High CTRs Don't Lead to High Conversion Rates

Allison Howen — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 01:26:00 GMT

High click-through rates (CTR) are not a consistent indicator of high conversion rates or purchase intent, at least according to a new study from Jumptap.

In the June MobileSTAT study, targeted mobile advertising provider Jumptap compared data from 10 big gaming advertisers and found that a campaign could have a very low CTR but a high conversion rate, or a high CTR and a low conversion rate.

For example, one advertiser generated a CTR that was 41 percent below average; however had an impressive click-to conversion rate of 231 percent above average. Another advertiser saw extremely high CTRs at 177 percent above average, but received a click-to conversion rate that was 44 percent below average.

Separately, Jumptap also analyzed four major advertisers in the consumer product goods and automotive industries, in order to compare campaign CTR to the lift in purchase intent based on post-campaign brand research. In the two consumer product good case studies, the first advertiser saw a CTR 41 percent below average but purchase intent 48 percent above average, while the second advertiser saw more expected results – with a CTR 13 percent above average and purchase intent 12 percent above average.

However the results for the automotive advertisers were much more dramatic. The first advertiser saw a CTR 59 percent below average and purchase intent 116 percent above average, while the second advertiser had a CTR 15 percent above average and purchase intent 46 percent above average.

“While CTR is a widely used metric in both online and mobile advertising, it is at best a narrow predictor of success,” says Paran Johar, Chief Marketing Officer, Jumptap. “The most insightful advertisers consider all factors, including click-to conversion rates and brand metrics such as purchase intent, message recall, and brand performance, depending on their marketing objectives. Understanding an advertiser’s goals upfront and helping them achieve them is why we have such a high renewal rate on the Jumptap network.”

Insights on Analytics : intent to purchase

High CTRs Don't Lead to High Conversion Rates