Frequency capping is one of the essential parameters in Advertising and Traffic Management. Today we’re going to tell you about the definition of this metric, how to use it, and share some insights about the expert-level setting for the Frequency Cap.
Generally, by the term of Frequency Capping, most people mean how many times your single ad will be shown to a particular user for some specific period of time. Quite complicated, yeah?
Okay, in other words, let’s imagine that you’ve set the value of “4” for your daily Frequency Capping parameter. It means that the number of impressions from one website visitor for one ad can’t be more than 4 during one day.
Still difficult... But try to recall how you’ve faced the cases when the same advertisement stalks you around the web…(Of course, it’s a bit creepy and annoying but still extremely effective.) So, that’s - a great example of Frequency Capping in action.
There is a great variety of marketing theories about the number of touches before conversion. They say that you should touch 3 times with your customer before he completes his purchase. Others keep saying that 7 touches are just the perfect formula to turn your traffic into customers. In any case, proper setup of Frequency Capping is one of the keys to success in the advertising industry.
Whether you’re interested in CPM, CPC, CPL, or any other CPx, everyone is seeking quality traffic. Notwithstanding your website niche and vertical, Ad Networks will continue to work with you only if your users are engaged and active.
So, why not increase your ad performance within a few steps? Take a look at the Frequency Capping settings in your spot.
1. Here’s the interface of the publisher’s account at AdSpyglass. For the initial step, you need to navigate to “Websites”.
2. Now, you need to press on the small green arrow icon near your website’s name.
3. Great! As you already understand, we’ve just expanded the full list of spots on your website. Now, as you might have noticed, we have the field “Frequency Capping”.
Now you need to hit the [orange logo Edit] to get the ability to change the field value.
4. Well done! Just scroll the “Edit” page until you reach the “General Settings” block. Within the block you'll find two Frequency Capping settings fields, there are some quick options you’re able to choose from. We have: 1:24, 1:12, 1:8, 1:6.
The first digit stands for the number of impressions, and the second digit, which is constant means 24 hours. So 1:12 will mean 2 impressions per 24 hours.
5. Also, there is another way to set Freq Cap in case you require additional flexibility.
So, you can choose a specific amount of seconds and save it as a period. For example, the value of “86400” seconds will result in 1 impression per day (because 24 hours equals 86’400 seconds). Quite simple and easy, isn’t it?
But, there is another place where you may come across Frequency. Here we go:
1. Go to the My Campaigns Tab.
2. Scroll down to the creative you’d like to edit and expand to see the full list. Just click once on the “Creative” bar to expand it.
3. Choose any Creative you’d like to edit by hitting the “Edit” button. (Why are we so obvious??)
4. Right under the blue button “Show/hide advanced settings” you’ll find your Frequency Capping field. You are already familiar with the options listed here. You’re welcome to make your edits.
Now let’s discuss our recommendations and best practices about how to use the Frequency Capping parameter.
Speaking in concise words: with the increase of your Frequency Capping parameter value - your overall income should increase as well. But, at the same time, your CPM will decrease accordingly.
High-Frequency Capping means a short-term investment. Here’s why: You need to realize that after the initial income growth, you’ll face worse behavioral factor metrics than before. Who on Earth likes a lot of ads? Don’t forget that the aim of each website visitor is content. If the ratio between content and ads becomes inadequate, your users will be bouncing out. And as you know, you can never wait for any income advancements if your Bounce Rate is high.
Analyze and look for the perfect balance. You can always find the answers to traffic-related questions if you know how to analyze your web traffic. Try to test different setting options for the Frequency Cap and monitor your website’s performance changes. There is no one answer for everyone, but there is one instrument for figuring out this answer - Analytics.
As a final accord, we’d like to share a few insights that we have learned from thousands of client cases (Attention! Keep the information in secret! It’s worth thousands of traffic dollars!):
It is better to use the default value of your Ad Network as a starting point for establishing the Frequency Capping. As a result, you should avoid significant changes at the beginning of your experiments because it may cause a dramatic fall in your income. Again, the default value is your landmark. Conduct analyses and test hypotheses, but never forget your initial value.
If you’re using PopUnder or Interstitial ad formats, you MUST experiment with your settings since these types of ads are the most flexible from the perspective of Frequency Cap. Make sure that you’re using the full set of available parameters because they can guarantee huge performance advancements! Or, if you’re not so confident, you always may reach out to our experts. They’ll help you to enable everything that works.
It is highly recommended for you to choose “0” for the proper Frequency Capping setting if you’re using the banner ad format. “0” is the right choice for both Creative and Spot environments. And here’s why: There is a huge possibility that your user will often refresh the page of the website. In this case, it is better to ensure that the same ad is rotating smoothly without any additional auction iterations.
Make sure that you’re handling different traffic sources with different approaches. For instance, it is a genius to minimize the number of advertisements on your website for organic users from search engines. In this case, you should mostly concentrate on the engagement of your users and try your best to make users visit your website again and again. It is a really wise way to increase your website’s income by playing a long-term bet, which usually pays off. Frequency capping is a worth-trying setting for this purpose.
In case you’re actively buying traffic to increase your amount of visitors, we have an extraordinary hint for you. You probably seek high ROI/ROAS and want to multiply your marketing investments. Thus, it is better to maximize the number of ads on your website for each paid session. In this case, you’ll never get a negative margin and will be growing your income from paid campaigns appropriately.
Thank you for reading this article. Our team works hard to create helpful content for our users and to make everyone more educated and successful.
In case you require any personal assistance after reading our Frequency Capping manual, do not hesitate to reach out to our experts!