Choosing the right frequency cap is one of the important optimization factors for the digital advertising campaign success. Normally, campaign managers use 3 impressions/day or 7 impressions/week impression cap for their ad campaigns. But, Optimal frequency cap varies depending upon the campaign objective, flight duration, Targeting, Available Users, Product Health etc.
SRIDARAN BASKARAN
Many programmatic ad campaign managers actively looking optimization suggestions to make their campaign more successful. We need to consider many factors while we optimizing the programmatic ad campaigns. Here, we are discussing about the importance choosing optimal frequency cap for the programmatic ad campaigns. I hope this article will shape your understanding about Frequency Capping. If it does then please share your opinion via comments.
Success in digital advertising is not an easy task. Many factors should align in the correct line to get the success. For example, choosing the right channel, choosing right dsp, choosing right audience, choosing right creative format are the few factors for digital advertising success. Along with that, choosing optimal frequency is also an important factor for digital advertising success. Have you heard about “Marketing Rule Of 7”?. This rule says, normally customers will get attention to the particular advertisement after they see the same advertisement at least 7 times. There is no predefined frequency cap number for all kinds of campaigns. So, marketers need to find the optimal frequency capping for their ad campaign . Here, I will explain the importance of frequency capping in digital advertising.
How To Find The Right Frequency Cap For Your Campaign?
What Will The Best Frequency Capping For Sales Campaign?
How Bad Frequency Capping Leads Delivery Issue?
What Is Frequency Capping?
Frequency Capping is the limit, how many times your advertisement shows to the user within the particular duration at maximum. The main purpose of the frequency capping is to avoid showing the same advertisement multiple times to the same user. Right frequency cap will help the campaign to achieve the desired goal. Frequency Cap 3/Day means, each user will not see the ad from the same ad campaign more than three times in a day.
Showing the same advertisement in certain intervals encourages the users to make desired action. For example, if we show a promotional advertisement to the customer 1/day for 2 or 5 days then the customer will notice the advertisement content on the 4th or 5th day. But, If you haven’t set any frequency capping in the ad campaign then there is a chance for showing the advertisement multiple times to the same user. It may irritate the customer.
The amount of salt in the food is very important for taste. Like that, frequency cap in the digital ad campaign is very important for success.
How To Find The Right Frequency Cap For Your Campaign?
Frequency cap will change as per the campaign goal. Here, we will discuss how to find the right frequency cap for your new campaign. Before diving into the topic, you should know the frequency calculation to understand this topic better,
Frequency = (Total Impression / Unique User) Per Time Frame
Frequency = (300/100) Per 1 day = 3 Impression Per Day
Brand Awareness Campaign For Large User Available Campaign :
One big marketer like colgate launches a new product and their goal is to reach maximum people. Normally, their customers are common people. So, this campaign normally has a large user pool. To reach maximum people you should select the very lower frequency cap (Example : 2 Per Week or 3 Per Week). Here, the user pool for the colgate campaign is very high. So, you can use a very low frequency cap.
Brand Awareness Campaign For Small User Available Campaign :
Another marketer with a small audience group launches a new product and their goal is to reach the maximum number of people. In this situation, you can’t set a very low frequency cap. If you do this, then this campaign may be under pace. So set an average frequency cap at the earlier stage and monitor the pacing. If the campaign is pacing well then you can lower the frequency cap further and monitor the pacing. If the campaign is under pacing, then you need to increase the frequency cap.
What Will the Best Frequency Capping For Sales Campaign?
Many campaign traffickers normally set 3 impressions per day for their fresh ad campaign. Based on the ongoing campaign performance, they may reduce or increase the frequency cap for their campaign. Some marketers follow “Marketing Rule Of 7”. This rule says, normally customers will give attention to the particular advertisement after they see the advertisement at least 7 times.
Before setting the frequency capping for the sales campaign, you should analyze the product, brand, people’s interest on the product, cost of the product etc.
Example 1 : One soap company runs a digital advertising campaign for promoting their new soap brand. The goal of this campaign is to click the ad and “Redeem Soap Sample” from their website.
Normally, people are interested in trying free sample products. So, in this situation you can keep a lower frequency cap for your campaign. 3 Per Day is enough for this kind of situation. If the user does not redeem samples by watching your ad three times in a day then he will not redeem sample soap even if you show the ad more times or more days. By setting an average frequency cap, you can save impressions (cost) and display your ad to new users.
Example 2 : For selling a product from a new brand or costly brand, we need to show the advertisement slowly at least for 5 to 7 days. But note that, we do not show more times in a day. If we show the same advertisement continuously then they may be irritated. So, we can set 1 impression per day frequency cap for that kind of sales campaigns.
How Bad Frequency Capping Leads Delivery Issue?
If you want to optimize your programmatic ad campaign then you should start with Frequency Capping. Also, you can increase the campaign delivery or decrease the campaign delivery by adjusting the Frequency Cap.
Many programmatic advertising platforms have forecasting features. Forecasting feature means the platform shows the targetable users or impressions availability for the current campaign’s targeting. If your campaign forecast says 1000 users matched with the current targetings then you can deliver <1000 impressions at the frequency cap 1 impression/day. If you want to deliver more impressions then you should increase the frequency capping or to relax the targeting. If you can’t relax the targeting then you should increase the frequency capping to increase the delivery.
If your campaign delivers more impressions but does not perform well, in this situation you should show your advertisement to the new users to acquire results. Lower frequency cap limits the number of times an ad shows to the same user so it pushes the platform to show the advertisement to new users.
Conclusion
Normally, campaign managers do not care more about the frequency capping. They just set the default frequency capping for all their campaigns and concentrate more on other targeting & biddings. But note that frequency capping is also an important factor for campaign success. So, try different frequency capping for your campaign and find the suitable frequency cap for the particular kind of products.
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— Sridaran
Hi Sri,
Your content really helpful, can you please post programmatic optimization, with diff scenario for all types of campaign.
That would be great
Hi BalaJi, Thanks for your appreciation. I will post optimization for the programmatic ad campaigns very soon. Please keep in touch to get the updates.