1. Eyeblaster Research Note
Search & Display:
Reach Beyond the Keyword
February 2010
72% of the conversions of cross channel
search and display campaigns are a
direct result of the display channel, only
28% are the result of the search channel.
Nevertheless, cross channel campaigns
create a powerful combination by pushing
customers into the marketing funnel and
pulling them towards the purchase.
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2. Search and Display:
Reach Beyond the Keyword
Preaching to the Converted
In the old days, salesmen of yellow pages ads had an The Role of Search and Display in the Funnel
unbeatable line: “ask your customers how they got your
number”. they knew that no matter how much money was
invested in radio, print and tV advertising, many customers
turned to the yellow pages for the business’ phone number
as their last stop before calling.
these salesmen knew that the answers would over-
represent the true value of yellow pages as its share of the
marketing effort. this was harmless though, as even with
a full page ad, yellow pages can only represent a limited Awareness
portion of the advertising budget. besides, nobody would
Display
seriously consider shutting down all other advertising and
spend it all on ads in the directory. Moreover, it was clear
that, in many cases, the call generated from the yellow Favorability
pages was triggered by an ad seen elsewhere.
the limits of the medium in generating sales are less clear
with the modern equivalent of the yellow pages – the Consideration
Search
search engine. Marketers are lured by the ability of search
to pull prospective customers located at the bottom of the
marketing funnel, who are actively looking for their product. Intent to
targeting these customers makes a lot of business sense. Purchase
they have signaled their desire to buy a product by actively Repeat
typing a keyword, and are far more likely to convert as Purchase
Purchase
compared to other prospects at the upper levels of the
funnel or outside the funnel.
the purchase funnel is a theoretical marketing model that
describes the customer’s journey towards the purchase. the
further the prospective customer moves through the funnel,
the higher the likelihood that he or she is going to purchase
the product. While there are many variations to the funnel, One way to increase the overall number of conversions is
in the most prevalent models, the customer moves from to extend the number of keywords. While it makes sense to
awareness through favorability, consideration and intent to explore other related keywords, at some point, keywords
purchase down to the purchase itself. may lose relevance. Once the keywords purchased are
Search works on the lower parts of the funnel by targeting extended too far, it would be the equivalent of buying an ad
prospective customers in the consideration stage or in the for taxis in the restaurant section of the yellow pages, since
intent to purchase stage and pushes them to complete their someone may need a lift.
purchase. Display, on the other hand, works on all stages When the campaign needs to be scaled beyond the number
of the funnel. It brings new prospective customers into the of prospective customers that can be solicited through
funnel by generating awareness, while the impact of the search, display advertising comes into play. the difference
engagement with the creative ushers prospects through between search and display is that in search, only prospects
favorability, consideration and intent to purchase. who have shown an active interest in the product by typing a
as in the case of the yellow pages, search does not bring keyword are shown the ad, while in display, the ad is pushed
new prospects into the funnel, but rather moves existing ones to all of the target demographic.
through. this raises the question of scalability – the reach of In the pull strategy used by search, prospective customers
search is limited to prospects that are already in the funnel. are only solicited deep in the funnel, and therefore their
Furthermore, the number of those lucrative prospective conversion rate tends to be high. In display, prospects may
customers with intent to purchase is limited. the question not even be in the funnel, which makes the conversion rate
that arises is how to get more people into the funnel. relatively low.
2 EyEblaStEr rESEarch NOtE

3. Search and Display:
Reach Beyond the Keyword
Getting them in the Funnel
the results of this study by Eyeblaster research suggest verticals, running cross channel search and display
that advertisers who use display advertising to extend their campaigns. campaigns were served between June 2008 and
reach beyond search receive the overwhelming majority of august 2009. campaigns were tracked using Eyeblaster’s
their conversions as a result of display advertising. by using channel connect for Search (cc4S).
a cross channel campaign, these advertisers use search
cc4S enables effective management and integration of paid
in order to harvest prospects that are deep in the funnel,
search marketing campaigns across all major engines and
while using display to solicit as many additional prospects as
geographical markets and display campaigns. the cross
possible and move them into and down the funnel.
channel campaign has unified reporting that enables users to
the research was conducted on 207 advertisers in 21 compare results of search and display side by side.
Search and Display Conversions
72% 23%
5% Search only
Search after display
Display only
Source: Eyeblaster research.
Data: cross channel campaigns served from June 2008 to august 2009.
“One of nearly five search conversions was preceded by a display impression.”
3 EyEblaStEr rESEarch NOtE

4. Search and Display:
Reach Beyond the Keyword
Overall, for customers who used both search and display, the proportion of conversions generated by search as
72% of conversions arrived as a direct result of the display compared to conversions generated by display differs
channel. Only 23% of the conversions were a direct result between verticals. Some verticals, such as b2b and travel,
of the search channel. 5% were the result of display ads try to focus on harvesting users who are already in the funnel
that were followed by a search. thus, one of nearly five and therefore have a larger portion of their conversions
search conversions was preceded by a display impression. coming from search. Other verticals, such as Entertainment
conversions with a mixed search and display path may be and consumer Packaged Goods (cPG), try to allure more
the result of navigational search – people who are navigating users into the funnel and expand reach, and thus use
to the site of Widget X, but searching “Widget X” instead of more display advertising, receiving the lion’s share of its
typing the Url. conversions from there.
conversions that resulted from display advertising followed One caveat on interpreting these results: the share of display
by search are evidence of the effectiveness of display conversion vs. search conversion is based on observations
advertising. Display increases awareness and retention of the from past campaigns, and is the result of the budget
brand such that users remember the name of the brand or allocation decisions made by these advertisers. Other
the company in order to search for it and get to its website. budget allocation decisions may have achieved different
thus, display advertising creates a far deeper retention results. therefore, it should not be interpreted as a best
that lasts beyond the moments that the ad is viewed, as practice for optimization or allocation of budget between
compared to search impressions. search and display campaigns.
Share of Display and Search Conversions by Vertical
Display Conversions
Search Conversions
Source: Eyeblaster research.
Data: cross channel campaigns served from June 2008 to august 2009.
4 EyEblaStEr rESEarch NOtE

5. Search and Display:
Reach Beyond the Keyword
Bridging the Silos
the main lesson from these findings is that each channel
plays a unique role in a campaign. While search harvests
prospective customers that are already in the purchase
funnel, it reaches a limited number of people. Display
increases reach by soliciting as many customers as possible
and moving them into the funnel. therefore, the role of
each channel is not mutually exclusive, as evidenced by the
conversions that are the result of a combination of search
and display.
While there is a clear need for a holistic view of cross
channel search and display campaigns, many advertisers
find it hard to compare the results from both channels.
Eyeblaster’s cc4S integrates the reporting from both
channels and provides an analysis of the path to conversion,
by tracking all of the exposures to the campaign, and not
only the last ad. With a holistic view of both channels,
advertisers can make informed decisions on their campaign,
and target prospective customers effectively into and
throughout the funnel.
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