More Education, Less Ad Clicking
More education means being less click happy.
A few days ago, Chitika Research put out some interesting data comparing the relation between online advertising CTR (click through rates) in comparison to college education. According to their findings, the higher the percentage of college graduates, the lower the CTR for the population. Their conclusion from that finding was that advertisers who target more educated demographics should do a better job of making their ads “worthwhile.” They also recommended that “…this is an opportunity to push the industry towards the idea of content first, sales pitch second, even among advertisements.”
Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with what Chitika Research claims, but I do think there is more to consider. For instance, since online advertising is usually paid for by the click, I think these findings justify a higher rate charged to advertisers by sites with more educated audiences. Some people might disagree with this (most likely advertisers), but I defend my position in the following way.
First, a highly educated audience has more discretionary spending. That means that they are more likely able to afford more of a good or service. Second, while online advertisers pretend that impressions don’t matter, they do. Otherwise, advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio or television would all be useless. If they’re useless, advertisers would not spend as much of their ad dollars in those areas as they currently do. While the educated audience might not click on the ads as often, they are still learning about the company through the viewing of the ads.
Online advertisers need to sell their product through what is displayed in the ad, rather than relying on something flashy or interactive to get a more educated audience to click on it. They will not. Instead, the ad needs to sell the benefit of clicking the ad and make it clear where the ad originates from. If the ad addresses a need and it is communicated clearly, the audience will either click on it if they have the time or they might go directly to the site when they have time later.
The Bottom Line
If your business targets a more educated audience, you have to realize that you need to make higher quality ads and that ad rates will likely be higher. So, while a more educated audience will take more time and money to advertise to, they are potentially worth spending more money to advertise to, even though they click through less often. After all, they are still being exposed to the ads, which if the ads are done right will make them more likely to become future customers.
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I agree with you. I believe that quality is better than quantity.