Is Engagement the New Click?

In a world of Snapchat, Tik-Tok, smartphones, and well…video everything, attention is becoming a scarce resource. Years of the “Information Economy” has left us with a supercharged, always-on, and digitally connected world we now call the “Attention Economy”– an era when information overload has made consumer attention a highly sought-after commodity. In fact, recent research out of global confectioner Mars indicates advertisers have about 2 seconds to grab a consumer’s attention. In this new economy, the time-honored digital ad currency we call “click-through” is facing demise at the hand of new currencies that help marketers harness and monetize “time-spent-with-brand”. 

The Problem with Click-Through 

As the defacto form of digital ad currency since the very first online ad, the Click-Through and subsequent Click-Through-Rate (CTR, the percentage of clicks relative to purchased impressions) has been on the chopping block for a long time. Even from the very beginning, the prospect of getting someone to click on your ad had such a low percentage that publishers had to charge based on “thousands” of impressions to make their rates even remotely realistic. Pundits and bloggers also suggest that Google removed their oft-referenced “Benchmark Reports” a few years ago because CTRs were getting so abysmal.

Today, the average CTR for a display ad is an anemic 0.35%, and getting worse. It’s created an environment where companies are spending billions of dollars every year for ads that 99.65% of the people they target never click on. To make matters worse, the few clicks they do get have become increasingly racked with outright fraud (i.e., bots). But in a world where marketers are forced to rely on static display ads and passive video pre-rolls, marketers have little alternative but to keep paying for the click. 

But what if marketers were no longer “click” dependent? What if they could somehow track and measure consumer ad  engagement with or without a click? What if they could access metrics, for example, that go beyond the CTR and tell marketers what happened to the remaining 99.65% of the people who didn’t click? Did these people even see the ad? And if they did, how long did they view it? How did they engage? And what did they look at while they viewed it? Are there patterns or correlations between what people looked at and the actions taken? How powerful would that information be for validating messaging, branding, and offers? Or, for saving time and money on wasted impressions and creative? 

Device-Sensor-Powered Engagement Data Tracking 

Although the click can be a good indicator of “intention”, unfortunately it is very rare, limited in information, and as mentioned, it’s increasingly plagued by bots and fraudulent clicks. But, however limited, a click is still a measure of engagement. In the end, clicks aren’t bad of course, but as marketers we need to know more information about the engagement picture if we are going to survive in the Attention Economy; especially one where the likes of Google and Apple are throwing curveballs in the form cookie-less and less trackable ad experiences.

Why is measuring engagement so important? Well, beyond the decades of TV research that shows it builds awareness and brand retention, it can also drive revenue. In a recent multi-year study done by Mars Inc,. for example, researchers found that there was a strong correlation between engagement and conversions, concluding what most marketers know at heart, that “Engagement is a strong proxy for sales”.

But as valuable as measuring engagement can be, unfortunately, the static and passive nature of current ad formats has limited the ability for consumers to engage and prevented access to this valuable information. But in the future of advertising, a future that is in actuality available today, advertisers of all shapes and sizes can get insights that till now they only dreamed of obtaining. The cure to many of the ills of advertising lies in that small handheld device it seems none of us can leave the house without.

Inside most modern mobile devices there are over 14 different sensors that can track consumer activity, but marketers only need a few to demonstrate and measure real human engagement. Gyroscope, magnetometer, and accelerometer, for example, can tell if a person is engaged with content even if it is never touched. Device rotation (portrait to landscape or vice versa) and “finger-drag” can also tell if a consumer is engaged and for how long, even without them clicking on anything.

The key to utilizing device sensors, however, is tied to the ability to leverage new forms of media content that capitalizes on these sensors. New formats like 3D models, 360-degree experiences, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) (collectively referred to as “Immersive Media” or “XR”) support intuitive forms of interactivity that are naturally sticky, sustain incredibly high levels of trackable engagement, and don’t violate consumer privacy laws. New ad format technologies like “Deep Display”, for example, are using patented technology to combine immersive media and sensor data, allowing marketers to easily create immersive ad content using graphics, imagery and brand assets they already own and then capture consumer engagement, beyond the “click” (see below Starbucks example below).

New “Attention Economy” KPIs

The ability to track, measure, and report on engagement saves marketers time and money. With traditional digital marketing, companies know very little about the effectiveness of their content until someone clicks — or they do an expensive and time-consuming attribution study. With sensor-driven data tracking, however, marketers use powerful new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to tell, often within 72 hours of running a campaign if a) people are engaging b) for how long and c) with which parts. When consumers view a hotel property in 360°, a 3D model of a shoe or bike, look at furniture or clothing AR, or experience a new car in VR, they pause in different spots, move their device to see more, expand, or touch to interact, all of their activity is being tracked by privacy compliant motion, touch, and orientation sensors. The ability to reliably track engagement long before the click is powerful new data that can help marketers quickly assess if, what, and with whom their content is resonating and then adjust to save time and money on wasted ad impressions and creative development. 

Future Forward

In our rapidly evolving and supercharged digitally connected world, attention, or time-spent-with-brand, is quickly becoming a valuable commodity. Social media, user generated content (i.e., YouTube) and new consumer devices are changing the marketing model by putting the consumer in control and transforming the brand-consumer relationship from a marketer “push” to a consumer “pull”. In the new “Attention Economy” consumers control the brand relationship and engagement is the currency. Those marketers who take advantage of all the new engagement metrics, ones that measure precisely how consumers engage with branded content, regardless of whether a person “clicks” or not, will most definitely have the upper hand.

Want to know more? Feel free to contact me directly at rbruza@advrtas.com.