How Rich Media Engagement Converts Better than Static Banners

Static banners are dying horrible deaths. They are not just dull and uninteresting, they also offer little engagement points.

Through eMarketer’s 2014 performance metrics report, we know that rich media banners are 267% more effective than static banners. Furthermore, they give eight times more engagement than standard banners.

Undeniably, investing in rich media contents can cost slightly higher than static banners. However, the following statistics on a few top rich media features will convince you that your money invested in rich media campaigns is worth it.

Video produces an average of 45.32% completion rate

As you browse a page and stumble on a static ad, I can bet that you will not stop and look. Most wouldn’t. I probably wouldn’t.

You will not click on it as well. At most, you’ll just read the words in it and move on. Well, unless you are pretty sure that’s what you were looking for. But, most of the time that isn’t the case.

A motion picture, on the other hand, is a different story.

With an impressive start image, a compelling copy or an autoplay video, you will be enticed to not just stay, but also interact with it. After watching that emotionally driven, relatable video, you will be drawn to click on the call-to-action (CTA) button on an overlay or at the end of the video.

If you have 45% of viewers completed viewing the video, it’s a high number to convert these to your buyers.

A good example of this would be YouTube’s TrueView for shopping. Retailers can list products alongside video ads so viewers can easily make a purchase from a brand’s site.

Here’s how it looks like.

Image credit: www.thinkwithgoogle.com

Online retailers can benefit a lot from this rich media feature that improves their customer’s shopping experience. As a result, they have far more incentives to convert and make confident purchases.

Vertical video ads have up to 9x more completed views than horizontal video ads

Vertical video is here to stay. It’s a fact and Snapchat has the numbers to proof it. According to Business Insider, there are 700 million vertical photos and videos shared on Snapchat per day. If you are wondering why. The answer is simple, it’s due to the increasing use of mobile, where 90% of the time is used vertically.

Imagine video ads the traditional way, your consumers are browsing the web or playing with an app on their mobile (vertically mostly). Then, when they came upon your ad, they have to tilt their smartphones horizontally just to play your video. What’s worst is when they have to view the horizontal video on a tiny scaled vertical viewer. So, if you think about it, it totally makes sense to display your video vertically.

Now, thanks to apps like Meerkat and Twitter-owned Periscope, you can now capture and display videos in vertical forms. Youtube, as recent as last month, has jumped on the bandwagon too.

And here’s our very own version of a vertical video ad.

Carousel gives an average of 53.12% completion rate

Imagine an ad with a carousel of products that moves. That’s interesting. It’s like an online window-shopping at your comfort and time. Your mobile customers will love this—especially on-the-go viewers.

Now, follow that with a one-click to purchase buy button. You’ll be on the road to collect very high returns.

Let’s look at the case of Instagram. They have seen the benefits of the carousel and have introduced carousel ads to advertisers as recent as May this year.

It’s a way for brands to tell deeper stories and share more images with people interested in their posts. Viewers can swipe the ad to see more pictures or click on the link to brand’s website for more info or purchase.

Instagram has reported that the carousel ad campaign is picking up momentum in the U.S. and here’s an example of GMC’s ad campaign that featured a panoramic interior view of the new Sierra.

Image credit: http://www.adweek.com/

Geo-locator or mapping tools has an average of 11.48% completion rate

A location is an important element for ad targeting campaign. With mobile-everything today, geo-targeting advertising has become an essential to a location-based store.

xAd has announced that there are 78% of marketers using location targeting for their mobile ad campaigns based on their study. The top strategy they use is audience targeting, designed to reach a particular group of people.

Putting yourself in your viewers’ shoes, imagine that you just got off work, on your way home you find yourself hungry. While browsing online you stumbled on an ad promoting juicy fried chicken with their new delish sauce.

Oh, yes. You’ll want to appease that growling tummy of yours. And also try that new sauce. But, where’s the nearest store? Google searching it will be too cumbersome, so you might end up walking into the nearest restaurant.

So, with a map provided on the ad unit, you can easily just check out the nearest store and quickly grab your dinner.

Here’s an example of a store locator for health service industry.

Click-to-Call will contribute to more than $1 trillion in consumer purchases

Smartphones have been changing the way we purchase products and services. We are now more inclined to connect directly with businesses through our best friend, smartphones.

An independent study from a mobile advertising analytics company, Marchex, forecasted that “click-to-call commerce” will contribute to more than $1 trillion in consumer purchases this year.

What’s more, consumers who “click-to-call” directly from a mobile advertisement are four times more likely to buy a product or service than a consumer who interacts with an online ad.

Here’s more great news to industries like insurance, travel, auto repair, legal services and home improvement. The study showed that five to 25% of phone calls from mobile ads convert into sales, appointments or reservations.

Here’s what you should do. Study your click-to-call campaigns and understand your consumers’ purchase intent. You will find that millennials today prefers to contact businesses directly by phone. And they usually follow through with purchases.

Rich media drives expansion rate of 125% higher than industry average

The advantage of mobile ads is personalization. With mobile rich media, you can speak to your consumers in the right way, at the right time and the right place. It enables brands to have a deep-level connection or one-to-one relationship with customers by serving relevant content to the right person.

If we look at static banner, it brings you to a landing page, hence away from your ad. A rich media expandable ad, on the other hand, keeps your consumers in the same environment. It is less disruptive, provides richer ad experience, and promotes secondary actions (SAR).

Hence, rich media drives higher expansion rate (125%) and higher secondary ad engagement (76%) than the industry average.

You should explore on rich media content to deliver unique high-impact functions for your target audience. Components such like geo-functionality, video or games that follow with an easy purchase or reservation button can keep your consumers in one place without drawing them away to a website.

To highlight the impact of personalization, let’s take a good look at one of McDonald’s mobile rich media ad investment, Big Mac Mash Up campaign.

With the campaign target to build a social presence, McDonald focused on creating an engaging brand experience.

They have created a battle arena where users can create their own mashup and then challenge a friend. The ad pulls in a swipeable gallery with seven different pieces of content. They are encouraged to pick their favorite by tapping on photos. Then, they placed the key call-to-action only at the end of the ad experience.

Check out the engaging ad below:

Key Takeaways

Keep in mind that with active engagement and excellent user experience, consumers can breeze through the ad journey that leads them to become your customers.

Here are some of the reasons why rich media engagement converts better than static banners.

• Consumers, especially millennials, have more confidence in your brand through engagement
• Personalized content funnels consumers through the ad journey that ends with your campaign goal
• Proven records with a few key rich media components like videos, carousel, click-to-call, geo-locator or mapping tools, and many more

And here are two performance metrics, by format and by industry, that will give more reasons why investing in rich media is worth it.

So, what are you waiting for? Invest on mobile rich media campaigns today!

All statistics are reported by eMarketer, R2Integrated, IrisMobile, mobilemarketer.com, and marketwatch.com within the last three years.