Mobile-Local Ad Clicks Most Commonly Followed by Phone Calls

February 13, 2014

xAd-Top-Secondary-Actions-Post-Mobile-Local-Ad-Click-Feb2014What happens after a mobile user clicks on a locally-targeted ad? Most often, a phone call to the business, says xAd in its 2013 Year-in-Review report [download page]. However, the results aren’t uniform across all industries: while calls most commonly followed clicks in several industries, the most popular secondary activity in other industries was looking up directions or maps to a store, signaling mobile’s potential to drive foot traffic.

Not surprisingly, the industries that saw the most secondary activity in maps and directions were retail, beauty and pharmacy, and home and garden. Those that mostly saw calls were: restaurants; food and grocery; auto; telecom; and travel.

Previous research from xAd has shown that secondary actions don’t only vary by industry, but also by ad type. A couple of years ago, the network revealed that mobile-local search ad clicks were more likely to lead to phone calls than display clicks, while the latter were followed more by map access and driving directions. More recently, Google has touted the benefits of including click-to-call functions in search results, noting that search ads experience an 8% increase in click-through rate when call extensions are enabled.

In other results from its report, xAd reveals that advertisers on its platform have now almost completely adopted geo-precise targeting techniques. Last year, some 96% of campaigns included those techniques (such as geo-fencing, geo-conquesting or targeting on search behavior), up from 81% in 2012.

The report takes a closer look at the retail sector, which xAd notes became the top-advertising category on its platform in 2013. During Q4, xAd says that the breakdown of targeting techniques employed by retail advertisers were:

  • Loyalty (40%): “reach and engage customers around retail locations and entice them through the door to convert;”
  • Competitive Geo-Conquesting (38%): “attract customer either in the process of making a purchase decision at a competitor’s store or who have shopped at a competitor in the past;”
  • Audience (12%): “demographics, geographies, past behaviors…;” and
  • Other (10%), including point of interest targeting and standard DMA/city.

About the Data: Metrics and insights provided are based on xAd’s network and campaign data throughout 2013 from over 300 unique national brand advertiser campaigns.

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