Using both sponsored search ads and display advertising produces a better conversion rate than using either channel by itself, according to a new study from digital marketing firm Atlas, a subsidiary of aQuantive.
The report, issued Friday, studied a month’s worth of online advertising by 11 marketers, analyzing more than 10.8 million impressions and 2.5 million paid clicks from 1.8 million users. It found that on average users who were exposed to both display and search advertising converted 22% more often than those who saw search ads alone.
The lift compared to users who viewed display ads only was much greater: a 400% increase in conversions for users who were reached by both types of ad.
“On average, 44% of search users are also being shown display ads from the same advertiser, which means that there is significant enough overlap that advertisers should be measuring this effect,” said Atlas analyst Esco Strong, who authored the report. He added that lift values differed greatly for the advertisers involved in the study, indicating that synergies for the search and display channels should be measured by each specific advertiser for each campaign.
The report also found a strong correlation between display ad frequency and higher conversions among advertisers who used both media. Users who saw three or more display impressions in conjunction with at least one search-ad click had better conversion rates and click-to-conversion rates than those who only saw one or two display ads.
But advertisers must watch for a point of diminishing returns at which increased display frequency leads to wasted ad spending, the report pointed out.
