Some minor issues

Question number 6 in the new marketing FAQ: “What does interaction rate (only available for rich media formats) tell me about the impact of my campaign?”

So Philippe got ahead again . You can read his answer here.
In fact you should, since he’s pointing to some interesting studies.

To summarize his post: 1/ interaction exceeds CTR; 2/ interaction influences ad recall.

These 2 points are really nailing down my point of view.
I’m a big believer of interaction. It helps the message to stick. It brings the brand closer to the consumer. So no wonder ad recall is influenced. But ad recall is one thing. Can you imagine what it does for brand awareness? Or the attitude people get towards the brand?

About CTR. I hate CTR. On the one hand it’s pretty important. How can you get leads if you don’t care for CTR. On the other hand, there is so much more. I hate it because CTR is often used to measure success. But you can’t do this!! You can only use CTR as a (sole) KPI in your campaign, if your format, your content, your everything .. is created to maximize CTR. But it almost never is. It’s not because you would ignore other key features of advertising. I think I said it before: if CTR is the only KPI you’re using, you’re also saying traditional advertising means crap. And I’m the last guy on earth to support tradition advertising above new ways, but you’re never gonna hear me say that it doesn’t work. Of course traditional advertising works, it’s just not very effective. You use a canon to kill a fly, you spend millions to reach a fraction. There just are better ways nowadays.

To answer the question: What does interaction rate tell me about the impact? Well at least you know people have seen your ad (remember impressions vs GRP). Not only have they see it, they responded to it. So what does it tell about impact? It tells you your message reached the recipient. Isn’t this fantastic?
I won’t go into detail about which interaction is good, which is bad, how long someone should interact .. again, this depends on the format. You can go as far as you want.

However, I want to reach back to Q2 (Do you need a website). I said there: “Rich media formats are diminishing the need for a landings page anyway. You can build the interaction in your ad.“
I want to repeat this here, because technology allows us to create mini-micro websites within ads. I believe this might be one of the booming things the following 2 years. In stead of trying to lead your audience towards your website, you’re bringing the website to them. The revival of push!