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by sudosushi 2936 days ago
That's actually a grey/black hat way of boosting your ad sales numbers, even if you didn't click.

You buy x at y store, y store has an ad buy with ShadyAdCo. If you see product x in an ad within z time afterwards, it counts as an influence towards your purchase. ShadyAdCo just made money, and y store can give record numbers.

EDIT: typo
3 comments
moufestaphio 2936 days ago
Huh, I never thought of that. Only works if you're using basic/bad metrics. I believe google's stuff is a little more advanced than that and you can see your click-through all the way to buying rate etc.
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bluGill 2936 days ago
That only works if you actually click and buy. If you see an ad for a part you need, then go to hardware store and buy it they have no way of knowing that you saw the ad, much less how much influence the ad had.

It also fails to account for awareness being a major reason to buy ads. Ford want to advertise to everybody (probably including Amish) because most people will eventually buy a car, and it is important that you think Ford then. Even if you bought a car yesterday it is important to them that you not forget that you can buy a Ford - they know you won't buy for a few years, but they still want you to think of them.

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wesd 2936 days ago
Google has been trying to tie store purchase to ad impression [1]:

"This location tracking ability has allowed Google to send reports to retailers telling them, for example, whether people who saw an ad for a lawn mower later visited or passed by a Home Depot. The location-tracking program has grown since it was first launched with only a handful of retailers. Home Depot, Express, Nissan, and Sephora have participated."

[1]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23...

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mc32 2936 days ago
How can it have influence if they know the views happened after the “decision“? Seems odd.
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annamargot 2936 days ago
This is the correct answer.

Ask yourself why Facebook counts "post-view" conversions instead of only post-click like AdWords and most others.

New client had been working off the assumption they were seeing ROAS of around 3 (not terrible). When we showed them how to see just the post-click, ROAS is now at 1. That means even if they are selling a product they received for free or stole, ie COGS = 0, they still only breakeven.

Attribution is the key. All this assumes that ad companies and Facebook are honest in the first place about the number of views and clicks an ad has received. Their behavior does not engender much good will for a benefit of the doubt situation.

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