Incremental Gains: Lifting the Lid on Facebook Effectiveness
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Incremental Gains: Lifting the Lid on Facebook Effectiveness

On a crisp winter afternoon in December, iProspect, along with Facebook, have rounded up some of the world’s most famous brands to discuss Incrementality at a top-secret location in London.

But what exactly is Incrementality? Facebook describes it as, “the process of using randomised control tests to measure change”. By adopting this approach, marketers can make decisions backed by research about their media investments.

At the event, experts from iProspect and Facebook explored the following themes:

  • Utilising Technology to Drive Creativity

  • Data-driven Attribution

  • Brand Lift

  • Split Testing

Below I provide a top-level overview of the day. 

 

Utilising Technology to Drive Creativity

iProspect’s Chief Strategy Officer, Emil Bielski opened the afternoon with a brief history of how we’ve arrived at Incrementality. Simply put, as technology becomes more advanced, the user expectation increases. This means then things must be built with the needs of the end user in mind. Steve Hatch, VP Facebook, Northern Ireland explained, “the only thing that is moving faster than the speed of technology is people’s expectations”. He went on to give an example of Sainsburys having a one-hour delivery window, allowing customers to choose a time that best suits them.

As the way services are built continues to change and expectations rise, it will become imperative that marketers understand how to leverage powerful insights, ensuring potential customers see the right message at the right time – leading to higher conversion rates.

 

Data-Driven Attribution

Peter Ouzounov, Attribution Director at iProspect took the stage to focus on Data-Driven Attribution. Peter considered how utilising a data-driven attribution model and conversion data can lead to uncovering the contribution of each keyword across a conversion path. As a result, businesses can see which ads have a positive effective on business performance and which steps will lead to a higher probability of conversion.

Brand Lift

Metrics such as ad recall, brand awareness and message association allow a brand to quantify how people feel. Cat Chappell, Paid Social Director at iProspect uncovered some of powerful insights that can be captured through a brand-lift study including: Are people aware of your brand? Do they remember it? Do they want to buy from you? She went on to say that, “this insight allows marketers to understand the impact of advertising on brand marketing efforts and what they can then do to optimise future campaigns”.

Split-Testing

Kevin Chan, Head of Paid social at iProspect described split-testing as an effective way of comparing different ads to see which performed better and, as a result improve future campaigns. Split-testing allows brands to test one variable at a time, meaning two different audiences can be tested against each other. This type of test works well for target audience, delivery optimisation, placements, creative and product sets. Kevin explained that, “testing the same ad on two different audiences to see which ad performs better can help brands accurately determine budget splits”.

Three Key Takeaways

  1. The relentless search for performance excellence can be achieved via incrementality. It’s important to be bold and create new formulas for future success. ​

  2. Initially cementing a long-term vision first sets the scene. It’s important that all test-and-learn activity ladders up to that end. Testing for testing sake can send you down the wrong path. ​

  3. Split-testing offers a powerful tool that really helps marketers dissect and analyse key variables from paid media efforts. These learnings can help to super-charge every variable we use in the future. ​

At iProspect we know that technology is rapidly improving and unlocking measurement solutions, such as Incrementality. This makes it easier for our clients to connect the dots between interactions and sales. By developing a more sophisticated and rigorous approach to measurement, every type of business has the potential to lift its ROI on advertising and direct resources and spending in a more informed and effective manner. 

To find out more about the Incremental Gains: Lifting the Lid on Facebook Effectiveness event, you can watch the full Facebook Live video here. In the full video, our experts discuss how iProspect has implemented the principles outlined above for our clients.

Watch the Incremental Gains: Lifting the Lid on Facebook Effectiveness event video.