24 May 2023 Rita Boscarato
Journal of Experiences
The use of techniques related to listening to users helps to attract users’ attention and to optimize ads, increasing their effectiveness.
Often, while we browse websites, we see advertising banners appear, and just as often, these are capable of attracting our attention until we get a precious click to find out more about a service or offer.
This type of advertising activity is the result of the activation of a Google Display campaign aimed at intercepting people who have been interested in certain themes and subjects. This happens while, for example, they navigate within the GDN (Google Display Network), which is strategically structured precisely to obtain action from users.
What are Google Display campaigns?
Google Display campaigns were introduced in 2003 and are a form of online advertising that uses images, text and other visual formats (e.g. GIFs) to promote a product or service by showing relevant ads on web pages that belong to the GDN, which includes millions of websites, apps and Google properties.
At the beginning of this article, display campaigns were introduced by citing their ability to intercept the interests of users browsing the web. This feature is called advanced targeting and allows advertisers to specifically define the users to whom they want to show their ads, based on demographic criteria such as age, gender, geographical location and, precisely, their interests (by affinity, specific affinity and in-market). Defining a specific target allows you to reach your target audience in a more targeted way, improving the overall effectiveness of the advertising campaign.
Another feature of display campaigns is that they offer different ad placement options: advertisers can choose to show ads on specific websites, on web pages related to certain topics or on popular mobile apps, thus tailoring the display of ads to the most relevant contexts for their target.
Display campaigns also boast accurate performance measurement, subdivided by single target. Through the Google Ads panel it is possible to monitor the number of views of the ads, the clicks received and other key metrics. This data is very valuable as it allows you to optimize the campaign while it is still active, making any changes immediately so as to maximize the performance of individual ads.
One last feature of display campaigns that is worth mentioning is the ability to use different creative formats. Display ads can include images, animations, videos, and even interactive elements, giving advertisers the ability to create engaging, eye-catching ads that grab users’ attention and drive engagement.
How to optimize display campaigns by listening to users?
The structure and composition of visual formats are of paramount importance for optimizing display campaigns. This is why, through tools such as Eye Tracking, which we use at TSW, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising banners through the behavior of users who observe them, thus identifying the effects they have on people who surf the web. Let’s get to know this tool better.
Eye Tracking is a process that consists of analyzing and tracking the movements of people’s eyes as they interact with advertisements. This technology provides valuable information on users’ visual behavior, defining important insights regarding the optimization of the position of specific elements, the design and content of the ads to maximize their impact and effectiveness.
The clearest way to evaluate the effectiveness of banner ads is by identifying the “hot spots” or areas of greatest attention. Studies have shown that people tend to focus on certain areas of an ad, such as text, images, or calls-to-action. Identifying these hot spots allows you to strategically place key elements of your ads to get more attention from users and increase your conversion rate.
However, the potential of Eye Tracking does not stop at just composing an effective ad: the analysis they are capable of can also be used to carry out tests on different creatives or textual elements, comparing them with each other. By tracking the movement of the user’s gaze, it is possible to compare their reactions to different versions of ads and identify which of these could get more attention and engagement. This will give you a clearer indication of which ad could be preferred for a display campaign with more effective performance.
In conclusion, display campaigns are a valuable tool for advertisers who want to promote their products or services online in an eye-catching and engaging way. However, it is recommended to take advantage of technologies aimed at analyzing the perception that people have of what they observe to improve all those elements of an ad that would otherwise be almost ineffective.