Advertisers are often faced with the challenge of measuring the impact of their Display marketing efforts. One mitigating factor is the fact that methodologies and systems of tracking are not standardised, so it can be difficult to evaluate this in the context of your business.

Best practice in Paid Search dictates that a Display campaign (i.e. a campaign opted into serve ads on the Google Display Network) can complement Search campaigns and contribute to conversion uplift.

One of the ways Google AdWords attributes conversions that occur post- exposure, i.e. after a user has seen a Display banner ad, are View-through Conversions. These are conversions that occur when a user sees, but does not click on, a Display ad on the Google Display Network, then comes to your site within a certain period to complete a conversion.They also allow you, as a Paid Search marketer, to measure the true value of Display campaigns, determine the best places to advertise on the network and assess the impact from increased brand awareness and purchase intent from targeted users.

Access View-through conversion data with AdWords Conversion tracking

View-through Conversions are cookie based and can only be tracked once you have implemented AdWords Conversion tracking on your website.

Source: Google AdWords, 2010

A plethora of conversion reports can be accessed within the AdWords interface to see which sites are bringing in the most conversions, and you can optimise bidding effectively to up weight exposure on those key placements.

Source: Google AdWords, 2010

View-through Conversion data can be viewed at campaign, ad groups and placement level within the AdWords user interface.  This granularity allows for better visibility of the conversion contribution and for you to then optimise accordingly.

Display drives conversion performance well beyond the click

According to Google, in a 2009 Paid Search and Display Advertising Integration Study, 27% to 31% of users exposed to a Display ad searched online thereafter, with one advertiser showing approximately 38% uplift in conversions. There is huge value here and these should not be overlooked.

View-through Conversions allow you as an advertiser to:

• Assess the contribution of Display campaigns to your overall conversions
• Measure the ROI of your Display campaigns
• Assess latency to conversion for exposed users
• Compare performance of Display against other channels and networks
• Optimise your targeting based on post-impression and post click activities

View-through Conversion Windows (or the cookie period) can be adjusted to suit your business needs. You can configure the cookie period  to track only conversions that occur within the length of your average sales cycle.

Source: Google AdWords, 2010

View-through Conversions are often overlooked in the overall conversion attribution. We recommend they be incorporated into the overall conversions for a given period. As such the Cost per Acquisition (CPA) should be calculated inclusive of click through and View-through Conversions.

Use View-through data to optimise Paid Search campaigns

You can use View-through data to make decisions about how to optimise and leverage your Paid Search campaigns.  One way is to optimise Display budget to cap exposure for potential customers who may be in the middle of the researching phase. Additionally, by looking at recency of visits to purchase, you can explore re-engaging these repeat visitors with Call to Action targeted website content, value added services, discounts or emarketing.

There is some debate on the attribution of these conversions and whether they are deemed true conversions. In my opinion, they should be valued as conversions, with an assigned measure of their influence on a user’s conversion intent.

I hope this has provided some insight on a metric which is often overlooked. Let us know your thoughts or feedback.