The holidays are a big time for jewelry purchases. With so much marketing at this time of year, jewelry retailers want to make sure they see the impact of their advertising.

As a leader in the audio space, CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One is committed to helping brands see results. To meet this objective, Westwood One partnered with LeadsRx, a marketing attribution platform that measures website visitor traffic increases after consumers are exposed to advertising. LeadsRx studied online behavior for a major jewelry retailer during their recent national AM/FM radio campaign in November and December of 2018.

The study examined site attribution based on all AM/FM radio ads run during the campaign, whether on local radio or network radio. All AM/FM radio media vendors were included.

Westwood One appended Nielsen’s audience impressions data to Media Monitors campaign occurrence data. LeadsRx matched advertising occurrences and audiences in each market to minute-level data from the retailer’s Google Analytics to determine lift in search activity and site traffic as a result of the advertising messages.

Here’s the proof that AM/FM radio worked:

AM/FM radio drove an +11% lift in online behavior: The jewelry retailer’s campaign outperformed site traffic lift category norms by 38%

As a result of the AM/FM radio campaign, the jewelry retailer saw an +11% increase in their site traffic. The boost was +38% greater than the average for the jewelry category as measured by Analytic Owl’s analysis of 92 AM/FM radio campaigns reported by the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The analysis: To understand which aspects of the campaign generated the most impact, Westwood One compared the share of ad impressions to the share of attributed web sessions. If a certain AM/FM radio format or ad creative had a greater share of attributed web visits than its share of the campaign ad impressions, that element was a winner.

Attribution data can identify AM/FM radio campaign effect by week, day of the week, and daypart

Retailers need to understand how their advertising performs on a granular level so that they can optimize plans for the future. LeadsRx attribution data illustrates peak windows for increased web activity.

By week: Throughout the course of the AM/FM radio campaign, the highest rate of conversion occurred in early December. The greatest share of attributed web sessions (27%) occurred from December 3^rd through the 9^th, followed by 20% of attributed web sessions taking place the following week.

By day of the week: The jewelry retailer saw spikes in web sessions in the middle of the week and on Sundays. On Thursdays, ad occurrences comprised 16% of the total impressions of the jewelry retailer’s campaign, while accounting for 19% of the attributed web sessions. On Sundays, 12% of total campaign impressions ran, driving a 14% share of the attributed web sessions to the jewelry retailer site.

By daypart: Jewelry shoppers are browsing during the evenings. From 7PM-midnight, 47% of the total attributed web sessions took place. Middays 10AM-3PM also drove significant web visitation with 24% of attributed sessions. Increased impact on search and site traffic during evenings is typical as AM/FM radio listeners are likely at home within reach of a computer, tablet, or smartphone during this time.

A variety of AM/FM radio formats resonate with jewelry shoppers and overperform in attribution

Advertising in Adult Contemporary programming paid dividends for the jewelry retailer. The 22% of total ad impressions that ran on Adult Contemporary stations drove 34% of total web sessions. Country, Rock, Classic Hits, and Classic Rock format stations drove a greater share of web traffic than their share of campaign ad impressions. These formats represent an opportunity for jewelry retailers to reallocate greater weight and achieve increased reach and campaign impact.

AM/FM radio ads highlighting compelling offers performed best for the jewelry retailer

The most impressive aspect of LeadsRx’s attribution service is the ability to measure which creative drives the most site traffic. Eight different offers were run during the jewelry retailer’s campaign.

Ad occurrences featuring ‘price match’ accounted for 24% of attributed web sessions and ‘rewards’ offers creative drove 23%, outperforming its media weight by nearly a 2 to 1 margin. Brands now have the ability to understand which creative and offers drive the most traffic to their sites.

Welcome to the Golden Age of AM/FM radio attribution

• AM/FM radio’s ability to positively impact brand equity is being measured by Nielsen, MARU/Matchbox, and Millward Brown.
• AM/FM radio’s ability to generate sales is being measured by Nielsen Buyer Insights and Nielsen Catalina.
• Audio creative is being measured by ABX and VERITONIC.
• Podcast brand effects are being measured by Audience Insights Inc. and Nielsen.
• AM/FM radio’s ability to impact advertiser site traffic is being measured by LeadsRx, Analytic Owl, and Veritone.

With a deeper understanding of optimal advertising windows as well as which programming formats resonate and what creative works, AM/FM radio attribution via LeadsRx is an important tool Westwood One offers advertisers.

For more on attribution from LeadsRx, download their newly released Five Attribution Secrets For Automotive Advertisers, a study commissioned by iHeartMedia that looks at how powerfully AM/FM radio generates auto dealer website traffic.

Key takeaways:

• AM/FM radio drove an +11% lift in online behavior: The jewelry retailer’s campaign outperformed site traffic lift category norms by 38%
• Attribution data can identify AM/FM radio campaign effect by week, day of the week, and daypart
• A variety of AM/FM radio formats resonate with jewelry shoppers and overperform in attribution
• LeadsRx identified the specific creative ad offers that drove the most site traffic

Lauren Vetrano is Director of Content Marketing at CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.