Why Don’t I See My Digital Ads – And Other FAQs

Advertisers are used to seeing their ads on TV or in the newspaper. They are used to hearing their spots on the radio or driving by their billboard. So naturally, the question of “why don’t I see my digital ad” comes up quite a bit.  To answer this and more common client questions, here are a few of our Frequently Asked Questions and the answers that will help you guide your clients.

Why Don’t I See My Digital Ads?

The likelihood of seeing your ad “live” is slim; even if you type in keywords we are targeting or try to get yourself “Retargeted” off your website.  The reasons for this are:

• There are millions of available ad impressions and your budget is a small percentage of those millions of impressions.
• We do not win every impression, nor do we bid on every available impression.

Your digital provider however should give you detailed monthly reports so that you know exactly what you are paying for with your digital campaign.

How Many Clicks Will I Get?

The national average click-through-rate is .07% which means that for every 100,000 impressions you run you should get at least 70 clicks on your ad that take people to your website.

For example:

If you are running 300,000 impressions you should expect at least 210 people will click on the ad and come to your website (300,000 impressions x .07% = 210).

We also track “View Through” impressions which means you can expect even more people to come to your website after seeing your ad but NOT clicking the ad.

How Many Of Those People Who Clicked Will Convert Into Leads Or Sales?

To figure this out you need to know what your typical website conversion rate is.  In other words, of the people that typically come to your website how many of them convert (do what you want them to do)?  Take that percentage x the clicks.

For example:

If you are running 300,000 impressions you should expect at least 210 people will click on the ad and come to your website.  If you typically convert 5% of people from your website, that would be 210 x 5% which means 10 conversions should be expected.

How Do I Know What My Lead Conversion Rate Is?

This depends on what you consider a conversion.  If it is buying something on your website then you would take your total website traffic divided by completed sales to get your conversion rate.  If a conversion is someone filling out a contact us form then you would take your total website traffic divided by the number of people who complete the form to get your conversion rate.

Why Should I Care About Driving Traffic To My Website?  I Don’t Sell On My Website, I’m Just Interested In Getting People To My Business Or Calling.

Increasing traffic to your website helps your organic Search Engine Optimization because a top ranking signal that Google looks at to determine where you rank for keywords related to your business, is the amount of traffic that comes to your website and from where.  Here are some other reasons why you should care about driving traffic to your website:

92% of calls to businesses in 2015 were driven by digital marketing channels.

64 cents of every dollar from in-store sales was influenced by the Internet in 2015.

Why Can’t I Just Try This For A Month?  Why Do You Require A Minimum Number Of Impressions?

Digital ads, to work effectively, need frequency because the effects are cumulative.  You need time for Retargeting to kick in, conversions to be tracked and time to optimize.  In addition, the average person is exposed to 10,860 ads a month and of those only about 3% make an impact on a person.  You need frequency to break through the noise. 

The answers here will help you to set expectations and guide your clients through the landscape of digital advertising. In addition, reviewing detailed monthly reports will show exactly what ran and how it performed, providing true transparency.