How Effective is Internet Advertising Really?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/a-dangerous-question-does-internet-advertising-work-at-all/372704/
This article talks about the reality of the effectiveness of Internet advertising. According to a research done by eBay labs, companies like Google exaggerate the effectiveness of advertising. Because in reality, people do not actually click on ads, they just ignore the information marked “ads” at the top of their search results and instead proceed to what they were looking for in the first place.
More specifically, when people search certain brand keywords, the ads have absolutely no effect (based on clicks). However, if people search non specific brand keywords, then the ads have more effect than in the previous example.
So why do ads not work? They are based off of our search history and our interests on the internet. In theory, the ads seem a perfectly good idea. Companies like Google and Facebook make tons of money off of online ads, and they claim a high level of effectiveness.
One of the main reasons behind this is the “I was gonna buy it anyway” theory. When looking for a product, people usually have a specific thing in mind. They search for that product on the internet, then search engines like Google or websites like Facebook register that search, and display ads for that product. However, it does not necessarily mean that the ad converted the person into buying the product. It just made clicking on the link to the website a little more convenient.
The only case where the ad would have been effective is if someone were looking for a pair of sneakers, and Google decided to put a certain brand at the top, rather than an alternative. But if the consumer was looking for a specific brand anyway (and honestly, at this day and age, people usually shop knowing exactly what they want to buy), then the ad is pointless.
The reason why it is so difficult for ads to hook new consumers is because no one really trusts ads. There is already too much information on the internet that consumers can look at and make their decision. People are more likely to trust reviews, comments, and user input for products rather than trust what the company selling the product has to say about it. Because of this enormous amount of information on the web, people just end up deciding exactly what they want, and they ignore ads altogether because they seem untrustworthy.
In the end, it is difficult to predict the behavior of consumers on the internet. Even if you look at their search history and their interactions with friends, it is still difficult to judge exactly how a new ad will affect them. And it is even more difficult to tell if the ad is effective at all.