The beauty of online advertising is that unlike any other medium, we can track so much more than how many times an ad was seen. Most importantly, we can track ROI. The click however, although generally reported as a sign of interest or intent, is simply that... a click, and provides no real measure of value at all.
Quality matters, not quantity. One has to dig deeper to calculate the real value, but strip out the meaningless data.
Current technology allows advertisers to measure many things from ad impressions, clicks, user interaction time, as well as beyond the click, tracking every step of the process right through to conversion.
The true measurement of an online campaign is not the familiar jargon of all the measurable data like impressions, clicks and click-through rates, but rather, and simply, how many conversions are achieved, and at what cost per conversion. Examples of a conversion can be a lead, a sale, a registration, a sign-up to a newsletter or a competition entry.
Other factors which are generally not being directly attributed to the value of online marketing is branding.
Existing technology allows advertisers to track post-impression data for up to 30 days after the ad was viewed. Post-impressions (or view-throughs) can be directly attributed to an online campaign by making use of the right technology and methodology, and thus adding to the value of an online marketing campaign.
Other factors such as seasonality of a product, repeat visitors and life-span of a visitor are generally not taken into account although can be directly attributed to an online marketing campaign.
Identifying, understanding and tracking the desired result vs media spend is the only way to truly measure ROI. Bottom line, and very simply - how much did you invest, and what did you get in return?"
