Unpacking ROAS: Understanding the Impact of View-Through Conversions

Unpacking ROAS: Understanding the Impact of View-Through Conversions

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is a cornerstone metric for digital marketers across Australia and beyond. It’s the go-to figure that often dictates budget allocation, campaign success, and strategic direction. Yet, relying solely on a last-click attribution model for ROAS can paint an incomplete, and often misleading, picture of your marketing efforts. The digital customer journey is rarely linear; it’s a complex tapestry of touches, impressions, and clicks across various channels. This complexity introduces a significant dilemma: how do we accurately value the contributions of campaigns that don’t result in an immediate click, but still influence a conversion?

This is where the conversation around View-Through Conversions (VTCs) becomes critical. For many marketers, particularly those investing in brand awareness or upper-funnel activities like display and video advertising, understanding the true impact of these ‘viewed but not clicked’ interactions is essential. The question often arises: “Anyone else compare ROAS with and without View-Through Conversions?” The answer, for those seeking a more holistic and accurate understanding of their marketing performance, should unequivocally be yes. By dissecting ROAS to include and exclude VTCs, businesses can gain deeper insights, make more informed decisions, and ultimately optimise their spend more effectively. This guide will unpack what VTCs are, why this comparison is vital, how to conduct it, and what actionable insights you can derive from the results.

What Exactly Are View-Through Conversions (VTCs)?

View-Through Conversions (VTCs) represent a conversion that occurs after a user has *viewed* an ad, but without directly *clicking* on it. Instead, the user saw the ad, didn’t click at that moment, but later converted on the advertiser’s website within a specified attribution window. This contrasts sharply with traditional click-through conversions, where a direct click on an ad precedes the conversion.

Think of it this way: a potential customer might be browsing a news website and see your display ad for a new line of activewear. They don’t click on it then, but the ad plants a seed. Later that day, or perhaps a few days later, they remember your brand, navigate directly to your website, and make a purchase. In this scenario, if your tracking is set up correctly, that purchase would be attributed as a View-Through Conversion to the display ad they saw.

VTCs are particularly prevalent and valuable in channels like display advertising, video advertising, and certain social media ad formats where the primary goal might be brand awareness or consideration rather than an immediate click. They acknowledge the power of exposure and brand recall. While a user might not click on an ad, the mere act of seeing it can influence their future purchasing decisions, guiding them towards your brand when they are ready to convert. Understanding VTCs is about recognising the subtle, yet significant, influence of impressions in the complex customer journey.

Why Compare ROAS With and Without VTCs?

The core reason to compare ROAS with and without VTCs boils down to gaining a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of your marketing investment’s true impact. Without considering VTCs, you risk severely underestimating the value of certain campaign types, particularly those focused on building brand awareness and driving consideration further up the marketing funnel.

Many businesses, especially those heavily invested in performance marketing, tend to focus almost exclusively on last-click ROAS. While this metric is undeniably important for direct response campaigns, it often fails to credit the foundational work done by display, video, or social media awareness campaigns. These campaigns might not generate a high volume of direct clicks, but they play a crucial role in introducing your brand, products, or services to potential customers. If a customer sees your ad multiple times, becomes familiar with your brand, and then converts through a direct visit or even an organic search, a last-click model would entirely miss the contribution of those initial ad views.

By comparing ROAS both ways, you can:

• Uncover Hidden Value: Identify campaigns that appear to have low ROAS under a last-click model but reveal significant returns when VTCs are included. This is especially true for brand-building efforts.
• Optimise Budget Allocation: Make more informed decisions about where to invest your marketing budget. If your display campaigns are generating substantial VTCs, it suggests they are effectively influencing conversions, justifying further investment.
• Understand the Full Customer Journey: Gain a clearer picture of how different touchpoints contribute to a conversion. VTCs highlight the influence of impressions in the early and middle stages of the buying cycle.
• Justify Upper-Funnel Spend: Provide data-backed evidence for the value of awareness and consideration campaigns, which can be challenging to prove with traditional last-click metrics alone.
• Refine Attribution Models: This comparison serves as a practical step towards adopting more sophisticated, multi-touch attribution models that better reflect the reality of modern customer behaviour.

In essence, comparing ROAS with and without VTCs allows you to move beyond a simplistic view of conversion and embrace a more nuanced understanding of how your advertising truly impacts your bottom line. It’s about ensuring every dollar spent is accounted for in its contribution to revenue.

Setting Up Your Comparison: A Practical Methodology

To effectively compare ROAS with and without VTCs, you need a systematic approach. While the exact steps might vary slightly depending on your analytics platforms, the core methodology remains consistent.

