Even though the advertising industry is a 200$ billion
dollar industry, which is about 2% of GDP, it has been difficult for economists
to study and understand it. However,
on-line advertising is contributing to the ability to cross this gap through
the possibility of linking advertising to conversions at a low cost and that
ads that are served can be served randomly in order to reduce biases. Although internet data has allowed companies
to focus on click through rates, it must be remembered that these are only an
intermediate step from the ad being served to the ultimate goal that is
desired. However, these variables are used as dependent variables that can be
matched with tendencies and intentions.
The data that is now very collectable and provides an opportunity to
create algorithms also leads to the potential to draw incorrect assumptions
based on the large amount of data. Most
models assume that if one has not clicked on the link, it does not affect
purchasing behavior this may not be true because some may complete the purchase
off-line. Also, models believe that if
one clicks on a link and makes a purchase, it is all due to that
advertisement. Other models that
consider users who have been exposed and those that have not been exposed when
generating typical purchase behavior may be inducing bias because the results
while factual may correlate with other variables that could be statistically
significant but have not been taken into consideration leading to unobserved
heterogeneity. It is important to remember that for established brands people
might be using click through rates as substitutes for other methods that people
would be using to navigate to the site. Also,
it is important to remember for those stores that are brick and mortar, people
often use the web to do their research and then will make their purchases at
the storefront. This will induce a
negative return on investment when comparing online advertising to online
purchasing. This study indicates that if
people are shown an ad or a placebo, people that are shown a placebo are still
more likely to take an action based on their browsing activity during the time
frame. Effective time groups for an ad
are normally 1-4 weeks, after that the data begins to decay and ads noise to
the results. One of the problems with
these studies is small control groups in order to minimize costs.
On-line advertising has opened up the doors for another
method of discrimination. As part of a
screening process for job applicants, potential employers will often search in
Google or on another search engine for the name of the applicant. It seems that for names that are more likely
to be associated with someone of African American descent, ads with a negative
connotation are showed. More
specifically, it appears that ads that indicate that a person might have had a
criminal background are delivered more often for names that would be associated
with someone of African American descent than with a name that would typically
be associated with a Caucasian. Names were
selected that were thought to be associated with African Americans (both sexes)
and Caucasians (both sexes). In order to
validate the name selection, the names were searched and then images that were
associated with each name were viewed.
The selected examples were then searched to see which advertisements were
served, it was indeed more likely that those indicating an arrest showed for
names associated with African Americans.
How is this selection done, who dictates that the ads show up for
certain “racially associated names”? As compared to text ads which are seen and
viewed the same by everyone, on-line ads can target based on history and
indicative information that is provided by the user. Online discrimination can have negative
implications which people will complain about.
However, are also going to view media that is enjoyed and targeted to
them based on the same parameters as discrimination or will they be thankful
for it. Unfortunately, these ads are
probably based on a combination of statistics and intuition. While it may not be acceptable to target
people with ads that have negative connotation, by restricting what can be
targeted or used as key words, half of the benefit of using on-line marketing is
eliminated. Discrimination is a slippery
slope; targeting older people with certain ads could be age
discrimination. I think that one of the
best things to do would be to educate people on the capabilities of on-line
marketing and make them aware of such practices.
The Google Analytics Fundamentals course was much more time
consuming than it was supposed to be.
However, in order to watch all of the videos and complete all the tests
it needed to be. It was very nice though
that the Google Analytics Platform Principles did not take nearly as long to
complete and that it did not go into as much detail. It was a good overview that helped sum up and
simplify all of the details that were exposed in the first assignment.
In Google Analytics, you are able to filter out the data
that is contributed from employees, that way the data is not skewed. Google Analytics also enables you to import data
from multiple Google interfaces and other non-Google sources. It also provides the ability to load it
directly to third part reporting systems. However, reported data is only as
good as the collection, configuration, and processing allow it to be. Website users are tracked in a hierarchy of
visitors, sessions, and interactions. Processing
and configuration work in conjunction with each other to make data valuable. One of the most important things about Google
Analytics is that once a filter is applied and data is collected, the data that
is excluded cannot be pulled in for analysis.
If our client were able to apply Google Analytics, we would have to include
the tracking information on every page in her web page that we wished to
track. If we did not, it would not
record and store the data for those pages.
However, right now as our client has not successfully been able to turn
on Google Analytics, this will not do much good for us right now. Being that I work with data and large data
tables every day and know how to filter or use pivot tables to analyze my data,
these lessons have taught me that it is better to collect data for everything
and worry about sorting it later. It is
also important to remember that results are only as good as the data that is
collected and used, it is essential to know that the data you are collecting
and using to make results is truly indicative of the process.
