In advertising, timing and seasonality often significantly impact campaign performance. For example, house hunting traditionally peaks in summer months, which affects the many secondary industries that benefit from real estate sales. Those categories also tend to see more consumer activity around the buying and selling of homes.
As the chart above illustrates, mobile display ad performance in the Storage and Moving categories can reveal insights about underlying consumer behavior. According to LSA Insights data, mobile display ad CTR for Storage peaks in April and for Moving in June.
The gap between Storage and Moving CTR levels in the chart above is a function of the discrepancy between the volume of campaigns analyzed. More important for this discussion, however, are the performance peaks and valleys, which speak to a larger issue around timing.
One study by real estate brokerage Redfin shows that 66% of houses listed in February sell within 90 days. This potentially explains the increase in interest in the Storage category in April, as reflected by mobile display CTR. As buyers close on houses and begin the process of moving between February and April, temporary storage is often needed during the transition from one residence to another.
People typically want to move in the summer to avoid battling the elements. But does the April peak for Storage and the June peak for Moving say anything deeper about the home buying process?
To be fair, CTR doesn’t automatically mean conversion. CTR is more a gauge or directional indicator of consumer interest; but we can assume that some number of these CTRs do convert. If these CTR trends ultimately translate into conversions, then we can infer that the move from one home to another takes around two months.
This holds practical implications for marketers in these categories and others who target real estate buyers or sellers. And while such conclusions are somewhat speculative, data like this can yield behavioral insights that can help merchants and media publishers do a more efficient job of planning and allocating marketing resouces.
Connecting the dots between industry categories, channels and consumer behavior is critical in understanding and boosting campaign performance. LSA Insights helps to do that.
If you are interested in learning more about LSA Insights, check out the quick demo below or contact LSA’s Business Development Manager Kevin Kalinowski at (248) 244-0713.
