Traditionally the advertising and sales functions operate in separate silos within the organization and are measured by separate KPIs. The intent, of course, is always for the KPIs to ladder up to a single set of unified business objectives. In practice, that isn’t always the case. The emphasis on clicks over conversions is a prime example of this misalignment.
Clicks vs. Conversions
Digital advertising is often measured by the reach and efficiency of the platform (impressions and CPM rate), the effectiveness of the ad to generate a click (CTR), and the overall return on the ad spend (ROAS). Websites are measured by the volume of traffic (unique visitors), time spent on page, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
Inherent in the clicks-first approach is a belief that the most important path to success is to keep the pipeline full of new prospects—and therefore the bulk of the investment is directed toward generating awareness and new leads. When the advertising team is incentivized to focus on impressions and clicks, ads are created and placed to cast a wide net, driving an overly broad audience to the website.
If the ads were bought on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis, each click costs money, whether or not the lead is a good one. And this is where the breakdown begins. If the audience clicking on the ad is too broad and undifferentiated, the website may not be relevant for many of the visitors, and this results in a high bounce rate. Or, if the website is designed to be as broad as the ads, the headline, messaging, and CTA become diluted, resulting in a lower conversion rate. Ultimately the ROAS suffers, even if the ads were successful in generating significant impressions and click-throughs.
The logic of a conversion mindset
An advertising strategy that starts with conversion and works backward to clicks may seem counterintuitive, but in fact, it makes a lot more sense. With a focus on conversion, the prospect persona is more tightly defined, which allows the website copy and design to be more focused. With a tighter focus, the ad creative and placement are designed to create consistency between the ad and landing page. Clicks are measured not in volume, but in lead quality.
When the teams tasked with creating and buying the ads and creating the website are unified, the result is a highly efficient ROAS and a strong conversion rate, as well as a seamless experience for the prospective customer.
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