But even as mere clicks have become less important—joined now by a whole range of useful and significant KPIs—the old-fashioned click is still important. After all, every online-generated engagement, conversation, lead, or order had to begin with a click.
But how much is a click worth? Is a click on social media worth more than a click on a mobile device? Is a paid-search click worth more than one prompted by an organic-search result? Clients ask me all the time. They want to know what CTR (click-thru rate) should be expected, and how each click should be valued.
My answer frustrates them —nine times out of 10 (more like 9.9) I say, it depends. CTRs are influenced by a number of variables including ad placement, channel, product, service, time of day (the list goes on), and values are controlled by another whole set of variables.
While I can’t tell you what a click is worth or how to price it, I can tell you something that is ultimately more important: I can tell you how to make it worth more!
Targeting can increase the value of a click two ways. You can choose to target through technology, such as using demographic, behavioral, and/or geographical data to choose who to deliver a message to. You may also choose to target based on content, such as serving display ads on a website that posts articles about first-time parenting or mobile display served in an app geared towards men’s health. Targeting the right audience, an audience of heavy users, will make every click worth more.
Once you’ve determined the audience you want to target, you can then further enhance value by delivering personalized messages to that audience. Amazon does this well and has for years. It’s like they’re reading your mind: Based on your purchase history, and those within a similar target, Amazon serves you offers their data tells them you’re likely to find appealing. Catalina Marketing does it with data, too—using available individual-level purchase behavior to offer coupons and other opportunities not exactly like offers made to other individuals. Clicks based on personalized content or creative are worth far more because the consumer is so much more likely to convert.
Once a click is achieved and after a conversion occurs, the value proposition can still keep growing. If you take into consideration the Zero Moment Of Truth, then you recognize that there are opportunities to remain relevant to the consumer and to deliver on expectations—so the consumer will share their positive experience on social media. The expectations could be set by a promise within the creative messaging, through an exchange with customer service, or through a positive perception achieved by simply walking into a store location.
What these three tactics have in common is that they provide a better experience for the consumer and deliver a better return for the advertiser. As digital marketing continues to evolve and new products, services, and technology are introduced, consumers will become more and more discerning. Smart marketers will win by targeting, personalizing, and continuing to delight.