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Responding but not clicking

May 19, 2009 |

Users sometimes respond to an online display ad by conducting a Web search for the product or service advertised, or by typing the company name into their address window, according search-engine marketer iProspect's report on a recent survey by Forrester Consulting.

While 31 percent of respondents to the survey (conducted online in January by Forrester Consulting) said they'd responded to such ads in the past six months by clicking on them, nearly as many -- 27 percent -- said their initial response was to do a search for the product, brand or company. (iProspect is itself in the search-engine-marketing business.)

Another 21 percent of respondents said they "typed the company Web address into browser and navigated to site." Nine percent reported that they "investigated the product, brand or company through social media or message boards." Thirty-seven percent said they hadn't responded to such ads in the past six months.

As you'd expect, people were more likely to buy a product if they were familiar with the company and its wares before seeing a particular online display ad. Among those who said they'd responded to such an ad, 33 percent of those who were already familiar with the company or offering said they ended up buying the product, vs. 14 percent of those who were learning of the company or offering for the first time.

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