Measuring Advertising Effectiveness
Measuring Advertising Effectiveness
Measuring Advertising Effectiveness
The managerial responsibility in the area of advertising does not come to an end with the
execution of an advertising programme. Any sound managerial effort is finally interested in
goal attainment and, therefore, always ready to evaluate the results.
It is an attempt to measure whether the time, talent and the treasure invested in the
creative activity has resulted in attaining the goals of profit maximization to the advertiser
and satisfaction to the consumers at large.
What is to be measured?
Ad effectiveness evaluation is a research activity and by its very nature, it is to establish the
cause and effect relation between the efforts and the results. This ad effectiveness is to be
seen in five areas namely, markets, motives, messages, media and overall results.
In each area, one is to look in for the advertising ability and the achievements in the light of
preset objectives. Advertising testing is indispensable because, it enables to get down to the
facts, to decide on spending to guard against the mistaken notion that you have to keep in
touch with latest trends, to separate wheat from the chaff, the sheep from goats, the
winning ideas from the duds, to multiply the results from the rupee investments so made.
When to test?
Post-testing results in maximum loss if it fails as the whole show is over and he gets the
post- mortem report, as to what has happened. Nothing is certain unless and until, we are
sure about the accuracy and reliability of feed-back that the advertiser gets from such
research.
How to test?
Fortunately, the advertising has wide range of testing techniques or the methods to choose
for evaluation purpose. What methods or techniques he is going to use is dependent on
when he is going to measure the ad effectiveness.
Accordingly, there can be three sets of methods to meet his needs namely, pre-testing,
concurrent testing and post-testing methods.
I. Pre-testing methods
1. Check-list test
2. Opinion test
Opinion test or consumer jury test is one that obtains the preference of a sample group of
typical prospective consumers of the product or the service for an ad or part of it. The
members of the jury rate the ads as to their head-lines, themes, illustrations, slogans, by
direct comparison.
Getting preference from a juror is better than getting it from a member of general public or
an ad expert.
Jury’s preference is arrived at by seeking answers to the questions as to which ad was seen
first?
Dummy magazines are used to pre-test the ads under conditions of approximation
resembling normal exposure. A dummy magazine contains standard editorial material,
control ads that have been already tested and the ads to be tested. The sample households
receive these magazines and the interviews are conducted to determine recall scores.
Port-folio test is like that of dummy magazine test except that the test ads are placed in a
folder that contains control ads. The respondents are given these folders for their reading
and reactions. The test scores are determined in the interview. The ad with highest score is
taken as the best.
4. Inquiry test
It involves running two or more ads on a limited scale to determine which is most effective
in terms of maximum inquiries for the offers made. These inquiry tests are used exclusively
to test copy appeals, copies, illustrations, and other components.
Any of these elements may be checked. The point that is to be checked is changed and all
other components are unaltered, to get the score.
5. Mechanical tests
These mechanical tests are objective in nature unlike the one already explained. These help
in provide good measures as to how respondent are eyes and emotions reaching a given
advertisement.
2. Consumer diaries
This method involves giving the families selected in advance of diary or individual diaries to
the members of the family. The selected families and individual respondents are asked to
record the details about the programme they listen or view. The diaries are collected
periodically to determine the scores.
3. Mechanical devices
The mechanical devices used to measure the ad differences concurrently are more common
to broadcast media.
These are:
Audio meters
Psychogalvanometer
Tachistoscope and
Truck Electronic Unit.
4. Traffic counts
Traffic counts are of special applicability to outdoor advertising. One can get good deal of
information through traffic counts. This counting is done by independent organisations may
be private or public. This work is also undertaken by advertising agencies. For instance, how
many automobiles and other vehicles were exposed to a bulletin board or a poster or a wall
painting and how many times? Can be determined.
It is controlled experiment conducted in the field. In inquiry test, the number of consumer
inquiries produced by an advertising copy or the medium is considered as to the measure of
its communication effectiveness.
Therefore, the number of inquiries is the test of effectiveness which can be produced only
when the ad copy or the medium succeeds in attracting and retaining reader or viewer
attention. To encourage inquiries, the advertiser offers to send something complimentary to
the reader or the viewer, if he replies.
2. Split-run test
A split-run test is a technique that makes possible testing of two or more ads in the same
position, publication, issued with a guarantee of each ad reaching a comparable group of
readers. It is an improvement over the inquiry test in that the ad copy is split into elements
like appeal layout headline and so on. Here also, the readers are encouraged to reply the
inquiries to the keyed or the given address.
3. Recognition tests
4. Recall tests
There are several variations of this test. One such test is Triple Association Test which is
designed to test copy themes or the slogans and reveals the extent to which they have
remembered.
5. Sales tests
Sales tests represent controlled experiment under which actual field conditions than the
simulated are faced. It attempts to establish a direct relationship between one or more
variables and sales of a product or service. It facilitates testing of one ad against another
and one medium against another.
To sum-up, ad effectiveness testing is a must to avoid costly mistakes, to select the best
alternative from the apparently equal alternatives, to resolve the differences of opinion and
to add to the store of knowledge having deep bearing on advertising effectiveness and
efficiency. Ad effectiveness testing can be at three levels namely, prior to, during and after
the release of an ad.
There are many methods to choose. The final results depend on the validity, reliability and
the relevance of each method employed. Testing, if done in good faith, can payout its costs
and rich dividends too.