So a few weeks ago within ShopLocal.com, a key switch was made to the method that most users of the site browse the weekly ads. The traditional HTML powered weekly ad experience was replaced with a CircularCentral powered experience. Whenever a drastic change is made to a core feature of a web site, there is always some real risk associated with user adoption and usage.
Here is the new CircularCentral based weekly ad viewer that is front and center within ShopLocal.com
Well the votes are in. Users are making their voices heard loud in clear, in terms of page views per visit (which is really a measure of content consumption). On average over a 25 day period (1/1/2010 – 1/25/2010), the users of the new CircularCentral weekly ad experience showed a lift of 160% in the number of pages views per visit.
Wow. For a publisher site (such as ShopLocal.com) that means real money. Every time a publisher can increase the number of page views that users create, that in turns creates more display ad inventory. Even if the inventory becomes remnant and monetized via ad network backfill, this is extra money in the pocket of the publisher (be it at a lower CPM that direct sold inventory).
And from a user perspective, it’s a win as well. Essentially what this change in weekly ad viewers did was to tear down barriers so as to make viewing and interacting with the weekly ads easier, faster and an overall richer user experience. Those are qualities that users will always reward you for, typically in terms of using and engaging with your product more.
As a side note, the team did end up keeping around the traditional HTML weekly ad experience for a few reasons such as SEO benefits (the Google bot much prefers HTML based content over Flash content) and for those users that are either on slower internet connections or just have an established preference of browsing via this more traditional method. In either case, the traditional option is not the default method for viewing the weekly ad content and it is downplayed.
The results are so clear - uses interact and consume more content within the new CircularCentral view - at an increased rate of 160%
As a side note, the team did end up keeping around the traditional HTML weekly ad experience for a few reasons such as SEO benefits (the Google bot much prefers HTML based content over Flash content) and for those users that are either on slower internet connections or just have an established preference of browsing via this more traditional method. In either case, the traditional option is not the default method for viewing the weekly ad content and it is downplayed.
So here is a very interesting data point, from one recent Pointroll campaign that had part of the ad impressions benefiting from Yahoo! BT data and the other part of the impressions did not include any BT data.
BT enabled Pointroll ads had a 41% overall higher interaction rate than non-BT enabled Pointroll ads.
Same creative. Same publisher. Same timeframe. Basically as many other variables were held constant between the two groups except the inclusion of BT data within the test group. Sure, its not airtight statistically sound case due to the single campaign data point, but its very indicative of other similar campaign results the team has seen when comparing BT enabled ad results with those that did not receive any additional insights from BT data.
The important point to take away is BT works. By using user level “hints” to better select what creative, copy and content elements should be inserted into the ad units, BT enabled ads are just more relevant and personalized to the user. Therefore its no surprise that these more personalized ads receive more interest as expressed in either interactions or clicks.
If we look at click-thru rates as another meaningful measure, BT enabled Pointroll ads had a 73.5% overall higher click-thru rate than non-BT enabled Pointroll ads.
So with both Wal-Mart and Best Buy trying out augmented reality (AR) within their print ads / Sunday circulars recently, no one outside of these two retailers really knew how successful the general consumer adopting was to this new way of interacting with print ads online. Until now when Best Buy went on the record with a recent AdAge.com article (9/5/09) written by Abbey Klassen. The top-line metrics of success that Best Buy cited were:
- About 6,500 people tried out Best Buy’s augmented reality insert — more than double the company’s expectations (out of a total print circular distribution of around 43 million)
- 78% of the people that actually went to the site wanting to see the experience had a webcam.
- A high click-through — 12% — to other pages (from the core AR page): the Twelpforce page, the Next Class computing page or to the dot-com site for the Toshiba computer itself
- Going to do more (next one in Sept is the rumor) so to continue to learn and refine program
Best Buy called their augmented reality (AR) experience "Best Buy in 3D"
Seems like a lot of effort to get 6,500 people to interact. However my guess is that most consumers just didn’t understand what to do, what the value of doing it would be or just all together didn’t pick up on the simple fact that this augmented reality experience was available. The core AR idea has legs, it just needs to be implemented, messaged and promoted in different ways that retailers I am sure will learn with more time and experience using this new technology. Below is a complete re-post of the AdAge.com article…
Best Buy’s Augmented-Reality Ad Dazzles, but Does It Work?
