Measuring Ad Effectiveness

Whether you are using radio as a one-off boost or as part of a longer-term strategy, it is important to think about how you are going to measure the radio advertising effectiveness.

This short blog will provide you with tangible outcomes as well as help you to optimise any future radio investment.

Measuring Radio Effectiveness Against Web Traffic

When it comes to measuring overall website traffic, take a longer approach to determine overall effectiveness. Compare your total number of website visitors after you began running radio ads to your total number of website visitors during the months and years that came before. Consider the effects of changes in specific website conversion rates and general increases in branded traffic (comprised of visitors who arrive at your website after typing your brand name into a search engine).

Measuring Advertising Spots

Intermediary measures: comparing results across matched samples

According to Radiocentre, one of the biggest challenges with radio Is that consumers tend to misattribute radio advertising memories to other media such as TV. This generally happens when there is a strong executional link between the two media and/or where there is an established history of TV advertising for the brand.

The best way to offset misattribution is by using matched samples of listeners and non-listeners. By doing this, if the increase in advertising awareness is greater among listeners that it is amongst non-listeners, then the effect can be attributed to radio fairly – even if the listeners think the advertising was in another medium.

Business outcomes: comparing results across regions

The best way to evaluate the success of a campaign based on response or sales is by comparing data across a region that receives radio advertising and a region where no radio is actually taking place. These regions should be broadly matched in terms of population profile and exposure to other media activity.

In a study of this nature, it is best to compare data between both regions in the months preceding the radio advertising to understand the base level relationship in sales and to act as a comparison point for how the relationship changes during and post the advertising.

Measuring Radio Branded Content

Similar basic rules apply to measuring radio branded content as for measuring radio advertising effectiveness. However, there are some additional points that are important to bear in mind.

1. Relate research metrics to the specific communications objective of the brand, for example, brand values/change perceptions.

2. Consideration of measuring reactions to executional elements, for example, trails, live leads, and credits.

3. Measurement of the people to who the branded content is targeted at. If a certain station has been chosen to communicate highly targeted messages, then only measure response amongst listeners to that station.

4. Compare results to a test sample. Look at any changes in awareness/perceptions amongst listeners to people who don’t listen to the station that hosts the branded content – this station must be paired closely with a station with similar demographics.