Impressions are a powerful metric. Often written off as just a necessary awareness step on the path to the mid-funnel, they are so much more. This is one reason that Google Ads introduced view-through conversions (VTCs) tracking to their ad suite in 2009 and the rest of the industry followed. A VTC is when a buyer sees an ad, for example a google search ad or a FieldTest display banner - doesn’t convert directly from the ad itself, but goes back and makes a purchase later. A VTC is also called a view-based conversion. 

At FieldTest we consider awareness level display ads to be very powerful tools. Studies show that up to 95% of purchases online can be tied to a view-through conversion. That means 95% of converting customers saw a display ad before converting directly or from an organic search and only 5% converted without first seeing a display ad. Put another way, 95% of click-based conversions are preceded by ad impressions.

But what exactly qualifies as a view-through conversion, why do they matter to digital marketers, and how can we get the most out of them? (Find out today on the Fieldtest blog) 

Just What Is a View-Through Conversion?

What does and doesn’t qualify as a view-through conversion is simple, once you know the details. A view-through conversion happens when someone sees a display ad for your product and then makes a purchase either by going directly to your website or by doing an organic search separately and within a particular lookback window (see our glossary of terms for more info).

For a VTC to count , at least within a typical last-touch attribution model, no other trackable event can happen between those two points. For example, if someone sees your display ad and then clicks a paid search ad to make a purchase, that purchase will be attributed to that click, not the initial impression — it’s not a view-through conversion. That doesn’t mean the display ad didn’t contribute to the purchase, but rather that the sale get attributed to the last trackable event, in this case the click.

At FieldTest we try to ensure you get the fullest picture of your conversion data, which is why we do not rely on a last-touch model. Our multi-touch model ensures that you see every step of the sales process, allowing you to optimize towards what’s working - whether that be your awareness marketing, mid-funnel performance ads or actions ads targeting your retargeting pool. We dive deeper into the details of our attribution model in this blog article.

So Why Do Marketers Neglect View-Through Conversions?

As digital marketers, we want to see results, and oftentimes we only recognize clicks and sales as a true metric of success for our campaigns. This results-driven framework make it easy to dismiss the value of the impressions that lead up to a final click or conversion. Far too many consider a campaign a failure if it simply drove impressions. 

Smart marketers should take a step back and see the bigger picture: Awareness level marketing and VTCs are critical tools in the digital marketing toolbox and offer a lot of value to digital marketers and to ultimately driving conversions.

The Value of View-Through Conversions

VTCs give digital marketers valuable data and the ability to drive brand awareness and conversions.

Display is a visual medium. Our goal should always be to have an ad that’s so enticing, somebody wants to click to buy immediately. But, we can’t dismiss the value of a prospect being surrounded by our imagery, our product, and our brand. That has a value and should also be tracked, which is exactly what VTCs do for us.

The age-old rule of seven tells us that buyers need to see our ads multiple times before converting.

Think about someone seeing something on Facebook. She then goes to Google and does a quick search, but doesn’t yet make a purchase. She might then be back on Facebook, see another ad for the item, only later be thinking of making a purchase. Multiple iterations typically occur before someone is thinking about making a purchase — that’s our customer journey.

Those multiple touchpoints build brand awareness and consideration in the upper part of our customer funnel. So that later, when a customer is thinking about buying a product you sell or sees another one of your ads, he or she knows who you are, recognizes your company or brand name, and considers purchasing from you.

Those touchpoints and the journey through your funnel are hard to track but highly valuable. VTCs let us track those touchpoints and their value.

At the middle or bottom of your funnel, when a shopper clicks on a paid search ad and buys your product, you know the ad is working — you see the conversion, attribution is direct.

A view-through conversion also tells you that your ad is working just not quite as directly. When one display ad has more VTCs than another ad, you know it’s the better-targeted ad.

You can A/B test different creatives to see which lead to higher VTCs and find the highest performing ads. You can test the same ad in different placements and discover which placements lead to higher VTCs and therefore perform better with your target audiences.

Knowing which display ads are performing best, can also help you optimize other channels (think of testing your display heading in a search ad), and ultimately drive conversions, and revenue.

Every step in the funnel is important

You’re hopefully beginning to see how upper funnel marketing and impression metrics are important not only for building brand awareness driving conversions in their own right, but how VTCs are vital in determining the health of your marketing campaigns. My monitoring this number closely you get a full picture of how your awareness level marketing is performing and how strongly your targeted audiences are connecting to your ads.

Use the form below to get in touch with FieldTest about how we can help you track your VTCs and build powerful full-funnel marketing campaigns.