The main principle of banner-making

On the site, the banner is displayed completely differently than it looks in the designer’s presentation. And the point is not even in some peculiarities of perception but in the technical features of the placement.

The banner is loaded simultaneously with the rest of the website content. By the time the user scrolls to the banner or pays attention to it, the picture can be on any slide.

Users do not watch banners from the first to the last slide. Therefore, the brand, product and message of the advertisement should be clear from each frame.

It is similar to the principle of creating digital videos. But a user will watch the video sequentially, from the first second to at least the fifth, until he or she can skip it.

But the user can notice the banner at any moment. And just scroll through it at any time. Therefore, it makes no sense to make plot banners. An exception here may be cyclical stories, which are also understandable from any moment, but these are rare.

Common mistakes in banners

Let’s look at a few examples of banners that could be more effective.

This ad duplicates the video that was running in parallel. Beautiful, bright banner, with the image of people attracts attention. Each frame has a product, backpacks. But to understand that these are “Yes” backpacks, you need to watch to the last slide.

Nice, intriguing banner. But until the last moment it is not clear that this is Samsung. I’m not saying that this is critical – just not the best option.

Examples of successful banners

This is already an example of a good banner, in which it is clear from the first second what is being advertised. There is a “Deka” store, it has cool watches, and this is clear from any moment.

When you see this banner, you immediately understand: a laptop is advertised, ASUS, stylish and beautiful. Each slide has a brand logo and a product, most show a specific model of the device being promoted.

A fairly simple banner in the style of the video. It is immediately clear what is advertised: what phone, what price and in which store to buy it.

How to understand that creative is effective

We looked at examples of successful and less successful banners, and many people probably have a question, how we determine the quality of a creative, its usefulness and effectiveness.
The easiest option is to compare the CTR of different creatives. But this approach is fundamentally wrong. Display advertising should not lead people to a website, it creates a media effect and stimulates delayed conversions in the first place. According to our research, 70-80% of landing page visits after viewing display ads are post-view and cross-device conversions.

To measure the effectiveness of advertising in terms of delayed conversions, we use Comprehensive Analysis. One of its components is to mark everyone who has seen the ad as an auditor to track their further interaction with the brand. And so you can conclude the effectiveness of creatives on complete data, not on 20-30% of direct conversions from advertising.

For example, this approach helped us optimize the campaign for rabota.ua. We launched two types of banners: one duplicated TV advertising, and the other was created specifically for digital, taking into account the specifics of consumption. The hypothesis was that the audience had already memorized the TV ad and would be better able to interact with this creative. And the post-click data confirmed this. But Comprehensive Analysis showed that the digital banner worked better.

In some cases, it is difficult to understand why one creative performed better or worse. Look at the performance of Olx banners on the slide below. Creatives in the same style, match similar videos of the same campaign, have a clear message and immediately show the brand. But the result is different. So, we need to study the topic further and look for new insights.

Conclusions

1. The banner preview can start at any frame.
2. Each side should have a product, brand and advertising message.
3. Test the effectiveness of banner advertising not by CTR, but by all conversions, including delayed ones: post-view and cross-device.

If you need effective creatives for your campaign, write “I need banners” to info@newage.agency. Or leave your contacts on the “Design” page.