Overview

Ads are placed for a variety of purposes. One of them is the awareness ads, aiming to increase the awareness and understanding of products or services. These awareness ads often raise issues about their difficulty in measuring their effectiveness. But by using Google Analytics in addition to data from the ad management screen, you can measure the effectiveness of your ads. This post will explain the key points of measuring awareness ads effectiveness with Google Analytics.

1. What are Awareness Ads?

(1) Difference from acquisition ads

First, let me explain awareness ads by comparing them with acquisition ads.

▼ Explanation of indicators

CVs: The number of users taking specific actions valuable to the advertiser by interacting with an advertisement (e.g., purchasing a product on a website or inquiring on a smartphone).

ROAS: Return On Advertising Spend.

IMP: IMP stands for impression. The number of times an ad is displayed.

CTs: Number of clicks on an ad.

CPC: The average cost per click of an ad.

While acquisition ads aim to increase the number of purchases and sales, awareness ads are designed to increase potential “fans” in terms of name recognition and understanding. The effectiveness of these ads is often measured based on how many times they were shown (impressions) and how many people were directed to the website (CTs).

(2)Why look at Google Analytics?

The indicators mentioned above can be found in the ad management screen. Then why do we need to check Google Analytics?

This is self-evident when you think about the true purpose of awareness ads: increasing the number of potential “fans” who may become potential future customers. Impressions and CTs only show the number of people visiting the website and not their quality. But with Google Analytics, you can see that factor.

2. Key Points on Measuring Ad Effectiveness

(1) Explanation on indicators of Google Analytics

Here are some indicators on Google Analytics that show users’ quality.

The above three indicators are often used to measure the quality of users. There are other indicators that can be used, but these three are handy since they are easy to find on the Google Analytics management screen.

For example, if the bounce rate is high, many users leave the website only visiting a single page (only the LP). In this case, the quality of users is low.

Similarly, the quality of users is low if the average session duration is short because they don’t stay long on the website. Google Analytics enables you to track website visitors’ behavior, allowing further analysis of the awareness ads.

3. Case Study of Google Analytics Utilization on Awareness Ads

(1) Improvements on the results

Here is an example of utilizing Google Analytics on Awareness Ads. One of our clients placed awareness ads on Yahoo! Display Ads (programmatic ads) and Google Display Network. The results on the management screen after one month were as follows.

Looking only at the above, the customer thought that Yahoo! Display Ads effectively increased awareness with more inflow to the website with low CPC. They almost decided to allocate more placement share to Yahoo! Display Ads. But, Google Analytics showed the following numbers.

The customer saw that the Google Display Network had better user quality in every indicator. They decided to allocate more share to the Google Display Network. The result was the following.

As you can see, the acquisition of the whole website increased after the allocation. This was because the customer was able to build a quality fan base by allocating ads according to data on Google Analytics.

Summary

I have explained designing awareness ads placements according to Google Analytics data in this post. You can place awareness ads more effectively by checking the behavior of visitors on Google Analytics. This is not possible by the indicators on the management screen. I recommend utilizing Google Analytics when placing awareness ads for more contribution to the number of purchases and sales.

Want to learn more about Awareness Ads and Google Analytics?
Please contact us to discuss how we can work together.

Irep Inc. is an award-winning global digital marketing agency based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our headquarters are in Tokyo and our network spans more than 20 countries. In Japan, we are ranked No. 1 for performance-based marketing. We also offer highly specialized market entry, as well as integrated marketing and localization services. Since 1997, our data-driven solutions have effectively led our diverse international clientele to continuous success in Japan, Asia, and beyond.

Irep Inc.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/irepinc
Email: info@irep.inc
Address: 900 Concar Dr. Suite 400, San Mateo, California 9440