The last click vs. the Long Road to Conversion

Continuing my previous post on the ‘last click’ and the influencing factors of preceding events… As consumers are using digital media (currently in the US accounting for a third of all their media consumption) and come in contact with brands – are we to count the last click, and discount all those ‘ad events’ that came previously? Not exactly. The Atlas Institute, in their recent research, The Long Road to Conversion, looked at the influencing factors preceding the conversion.

The research was based on some 69 million conversion records gathered from thousands of sites. For the purposes of the research 90 days of history was recorded. After the first day, the median total ad events were 2.2 (over 2 ads were served to an individual within 24 hours before they converted). However, the real surprise is, that this number went up to as high as 18.5 median total ad events during the entire 90 day window. What this means is that consumers are in fact reached months before they actually make the purchase.

Marketers know that for the purchase to happen, first they need to gain consumers’ attention, their interest and build a desire. The widely used marketing model describing these stages leading up to the purchase is the AIDA Purchase Funnel (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action). 

The Atlas Institute, based on their research, added time to the standard AIDA funnel – chart below – which allowed mapping the influencing factors. This funnel demonstrates where different conversion categories appear on the 90 day timeline. Search is at the very bottom, which means that this category reaches consumers within 24 hours before they buy. Strongly suggesting that at this stage many people have already made up their mind about the purchase and using Search as a navigational tool - attributing the ‘last click’ to this category. It takes over a week before the first publisher appears, but most are 2 weeks or further up on the funnel.

 
What this proves is that the relationship between brand / advertising message and the consumers is certainly not a ‘one night stand’ (Avinash Kaushnik), but can be a rather long road with a number of influencing factors before the actual purchase happens.

What this means for display advertisers is that they need to consider the entire funnel. To achieve an integrated marketing campaign there has to be a strong message at the top of the funnel, the middle and also the bottom. .