Optimizing digital touchpoints: consumer study reveals best methods for online marketing effectiveness.(White Paper)

As online ad investment continues to grow along with the number of digital touchpoints, the interactive landscape is becoming increasingly complicated, with marketers left to wonder how to best allocate their digital budgets.

According to a new consumer study from the Corporate Executive Board, a provider of best-practice research and analysis to member corporations, the best thing companies can do in the way of a digital strategy is master their own Web sites.

The study, "Identifying the Drivers of Digital Effectiveness," authored by the CEB's Advertising and Marketing Communications Roundtable and published in partnership with Nielsen Ventures and Nielsen//Net-Ratings (which, like AdweekMedia, are part of The Nielsen Co.), considered the online habits of 3,000 consumers. It focused on the financial services, telecommunications and travel services industries.

Four digital touchpoints--Web sites, email, display advertising and paid search--were evaluated on their power to boost the effectiveness of four outcomes: upper purchase funnel (consumer awareness and information gathering), lower purchase funnel (consideration and purchase), brand favorability and consumer engagement.

The study offers insight into how marketers can leverage their arsenal of interactive tools to create the most effective digital strategies.

"Many advertisers are striving to take advantage of new media opportunities by integrating digital touchpoints such as Web sites and display ads into their marketing …