AOL's Advertising.com Reports that Behavioral Ads Yield Fewer Clicks, Higher Conversions

Here's some interesting news -- we haven't talked our heard about behavioral in some time. We always knew it converted well, but it just hasn't been, well, trendy lately. (See our case study on the topic. It won us an WebAward)

So imagine our excitement when we saw this article in AdWeek. Perhaps the well-done behavioral ad will be back in vogue...

Research from AOL's Advertising.com found that behavioral targeting ads produce lower response rates than run-of-network placements, but those clicking them more often open accounts or complete a registration form.

In the personal finance category, behavioral-targeted ads drew a click-through rate 56 percent below untargeted ads, yet they had a 90 percent higher conversion rate than untargeted placements. Similarly, targeted auto ads had a 64 percent lower click rate but 323 percent higher conversion rate. For education ads, clicks declined 22 percent and conversions rose 105 percent.

"What is happening is the advertising is more relevant to them," said Lauren Weinberg, associate director of research at Advertising.com. "There are less wasted clicks."

Read the whole article (may require registration).