1. Standardise Your Attribution Window: Before you begin, ensure you’re using a consistent attribution window for both click-through and view-through conversions. Common windows range from 1-day to 30-days for clicks and often 1-day for views, though this can be adjusted based on your business and industry. Consistency is key for a fair comparison.
2. Leverage Your Ad Platforms: Most major advertising platforms (e.g., Google Ads, Meta Ads, DV360) provide reporting that allows you to segment conversions by type (click-through, view-through).
   • Google Ads: In your campaign reports, you can often add columns for “Conversions (by conv. time)” and “View-through conversions (by conv. time)”. Ensure your conversion actions are correctly configured to track both.
   • Meta Ads: Similar functionality exists within Meta’s Ads Manager, allowing you to customise columns to show different attribution windows and conversion types.
   • Other Platforms: Check your specific DSPs or ad servers for similar reporting capabilities.
3. Export and Consolidate Data: Export your campaign spend data and conversion data (segmented by click-through and view-through) for the desired period. A spreadsheet is usually the easiest tool for this consolidation.
4. Calculate ROAS (Excluding VTCs):
   • Identify total revenue generated from *only* click-through conversions.
   • Divide this revenue by your total ad spend for the same period.
   • Formula: ROAS (Excl. VTCs) = (Revenue from Click-Through Conversions / Total Ad Spend) * 100%
5. Calculate ROAS (Including VTCs):
   • Identify total revenue generated from *both* click-through and view-through conversions.
   • Divide this combined revenue by your total ad spend for the same period.
   • Formula: ROAS (Incl. VTCs) = ((Revenue from Click-Through Conversions + Revenue from View-Through Conversions) / Total Ad Spend) * 100%
6. Compare and Analyse: Place these two ROAS figures side-by-side. The difference between them will highlight the incremental value attributed to view-through conversions.

Remember to maintain clean and accurate data throughout this process. Any discrepancies in conversion tracking or attribution settings will skew your results. It’s also wise to run this comparison across different campaign types (e.g., brand awareness display vs. direct response search) to see where VTCs have the most significant impact.

Interpreting the Numbers: What Your ROAS Comparison Reveals

Once you’ve crunched the numbers, the real work begins: interpreting what the difference between your ROAS with and without VTCs truly means for your marketing strategy. The magnitude of the difference offers critical insights:

Scenario 1: A Significant Increase in ROAS When Including VTCs

If your ROAS jumps substantially when view-through conversions are factored in, it’s a strong indicator that your upper-funnel campaigns (like display, video, or brand-focused social ads) are highly effective at influencing conversions, even if they don’t generate many direct clicks. This scenario suggests:

• Underestimated Value: These campaigns are likely more valuable than a last-click model suggests.
• Strong Brand Recall/Awareness: Your ads are successfully embedding your brand in the minds of potential customers, leading them to convert later through other channels (direct, organic search, etc.).
• Effective Reach: Your targeting for these impression-based campaigns is reaching relevant audiences who eventually convert.

Actionable Insight: Consider increasing investment in these campaigns, refining their targeting, or testing new creative. They are clearly playing a crucial role in the customer journey and contributing significantly to your overall revenue, even if indirectly.

Scenario 2: A Moderate Increase in ROAS When Including VTCs

A moderate bump indicates that VTCs contribute to your overall ROAS, but perhaps not as dramatically as in the first scenario. This might mean:

• Mixed Campaign Performance: Some of your impression-based campaigns are performing well, while others might need optimisation.
• Attribution Window Considerations: Your view-through attribution window might be too short or too long, potentially under- or over-crediting views.
• Complementary Role: VTCs are playing a supportive role, but direct clicks or other channels are still the primary drivers of immediate conversions.

Actionable Insight: Dive deeper into specific campaigns. Which display or video campaigns are generating the most VTCs? Can you replicate their success? Test different view-through attribution windows to see if the impact shifts. Look for opportunities to improve the synergy between your awareness and direct-response efforts.

Scenario 3: A Negligible or No Increase in ROAS When Including VTCs

If there’s little to no difference, it suggests that your impression-based campaigns are either not effectively influencing conversions or that your current setup isn’t capturing their true impact. This could point to:

• Ineffective Creative/Targeting: Your ads might not be resonating with the audience, or you’re reaching the wrong people.
• Attribution Issues: There might be a problem with how VTCs are being tracked or deduplicated, leading to them being missed.
• Focus on Direct Response: Your audience might primarily convert through direct clicks, and impressions have minimal influence.

Actionable Insight: Re-evaluate your upper-funnel campaign strategy. Review creative, audience targeting, and placement. Consider A/B testing different approaches. Double-check your conversion tracking and attribution settings to ensure VTCs are being accurately recorded. In some cases, it might genuinely mean these campaigns aren’t contributing significantly to revenue via views, and a strategic pivot might be necessary.

Ultimately, this comparison empowers you to move beyond assumptions and make data-driven decisions about the value of every impression and click in your marketing ecosystem.

The Pros and Cons of Including VTCs in Your ROAS Calculations

While including View-Through Conversions (VTCs) in your ROAS calculations offers a more comprehensive view, it’s essential to understand both the advantages and potential drawbacks. A balanced perspective ensures you leverage this data wisely.