Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Banner ads compared to plane crash survival

Rock argues that banner adverts are now a very ineffective way to drive traffic or boost online PR for any brand. In fact, the humble banner ad has become so unappealing to most internet users that it become "a symbol of all that's wrong with online advertising", according to Brian Morrissey in a post for Digiday.com.

Typically the banner ad is said to be lacking in creativity, and is highly intrusive, and is also ignored by an overwhelming majority of web users. However, despite all of these drawbacks, it mysteriously remains a mainstay of the internet - although many publishers are keen for the online marketing world to move away from the banner ad toward more fruitful and engaging options.

Those calling for its demise are citing a raft of data to back up their case. Statistics from ComScore suggest that 5.3 trillion display ads were served to US web users last year, which is a rise of 1 trillion from 2009. However, research from DoubleClick indicates that click-through rates for banner ads average only 0.1%. ComScore even estimated that around one in three (31%) ad impressions cannot be viewed by users.

And these click-through rates don't become any more impressive when viewed in the context of ComScore data which suggests that a die-hard 8% of users are responsible for 85% of those banner ad clicks. It was Solve Media that first went as far as to suggest that an individual is more likely to survive a plane crash than to intentionally click on a banner ad.

Research has been carried out by eMarketer into people's perceptions of banner ads, with the finding that 15% of people trust banner ads completely or somewhat, whereas the equivalent figure for TV ads is 29%. The same research suggests that around one in three people (34%) don't trust banner ads at all or much, compared to one in four (26%) for magazine ads.

But banner ads continue to be popular with a number of brands, as ComScore says that 445 different advertisers delivered more than a billion banner ads in 2012. Last year, Gawker, the media news and gossip blog, made a significant move away from traditional display ads and said it would work with its advertisers directly to create new content avenues. In an email to staff, the company's chief executive Nick Denton said: "We all know the conventional wisdom: the days of the banner advertisement are numbered. In two years, our primary offering to marketers will be our discussion platform."

So what is the answer? Deeper engagement in the form of content-based marketing and social media outreach is most likely to be the key to attracting online consumers in the future, concluded Rock.

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)