Yahoo Touts New Ad Format: Cost Per Lead
Under the fresh direction of Marissa Mayer, Yahoo has just announced a brand new advertising unit that should prove interesting to internet marketers while allowing Yahoo to profit off its search business in ways it’s simply been unable to with Microsoft.
The new ad format, which Yahoo is calling Cost Per Lead for Search, will appear in-line with organic search results, much like how sponsored search results are featured at the top of the SERPs in Google. One difference between these sponsored ads and Yahoo’s new Cost Per Lead ads is user interactivity.
How Does Cost Per Lead Work?
Yahoo has designed the Cost Per Lead ad format as a way for advertisers to get more information from potential customers, voluntarily. Advertisers can ask for information such as phone numbers, email addresses, local data (like a zip code), and whatever else they can think to ask that can be answered with a short string of text or a selection from a drop-down menu.
Up to six fields can be included in each ad, along with the advertiser’s logo and headline. Each ad begins with the text “Ad from [advertiser],” making it clear to customers that the ad is not an organic search result. Finally, advertisers can customize a “Thank You box” that will appear after a customer interacts with the ad.
Pricing and Other Details
If you’re an internet marketer, you may be wondering why you’d want to invest in a new, unproven ad format, especially one that could seemingly draw so many spam leads. Fortunately, Yahoo has already announced that they’ll be verifying all data submitted by users to Cost Per Lead ads, ensuring that advertisers will only have to pay for real leads.
Pricing isn’t set in stone, except for Yahoo saying that costs will vary according to the type of service or product you’re advertising. Pricing will also depend on the size of the advertiser and the vertical they’re working in.
Interestingly, Yahoo says that just one Cost Per Lead ad will appear per page of results. If two ads appear to be equally eligible for display, the higher-ranking ad will win out.
As of now, Yahoo receives many of its paid ads from Bing Advertising. However, they’re asking marketers interested in using Cost Per Lead ads to contact their sales reps directly.
