Are you measuring the impact generated for your brand by your advertising campaigns? Well, we’re guessing that you’re looking at the number of visitors to your website or your landing page conversion rate every day… So, why not measure your advertising performance KPIs with the same dedication?
These concrete indicators mean you can identify and understand whether your advertisement went down well, and if it generated any intent in consumers. You can then adapt your actions to optimize your investments. In this guide, we’ll take a look at how you can regain control over your brand!
OVERVIEW
Why should you be measuring the performances of your advertising campaigns?
The classic metrics associated with advertising (impressions, click rates, etc.) don’t give you a comprehensive vision of your campaign’s performances.
You get purely quantitative data, but that’s not enough.
Well, yes, with advertising you’re addressing humans (usually, anyway), and not all our reactions can be measured with numbers.
A brand lift analysis (what we call advertising post-testing) will enable you to understand the real impact of your advertising on the individuals exposed to it.
There are 3 main elements to be identified, which you won’t have obtained with traditional performance indicators:
👉 Did your advertisement properly targeted and hooked the expected audience?
👉 Was your message understood and well-received by your audience?
👉 What was the real impact of your advertisement on the individuals exposed to it?
Thanks to this overall vision, you’ll be able to evaluate the impact of all your campaigns on your brand in real time.
You’ll then be able to optimize future campaigns using concrete insights, improving their performances and in turn boosting your return on investment.
So, where to start? Let’s have a look at the perfect method for your brand lift analysis.
What is the ideal method for measuring your campaign’s performance?
When you want to measure the performance of advertising campaigns in post-testing, we recommend using the brand lift method.
In concrete terms, we’ll focus on measuring and then analyzing discrepancies between two populations.
Two methods can be implemented either jointly or individually for your post-testing: The memorization method and the exposure method.
Let’s look into the details of what these methods involve.
⚙️ The memorization method
The first step consists of identifying two respondent pools: One which has memorized the advertisement, and the other which has not.
To make sure that the results comparison is pertinent, these two groups should be similar in terms of gender, age or any other profile characteristic which may influence the data.
The only element that will really distinguish them should be the memorization of the advertisement. We can then quantify the impact of the advertisement memorization on the KPIs analyzed by ruling out bias associated with the respondents’ personal characteristics.
The aim of this post-testing method is to identify the discrepancies created by the campaign to analyze its real impact.
Let’s take a look at an example:
You want to know the degree to which brand perception has shifted following the latest campaign.
The question “Has your perception of the brand changed since seeing the advertisement?” is difficult to answer.
Instead, you want to ask two groups how they perceive the brand. Then, you analyze the discrepancies between the results from the group that memorized the advertisement and the one that didn’t.
You then get a reliable measure of the impact generated by the advertisement on brand perception.
⚙️ The exposure method
We’ll be using the same logic again here. The only difference is that we’ll be looking at the discrepancies between a population actually exposed to the advertisement which memorized it, and a population which wasn’t exposed to it.
So, you should now know the best method for measuring the performance of your advertising campaigns. But, in concrete terms, what are we measuring with the brand lift?
What are the various parts of a brand lift analysis?
Thanks to post-testing, you can analyze a campaign around 3 main parts.
Each part groups together various indicators that are selected based on whether they’re relevant to the analysis objective or not.
These 3 parts are:
👉 Targeting quality
👉 Creative diagnostic
👉 Impact on brand
Now, let’s get into it and understand why they’re important for brand lift analysis.
⚙️ Part #1 – Analyzing the targeting quality
This first part of the brand lift analysis measures the performance of the campaign through the targeting quality.
We use the exposure method for this analysis.
To start, we look to identify the percentage of people within the exposed population who fall into the core target. This is a way of evaluating the optimization of the advertisement’s targeting.
For this part, the star indicator has to be the degree of memorization. It’s the first one that we use evaluate an advertisement’s efficacy. It helps with qualifying campaign targeting. Thanks to this indicator, you can identify the percentage of people exposed who memorized the advertisement.
High-quality targeting will maximize the impact of the creative proposition of the advertisement for the brand.
There are several performance indicators used to measure targeting quality, such as:
Memorization rate
This indicator aims to identify the degree to which your campaign has been memorized by the individuals exposed to the advertisement message.
With the degree of memorization, you’re looking to translate the memorization of exposure to the advertisement. It’s influenced by the distribution quality, the frequency of messaging repetition, and by the personal interest of the individual in your brand or product.
Market knowledge
Here, you’re looking to measure the market peer percentage among the population exposed to your campaign. In other words, we want to know whether the people who saw the advertisement are likely to buy from your brand or not.
This proportion of aware market users within the exposed population is entirely dependent on the relevance of the targeting. We’re talking about market awareness here, not brand awareness. Aware market users can then get to know your brand and/or your competitors.
Market consumption
This time, we’ll measure the percentage of consumers from your market segment that are present in the exposed population.
In the same sense as market awareness, we’ll evaluate the quality of the targeting and its capacity to reach your brands’ consumers – or those of a competitor brand.
This indicator isn’t necessarily coherent to monitor if your targeting aims to expand the prospecting scope.
⚙️ Part #2 – Creative diagnostic
This second part of the brand lift analysis focuses on the performance of the campaign from a creative perspective.
The indicators used at this level allow you to confirm the creative efficacy and pertinence of the advertisement messaging through the attention paid to it by individuals.
The more positive the creative diagnostic, the better the performances in terms of campaign impact on the brand.
There are several performance indicators used for the creative diagnostic, such as:
Likability
The aim of this indicator is to measure the overall approval level generated by the advertisement among the individuals exposed to it.
It’s a way of judging the quality of the creation and the pertinence of its distribution. You’ll be able to know whether the content and format of your advertisement were liked/appreciated.
