Clicks and conversions double in December for Performics clients

Compared with the third quarter, the average daily number of sales conversions among visitors from Internet search quadrupled in December, while daily clicks and conversion rates doubled during the period among clients of Chicago-based Performics, a search engine marketing agency acquired in May by DoubleClick Inc., an advertising and marketing company with headquarters in New York.

“Consumers are increasingly finding ads targeted to search queries to be a valuable service when they are in shopping mode,” says Stuart Frankel, senior vice president of DoubleClick and general manager of Performics.

From Dec. 1 through Dec. 24, compared with third quarter 2004, the average number of daily clicks per client increased 144%, while the conversion rate went up 124% and conversions increased in number by 446%, Performics says.

Average price per click in December rose 23%, relative to the third quarter, but higher click volume helped increase the average advertisers’ media spend by 200% in the same period, the company says. Search generated 375% more gross revenue in December vs. the third quarter, with the average return on investment increased 58%.

Performics compared December to the third quarter, rather than year-to-year, because the search engine market changes so quickly, the company says. Retailers who were bidding on 1,000 words a year ago might be using 15,000 today, a spokesperson says. “We wouldn’t be comparing apples to apples if we used the December ’03 figures,” she says.