searching for the product, brand, or company by launching a search on a search engine.
• 21% respond by typing the company web address into their browser and directly navigating to the website.
• 9% respond by investigating the product, brand, or company through social media venues.

The key message from this study is that online display advertising is far from dead – its 31% direct response rate confirms that. However, it is interesting to see that almost as many people initially respond to display ads by performing a search as those who actually click on an ad. In essence, search becomes an alternative mechanism for internet users to respond to online display. Marketers might want to consider search as a form of “insurance” for their investment in display advertising.

The study also examined consumer behavior that takes place after the initial response to a display ad, finding nearly half of internet users who respond to online ads eventually perform a search related to what they see.

Asked how they eventually respond to an ad, nearly half of internet users (49%) who respond to online display ads launch a search on a search engine for the company, product, or brand that was the focus of the ad to which they were exposed. This figure includes those who eventually perform a search and visit the website from the search results (38%), those who do the same but actually purchase the product (14%), and those who perform a search but do not click on any of the results (11%).

Other findings included:

• Familiarity breeds response: One third of Internet users (33%) who respond to online display advertising eventually purchase from a company/offering with which they are familiar – more than twice the number who eventually purchase after learning of an offering/company for the first time from online display advertising (14%).
• 38% who respond to online display advertising learn about a brand for the first time as a result of their exposure to this type of ad.

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