Share
  30 October 2015
Please click here to view this e-mail in your browser
 
 
RMS and PayPal: radio drives traffic to the web!
 

This week’s egtabite is a classic example of radio advertising’s ability to drive traffic to the web and help e-commerce businesses find new customers, which is a particularly hot topic today.

A new test campaign by the German audio sales house RMS, which represents the majority of the country’s private radio broadcasters and online audio companies for national advertising, for the online payment provider PayPal, offers compelling proof that audio advertising can deliver impressive results.

The test

RMS, with the media agency Optimedia, ran a campaign for PayPal across the whole of Germany (the test area) with the exception of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein (the control area). Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and Bremen were also excluded, in order to avoid spill-over into the control area. The campaign included advertising on both FM radio stations and to targeted online audio audiences.

PayPal’s objective was to increase registrations to the service, and the study compared PayPal’s results during an identical period in 2014. During both periods – the test period in 2015 and the identical period in 2014 – the company’s other advertising activities were identical, so that the effect of audio advertising could be isolated and quantified.

The results

The results of this test campaign demonstrate the clear success of audio advertising. The number of registrations to PayPal in the test area increased by 29.1% during the campaign period, compared to just 3.7% in the control area.

Compared to the similar period in 2014, PayPal increased its general enrolment by 25.3%. However, the RMS audio campaign doubled the growth in registrations to 52.8%.

In terms of conversation rates, the campaign period showed a 32% increase in the test area, which was about four times higher than the 7.6% increase seen in the control area.

These results offer compelling evidence of audio advertising’s ability to both reach an audience at scale as well as drive business outcomes. With online interactions becoming more and more important for advertisers, whether operating in the online and e-commerce world or that of bricks-and-mortar, this study again shows how radio and online audio can drive traffic to websites and convert audiences into transactions.

 


A Q&A with Alexander Sempf, Managing Director Sales, RMS


egta: PayPal is a company firmly rooted in the digital world. What do believe are the most effective sales arguments and evidence that can be used to convince e-commerce advertisers to invest in radio and online audio?

AS: It’s that simple: Audio works! It drives traffic to the web. Why? Because the combination of FM radio and online audio generates most touchpoints of all media. You have the enormous reach covered by FM radio plus further touchpoints and a high contact quality with interesting target groups by adding online audio. And thanks to mobile devices, audio is everywhere, anytime: at home, at work or on the road.

egta: Were there any differences between the audience targeting or campaign creative used for the FM radio and online audio elements of this campaign?

AS:  No, in this case we had the same target group and same campaign creative for both channels FM radio and online audio.

egta: What do you believe to be the unique selling points of radio advertising as a component of an advertiser’s media-mix, or indeed as a standalone medium?

AS: The need for mass communication continues, especially in a digital age defined by ever-increasing possibilities of media availability, fragmented media usage, social media and declines in other traditional media. Therefore, FM radio is one of the last remaining effective mass media to build extensive coverage and to spread messages quickly. Moreover, with the increasing digital distribution, audio is everywhere – it can be consumed offline, online and on any connected device. Therefore, audio is very close to its listeners and delivers touchpoints other media can hardly reach.

egta: How has this campaign, and other tests you carry out, helped RMS attract new clients in the e-commerce sector?

AS: Companies want efficacy proofs for every single medium, whether in the e-commerce business or other economic sectors. So, the more successful audio campaigns such as PayPal we publish, the more the interest of other companies is growing. We can already see that the response is getting bigger and bigger.

 

   
Target: Radio
 
 
Background info
 

Please click on the links below to access the relevant documents:

» The case study on RMS website - in German (please click here)

» Interview with PayPal in German (please click here)

» RMS case studies (please click here)

 
Download in PDF
 

Please click here to download the PDF version

 
Next events
 

» Radio Marketing & Sales Meeting

Tuesday 1 December 2015
Hamburg, Germany

Agenda
Register here

» Partner event:

RAIN Summit Europe, November 9, London

Conference devoted to the subject of Internet radio and online audio.

egta members benefit from £25 discount on the regular registration rate, please contact Ania for the discount code.

For more information and to register, click here