Contents
- What is Brand Lift?
- The Brand Lift Research Process
- Brand Lift Metrics
- How to Conduct a Brand Lift Study?
- What to Do with the Results?
- Features of the Brand Lift Method
What is Brand Lift?
Brand Lift is a sociological study that evaluates how an advertising campaign affects audience perception of a specific brand. This method is widely used to analyze the effectiveness of media advertising and helps understand changes in consumer attitudes towards the brand after viewing the advertisement. The main advantage of Brand Lift is the ability to obtain data on how advertising influences the opinions of the target audience, which is critically important for developing marketing strategies.
The Brand Lift Research Process
The Brand Lift study is conducted in two stages. The first stage, known as the "baseline" survey, collects data before the advertising campaign begins. After the campaign launches, a main survey is conducted, dividing respondents into two groups: the test group and the control group. The test group has seen the advertising materials, while the control group has not been exposed to them. It is important for the control group to match the socio-demographic characteristics of the target audience; otherwise, the results will be unreliable.
The ratio between the test and control groups in Brand Lift studies conducted by Yandex is 9:1. Respondents are asked questions about the advertisement or brand, and these questions typically appear in the same places where the ads were displayed, such as video players and banners. By comparing responses before and after the advertising campaign, as well as between groups, the effectiveness of the advertising placement can be assessed.
Brand Lift Metrics
The effectiveness of media advertising can be evaluated based on several parameters that help understand the impact of advertising on consumers. The main metrics considered in Brand Lift include:
- Brand Awareness: the audience's ability to recognize the brand.
- Brand Interest: changes in the number of search queries during the advertising campaign.
- Brand Favorability: how advertising affects the audience's attitude towards the brand and its competitors.
- Ad Recall: how well the audience remembers contact with the advertisement.
- Ad Message Recall: how well the audience understood and remembered the advertising message.
- Product Consideration: the impact of advertising on the choice of the brand's products and services.
- Purchase Intent: the influence of advertising on plans to purchase the brand's products or services.
Researchers formulate questions for respondents to assess each of these metrics. For example, if we are advertising cars, questions might include: "What car brands do you know?" or "Did you feel inclined to purchase a car of this brand after watching the ad?".
How to Conduct a Brand Lift Study?
To analyze the effectiveness of an advertising campaign, companies can turn to either advertising platforms or research agencies. Each of these approaches has its advantages and disadvantages. Advertising platforms like Yandex.Direct and Google Ads offer free Brand Lift studies but have strict requirements regarding budgets and reach.
On the other hand, research agencies such as Tiburon Research and OMI provide more flexible conditions but may encounter delays in obtaining statistics due to the need to exchange data with advertising platforms. The choice of approach depends on the advertiser's goals and the budget available for the study.
What to Do with the Results?
The results of a Brand Lift study can help companies scale successful campaigns by increasing budgets and expanding targeting. If the results do not meet expectations, this may indicate the need to revise the creative, targeting, or promotional channels. The information obtained from the study will be useful for optimizing future advertising campaigns, allowing the brand to improve its performance.
Additionally, regular Brand Lift studies allow marketers to establish connections between brand metrics and other important indicators, such as customer acquisition cost and cost per click. This helps determine how effectively advertising impacts consumers and how it correlates with increased sales.
Features of the Brand Lift Method
Despite its popularity, the Brand Lift method has some limitations. For example, the subjectivity of respondents' answers can influence the results. It is also important to consider that various factors, such as seasonal changes and competitors' advertising campaigns, can affect the perception of advertising. To obtain reliable data, the sample size must be significant, which requires a sufficient budget and reach.
The main drawback of the Brand Lift study is the lack of precise data. Although the method does not provide absolute values, it can be useful for assessing the overall impact of advertising on brand perception. In conditions where tracking the effectiveness of advertising formats is a complex task, Brand Lift results can be helpful for making informed decisions.