Attribution
The attribution rate measurement adds to measuring the general attention paid by individuals to your advertisement.
It evaluates the quality of the message and distribution through the percentage of the audience able to name your brand or product after having been exposed to your advertisement.
Message clarity
This indicator measures how well the individuals exposed to your advertisement understood the messaging.
You can assess the quality of your messaging through its capacity to be understood and accepted by the individuals exposed to it.
⚙️ Part #3 – Impact on brand
To summarize (so far), you now (theoretically) know that targeting gives you the ability to get your message to the right people. Following this, you also know that people are liking the creation, that it’s relevant and understandable. We’re now going to look at measuring the impact of the campaign on the brand.
To do this, you’ll use impact measurement KPIs that are generated using the method covered in the previous section. For each indicator selected to be measured, you’ll analyze the discrepancies between the population that memorized the advertisement and the one that doesn’t remember it.
These discrepancies allow us to say whether the brand KPIs were impacted by the campaign.
The greater the discrepancies between the two populations, the greater the impact the advertisement has had on the brand.
The indicators measured will vary depending on the campaign’s objectives.
For example, if the campaign is aiming to develop brand image and awareness, you’ll be analyzing the discrepancies relating to brand perception. If the advertisement is meant to provoke purchases, you’ll look at the discrepancies relating to the consideration rate and purchase intent.
There are several performance indicators to measure impact on brands, such as:
Brand preference
This KPI enables you to quantify the preference gains generated by your campaign for your brand.
It’s paired with personality and quality attributes, or with differentiation elements transmitted via your message and its distribution.
It helps you to measure the likelihood of being chosen by a consumer in the scenario whereby they’re confronted with several competitors or comparable brands.
Consideration rate
Thanks to the consideration rate, you’ll be able to understand the degree to which an individual exposed to your campaign will consider your brand when they’re faced with a purchasing situation or need.
This indicator is strongly influenced by positive brand awareness and image boosting.
Purchase intention
This indicator lets you measure the impact of the advertising memorization on the potentiality of a future purchase.
This indicator is more advanced in the brand funnel. You can evaluate the impact of the campaign on a purchase from the brand in the short term.
The purchase intent reflects the overall efficacy of your campaign, as well as information such as the manifestation of a need or the knowledge level of individuals on the market.
There are several KPIs that let you measure the results of your campaigns through post-testing.
That said, the aim isn’t to monitor all of these indicators. Instead, you should focus on the ones that are really relevant, in line with your goals and challenges.
How to use benchmarks to identify whether a campaign is performing well?
If you’re only analyzing raw data from your indicators, you won’t get a comprehensive vision of your performances.
Why not? Well, because you’ll be missing an essential piece of information. Where do your campaign results sit in relation to other campaigns of the same type?
It’s thanks to this vision that you’ll be able to really judge the performance of your campaign effectively.
To do this, you’ll need to compare your figures with benchmarks.
What is a benchmark?
A benchmark is a point of reference that you’ll use to gauge your performances. It’s a measurement tool that lets you know whether your campaign performances are better than, equal to or worse than others.
It’s composed of at least a dozen advertising post-tests so that it’s sufficiently robust to provide you with reliable information.
How to select a benchmark?
There are several types of benchmarks to choose from depending on your goals and needs.
You can select your benchmark based on your business sector, the distribution format of your advertisement, or on any other relevant criteria.
The closer the criteria are to your own context, the more the benchmark data can be considered in measuring your performances.
As each brand, context and goal is different, it’s essential to always nuance the information that they provide you with.
Absolute value benchmark vs. uplift benchmark
There are two ways to interpret a benchmark, depending on the data available and your goals.
Absolute value benchmark
It’s based solely on memos. You’ll compare your results in relation to the average of other campaigns within the benchmark.
In this example, the rate on memos is 3.8pts lower than the benchmark rate. The campaign is therefore underperforming on this KPI than the average campaign.
Uplift benchmark
It’s based on both memos and non-memos, and specifically on the discrepancies between these two populations. You’ll compare the discrepancies across your results in relation to the average of the discrepancies of other campaigns within the benchmark.
On this example, we typically see a 23-point gap between memos and non-memos on this KPI on this benchmark. On the campaign, the uplift is 22 points. The results are therefore within the average of the benchmark.
How to measure the performance of an advertising campaign for your core target?
The core target is the population you want to address your campaign to as a priority.
You can refine your post-testing by analyzing performances across this specific population.
This lets you know whether your campaign has really worked for these people.
The 3 types of core target
🎯 “Socio-demographic” core target
It’s solely linked to gender and age criteria.
Example: Women aged 18-24
🎯 “Market consumers” core target
It covers individuals who know your market and consume within it.
Example: Headset users
🎯 “Profiling” core target
It’s more based on interest, the attention paid or the need regarding your market.
Example: Someone intending to buy a car over the next 12 months
How to analyze performances for the core target
Initially, you’ll need to look at the core target that memorized the advertisement.
You’ll then compare this result with all individuals who memorized it.
To know whether the campaign really worked on your core target, take note of the discrepancy between these two indicators.
Depending on the core target types, the discrepancy will vary in size. For example, we often see someone intending to purchase or a market consumer react much better than a social-demographic core target.
This difference is pretty logical to explain. Let’s take the example of cars. Every man aged 35-55 does not necessarily want to change their car, even though they’re your target. They’ll react less to your campaign that someone who intends to buy a car over the next 12 months.
You can also use core target results to measure targeting quality. You just need to base it on the population exposed by looking at the percentage of the core target that effectively saw the advertisement.
You now know why you should measure the performances of your advertising campaigns and how you can do it. The next step involves finding the tool that will help you implement all of this.
You need a tool to easily launch brand lifts following these best practices? Discover Happydemics!