Q&A: Retailer’s Spencer Knisely on the 3-D Toshiba Laptop in This Week’s Sunday Circular
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Best Buy got props on Sunday when its weekly supplement came equipped with a 3-D notebook computer — that is, if you had a webcam and held the circular up to it, you’d see a 3-D image of a Toshiba laptop, thanks to the technology known as augmented reality.
About 6,500 people tried out Best Buy’s augmented reality insert — more than double the company’s expectations.
Augmented reality has garnered more than its share of enthusiasm from early adopters and tech geeks, but its marketing value is yet to be determined. Is it a passing fad or truly useful in creating richer digital-marketing experiences? In Best Buy’s case, the weekly insert was sent to its normal circulation of 43 million and, on Sunday, about 6,500 tried it out — more than double the company’s expectations. Still, it’s a small number and may temper other marketers’ augmented-reality expectations. We talked to Spencer Knisely, director-brand identity, print and design at Best Buy, who shared early results and promised this wouldn’t be the last we’d see of AR at Best Buy.
Ad Age: Explain the reasoning behind this circular.
Spencer Knisely: There’s lots of talk about the impending demise of newspapers and circular readership, and there’s truth and fiction in that issue. But certainly all parties can agree it’s in transformation. Inserts have a role to play in their own migration. We started this journey [of making circulars interactive] with SMS messaging and IVR [or interactive voice response]. … Both of those return to your customer ratings and reviews and a link to something else. We’re trying to think of the circular, instead of being the end of all promotional activity, as the beginning. It’s a great organizing tool for promotional activity, but it doesn’t offer all the different connections that we want.
Ad Age: How did people use it?
Mr. Knisely: It was hard to predict what the adoption would be. We knew a couple of things. We knew we have weekly circ of 46 million, and we had spoken with our business team, computing and computing accessories team and said, ‘What’s the install base of webcams?’ They believed 20% of households have a functioning webcam. So knowing those things, we projected maybe 2,500 people would give it a shot. We were surprised to learn many more connected with and used the experience — 6,500 was the last report, and that was just for one-day activity [on Sunday]. In fact, 78% of the people that actually went to the site wanting to see the experience had a webcam. Either our webcam projections are wrong or we overindex and the people reading our inserts have kept up with technology and have the latest gear and know how to use it.
Ad Age: How clear was it [in the circular] that you need a webcam to do this?
Mr. Knisely: There was a footnote at bottom of the page, and buried in with all the other footnotes — the legal disclaimers and such — there was a note that said you have to have a webcam. Whether that’s prominent is really debatable, but we did technically tell folks they needed one.
Ad Age: Was Toshiba involved?
Mr. Knisely: We discovered the technology by just investigating what kind of cool things we can do out there, and we contacted our partner here in town, Modern Climate, which built the experience for us. We said, “Hey, we heard you’d done one of these in the past. How hard would it be for you to do one for us for the insert in six weeks or so?”
At the time, we weren’t thinking about engaging our vendor partners or as a cooperative investment opportunity but as a new thing to do with our insert that would be kind of fun. We have the opportunity now, having proven that it did work, to go to our manufacturer partners and asking if they have an interest in expanding the kind of messaging you can deliver. Ultimately the front cover is a fixed amount of real estate; you can only say so many things. But if you get yourself to the cover, this can be a portal to lots of other messaging, should you choose to do that.
Ad Age: Can you tell what the real business result — or conversion — of this was?
Mr. Knisely: We don’t know that yet. We saw comparatively high click-through — 12% — to other pages: the Twelpforce page, the Next Class computing page or to the dot-com site for the Toshiba computer itself. But aggregated, a 12% click-through on an experience like that is fairly decent.
I believe we’ll be able to see who actually made a purchase … through cookies placed on the machine. They’ll tell us where you came from, and those are the kinds of things we’re watching now too.
We’re also watching now for the secondary bounce we’re getting. Lots of folks saw it in the insert, typed it into their browser directly, and that was the Sunday experience. But there was also the opportunity to share this through social-media sites, and we’re seeing our second and third bounces as people are referring it to their friends and family. How many echoes do we get — and how long do they last — from one placement in the circular?
Ad Age: Would you do this again?
Mr. Knisely: We have plans to do more AR in the future, active projects on the books. Our point of view is you have to offer a range of ways for the consumer to interact. It’s too early to tell whether any of these things is a replacement of — but they’re certainly an enhancement to — a traditional insert.
Loading ...
Comments: 3