4 Reasons PDM is the Zero-Click Content you Never Knew you Needed 

The first banner ad appeared online 30 years ago this year and generated a click-through rate of 44%.

Today, the average CTR for banner ads is less than 0.1%. That’s because as more people use the Internet today, the more marketers tap into digital ad inventory (banner or otherwise). 

With the bombardment of advertising to which consumers now get exposed, our attention span is around eight seconds. And in an area of ever-evolving consumer behavior, we now expect instant gratification from the content and advertising we consume. Who really wants to have to click on an ad for more information? 

What’s more, click fraud, bots, digital fatigue, and ad blockers have further diminished the reliability of clicks as a marketing performance metric. 

Instead of unthinkingly shifting marketing budgets into digital ad formats with diminishing response rates, marketers can respond to changing customer behavior by adopting new ways of engaging with consumers.

What exactly is zero-click content, and why should marketers use it?

From search engines like Google and social platforms like TikTok and YouTube, sites show content directly within the platform without users having to click out to get an answer. In today’s world, we call this zero-click content. 

Consumers like this kind of content because it requires less work. They get what they’re looking for without visiting another website or platform. In an age of immediacy and relevancy, providing fast solutions and answers to your target audiences gives them a better experience. And we all know that a better experience with a brandcan lead to repeat purchases and long-term loyalty over time. 

However, while creating zero-click content is critical to keeping up with consumer behavior today, it also poses many challenges for brands: 

• It relies on the platforms’ algorithms: Brands invest money in creating highly visual (and expensive) zero-click content with no real control over whether or not it will reach their intended audience. 
• Marketers don’t know how to measure it: You measure traditional search and social on CTR, but when the very premise of zero-click content is to avoid clicks, how do you measure success? The first instinct is reach or engagement, but many brands still consider these “vanity” metrics.
• It’s hard to retain audiences with it: Theoretically, if you share valuable content with your audiences, they should return for more. However, delivering a lasting impression takes more work than ever in the world of ephemeral content on social media. The viewability of a social impression lasts less than2 seconds.

Why Programmatic Direct Mail is the OG of zero-click content 

Do you know which performance marketing channel doesn’t require (and never has) consumers to click to engage?

Programmatic Direct Mail. 

Read on for four reasons why marketers should add PDM into their zero-click strategy:

1. Like traditional zero-click content, PDM doesn’t rely on clicks for measurement. But unlike traditional zero-click content, it does allow marketers to close the loop on performance. Because of its deterministic nature, marketers can match a household exposed to an advertisement to the household address used in the transaction with a very high confidence level.
2. Instead of relying on each platform’s unique algorithm to deliver an impression, PDM combines online shopping and buying behaviors with machine learning to separate intent signals from noise. This data informs who gets a piece of mail so you can confidently deliver a personalized message to the right person.
3. Like traditional zero-click content, PDM gives brands the real estate they need to provide value to the consumer quickly and upfront, with an opportunity to offer more profound education about their products. However, with PDM, you can increase your “impression” from seconds to 17 days. In a world of eight-second attention spans, this increases the chance of a consumer engaging with your zero-click content.
4. And when you have a well-designed piece of creative content delivered straight to your mailbox, the work is done for you. Research at 3M Corporation concluded that humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. PDM is the perfect channel for highly visual, beautiful creative with fewer resources than digital video creation.

Go zero-click with PebblePost

If you’re looking for a highly targeted, visually compelling, and measurable marketing medium that doesn’t rely on clicks, you’ve come to the right place with PDM. Get in touch today to learn how we can help you go clickless.