How brand lift studies and survey ads are shaping marketing campaigns

Framing the impact of marketing initiatives with brand lift studies

Brand lift represents the percentage increase in the primary objective of a brand’s advertising campaign. With a brand lift study, marketers can measure the extent to which an advertising campaign has shifted consumer perception based on key purchase funnel metrics. The study unlocks insights about their interactions by asking specific questions of consumers who have interacted with campaigns. 

For example, say an athleisure brand has just launched its first marketing campaign around a new shoe line. The brand is known for its apparel, so it runs a brand lift study to understand whether the target audience is interested in the shoes. The study can discover how likely a consumer is to purchase the brand’s new shoes, the perception a consumer has about the brand after seeing the ad for shoes or what brand comes to mind when a consumer thinks about that shoe style. 

Brand lift studies are a key tool for determining an audience’s first impression of new efforts and providing qualitative data. This performance tactic goes beyond traditional metrics, such as impressions, to measure a campaign’s impact on consumer perceptions and behavior. 

By identifying the target consumer’s awareness, perception, consideration and likelihood of purchase, marketers can better judge the effectiveness of a finished campaign. The brand can then use those insights to inform future campaigns. 

Leveraging ad creatives as a source of insight into an audience

Interactive ad creatives can serve as a tool for gathering feedback from users. These are typically referred to as survey ads, discovery ads or brand lift ads. Survey ads use an HTML5 format to create an interactive unit for users. This format captures audience responses by presenting questions. By way of buttons, a checklist or a dropdown menu, there are countless insights an advertiser can gain through a survey ad. 

For example, an advertiser in the travel vertical could use ads to determine traveler readiness amid the current global travel climate. Interactive creative can survey users to find out how willing they are to book a trip or when they would be ready to book in the future. The advertiser can then rely on these insights to understand the best time to invest in a travel campaign.  

Survey ads are equally useful for informing decisions about new products and understanding how well they will resonate with the target audience — e.g., a razor company could use a survey ad to gather data about what colors their target audience prefers when it comes to the razor’s handle. 

Whereas a brand lift study is done post-campaign, survey ads can be run in advance of a large campaign to help inform it. By gathering preemptive insights about the receptiveness and preferences of a target audience, marketers can create campaigns that cater best to that audience. 

Using brand lift tactics to inform future campaigns

Brand lift studies and interactive ads are valuable tactics for informing campaigns. They can prove the effectiveness of campaigns and provide preemptive insight into what a target audience wants. 

These insights are an essential part of competing in today’s media industry because they go beyond basic measurements like impressions and views to evaluate digital’s contributions with more complex performance metrics. By learning what a brand or product’s audience has to say, marketers can better align a digital strategy with a brand’s message.