All advertising aims to drive an outcome, but there are many different possible outcomes advertisers may be willing to pay to achieve.
Some types of outcomes are much more direct and immediate than others. Immediate, direct outcomes (e.g. downloading a mobile poker app) are not inherently more valuable than delayed, indirect outcomes (e.g. buying an engagement ring made without "conflict" diamonds). But like any professional, marketers face constant pressure to demonstrate the effectiveness of money spent on marketing and so will naturally tend to prefer channels where it's easier to demonstrate the return on advertising spend over channels where the return is difficult to demonstrate.
This document aims to provide a list of the numerous target outcomes of advertising. This list can hopefully serve as a set of "test cases" to ensure that the privacy-preserving API's of the future web do not unintentionally curtail particular channels of advertising by making their desired effects unduly difficult to measure.
- Visiting a web page
- Making an online purchase
- Downloading an app
- Subscribing to a service
- Joining a mailing list
- Viewing a video
- Signing up for a webinar
- Requesting a demo
- "Sharing" a piece of content
- Making a delayed online purchase (after more research, or on a more convenient device)
- Becoming aware of a product or service
- Becoming more favorable towards a brand
- Becoming more likely to consider a brand, next time a consumer is the market for the product or service they offer
- Developing intent to purchase a product at the next opportunity
- Learning something about a brand (e.g. their use of sustainable ingredients)
- Associating a message with a brand
- Becoming more likely to recommend a brand they like to a friend
- Dialing a phone number
- Making an offline purchase
- Visiting a store
- Taking a test drive
- Seeing a movie
- Touring a property