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HTML5 is the latest and greatest version of the HyperText Markup Language that was developed in the late 1980s. It was meant to describe documents that linked to one another. Back in the day, the role of HTML was rather simplistic-to help describe the structure of documents and to permit them to cross-link. Today it’s used to enhance a text file with bits of code (or markup) that describes the structure of the document. It’s not unlike what your high school teachers would do to your English essay when they’d correct it. They’d mark it up with their red pens to show you what needed to be changed to improve the quality of your project.
The internet has come alive with animation; it can now live and breathe! With the newest HTML5 technology, it can now adapt to fill whatever space is available; from mobile devices to the massive movie screen. It enables us to run an ad campaign that crosses different devices to suit all types of screens upon which the banner ad may appear, and the messaging is far advanced over the static ads.
Now, with the HTML5 capabilities, we can animate the ad, as well as make different elements clickable. In addition, we can now embed links to direct the viewers to where we want them to go. Not only can we send multiple messages, but we can include multiple offers within one single ad!
An example of the practicality of the HTML5 ad would be an online clothing retailer. It used to be that he or she was only able to list one product in, let’s say, a 300 x 250 ad size, and it would only link to one page. With the new HTML5 technology, the same retailer can create one ad with scrolling offers on different clothing lines and inventory, and each offer would be clickable, with each link leading to its own appropriate destination.
With an industry that’s leaning so heavily towards digital programmatic advertising, we must focus on serving the best, most relevant message, in the most efficient way possible. We are now able to do this by tailoring a larger, more custom message via animated HTML5 ads. Here are the points to consider:
- HTML5 ads can allow us to serve more than just one product, offer or service for the same (or nearly the same) cost.
- Animation in banner ads can make the advertisement look prettier, which is more effective in compelling users to click on them.
- HTML5 ads should always be split tested alongside static ads and analyzed through proper attribution, as they can sometimes have slightly differentiating costs while the attribution does, or does not, justify it.
No matter how great an advancement in technology may be, it’s nothing without a degree of human oversight. At Genius Monkey, we always conduct proper testing on our animated ads before going full steam ahead with just one creative set. We highly recommend testing both a static ad as well as an animated ad set at the same time through the use of true attribution. This attribution is what we use to test which set generates better performance metrics such as CTR, costs, and even more importantly, conversions.
