We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work • Hacker News Board

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#21

Post by pretzel » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:21 PM UTC

There are ads and then there are ads. One of the things that the company I work for, Qubit, does is to validate that the tracking tags that vendors put on people's websites drive an uplift. We talk about one of our clients doing it here [1]

While blindly targeting people using search engine "promoted searches" may not work for every impression, this does not take into account the ads that you see on other 3rd party sites - which is probably what people think of when they talk about "ads". Google's version of this is AdSense (as opposed to AdWords).

This is something that is quite easy to test, and we have seen that some really do work and some not so much.

But driving someone back to a website with an offer on something that they have added to their basket but not purchased, is one way to be sure that you are getting people buying after seeing your content. The problem then is to make sure you aren't cutting into your margins too much...

[1] http://www.qubitproducts.com/content/video/arcadia-video-cas...

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#22

Post by ComputerGuru » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:34 PM UTC

It certainly works out to the benefit of the advertising companies, the media companies, and Google, though...

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#23

Post by josu » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:34 PM UTC

hawkharris wrote: post #12

This reminds me of a fascinating article in The New Yorker called "Twilight of the Brands." [0] The author's basic argument is that brands have historically filled an information gap. Before the Internet, when consumers didn't have tons of on-demand info about products, brands were a compass that pointed them in the right direction. If the last Sylvania TV you bought worked well, you might buy another one without hun…

I understand the point he is making, and I agree that the importance of advertising is declining. However, I wouldn't be able to explain Samsung's success without looking at advertising.

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#24

Post by bowlofpetunias » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:34 PM UTC

Discuss advertising with anybody and you'll come to the conclusion that apparently advertising works on other people.

Who those "other people" are, no idea. I strongly suspect some people really are just statistics.

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#25

Post by unclebucknasty » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:42 PM UTC

droopyEyelids wrote: post #20

omonra wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of the article is that the sale would happen regardless of the ad. Ie showing an ad on Google to someone who types 'Ebay' in the search string is a waste of money - since Ebay shows up as the first natural result anyways.

However, this leads to the other flaw in the argument, where eBay has been the company most famous for abusing Google's ads, and using them in a completely nonsensical way. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-not-to-run-a-ppc-camp... I'm sure you've noticed that a search for any noun called forth an ad for eBay. You're enticed to "buy Dog Vomit on eBay" when your dog is sick. And then, even if it was something eBa…

Well, there's nothing to say that eBay's research lab was using these horrible PPC ads in their tests. In fact, I would guess that they had to hold the landing page as a constant (e.g. homepage when "ebay" was the keyword), or otherwise account for that variable in the study design.

For instance, the study notes that, for one test, they simply turned off their PPC campaigns for one geo and compared results to others. So, presumably, even if they were using their horrible PPC ads during this test, they would have been equally horrible across geos.

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#26

Post by unclebucknasty » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:48 PM UTC

esw wrote: post #7

zwieback wrote: post #6

There are also new annoying features of online advertising that might turn consumers off. Even after buying something I frequently see ads for the same exact product from the same exact vendor for several days. For some reason this annoys me so much that it turns me off from the vendor.

It's called remarketing. If they're showing you an ad for a product you actually bought, they're doing it wrong. It's supposed to show you an ad for something you looked at, but didn't buy.

If it's not being done purposely for reasons others have mentioned, then I wonder if it comes down to the company's integration with Google. Presumably, Google wouldn't know if a sale took place unless the merchant somehow notified them. I'm guessing this might be with a pixel, script, or similar on their order confirmation page.

So, if the merchant failed to implement this, Google would never know to stop showing the ad.

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#27

Post by unclebucknasty » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:51 PM UTC

michh wrote: post #19

I remember reading the tobacco industry was actually secretly grateful when the EU banned them from advertising. As I remember it, they were in a stale-mate. The market was pretty much divided up. Most people were loyal to their brand and that was that. Despite that, they were spending a massive amount of money on advertising even though their market shares remained unchanged. The reason was that if one of them stopp…

Interesting. I understand if you don't want to name your company, but can you share the niche?

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#28

Post by DanBC » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:55 PM UTC

zwieback wrote: post #6

There are also new annoying features of online advertising that might turn consumers off. Even after buying something I frequently see ads for the same exact product from the same exact vendor for several days. For some reason this annoys me so much that it turns me off from the vendor.

There was a time when I could use a search engine to get a bit of information about something and then move on.

Now? That one minute websearch will stay with me for weeks as people push ads for things that I have no use for.

Prosthetic testicles for dogs; specific terms used for bras; packers and binders - my search history gives me a variety of eye-popping adverts.

Also: they really need to let people opt out of some advertising. People with alcoholism might not want any alcohol; people with OCD might not want cleaning products on a TVOD page about OCD (real example. I'd post an image but it's on the other computer).

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#29

Post by DanBC » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:57 PM UTC

1stop wrote: post #10

coldcode wrote: post #4

We have no idea if ads work anywhere but it doesn't stop the ad industry.

Yeah we do: Coca-cola <-- The product offers no value other than "brand". (Brand is advertising).

But is that advertising or just excellent distribution of product?

Re: We Have No Idea If Online Ads Work

#30

Post by notahacker » Sun, Jun 22, 2014, 2:59 PM UTC

gerbal wrote: post #13

esw wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called remarketing. If they're showing you an ad for a product you actually bought, they're doing it wrong. It's supposed to show you an ad for something you looked at, but didn't buy.

Or they are trying to do the thing BMW and Apple do where they are trying to make you feel good about a decision you already made.

Or at least trying to avoid the feeling of being stalked you might get if their all-pervading ad-retargeting campaign that follows you round the internet for weeks after you first visit their website stops the day you actually buy.