YouTube Brand Lift Studies: Comprehensive Guide for Marketers
Understanding your brand campaign’s downstream impact is crucial. Luckily for brand managers, Google offers YouTube Brand Lift Studies to help advertisers understand how their video campaigns influence consumer perceptions. This tool offers a robust solution to measure four different brand metrics: ad recall, awareness, favorability, and purchase intent.
Recently, Mouthpiece Marketing partnered with Rhythm Media to execute a brand lift study for a Fortune 500 company. The guide below will explore the essentials of YouTube Brand Lift Studies, including setup prerequisites, strategic uses, detailed setup instructions, and cost thresholds to help you optimize your campaigns effectively.
What Are YouTube Brand Lift Studies?
YouTube Brand Lift Studies are tools offered by Google to measure the impact of your video ads on brand perception. They assess changes in consumer awareness, consideration, favorability, and purchase intent by comparing survey responses from viewers exposed to your ad with those who have not seen it. This approach provides a comprehensive view of how your campaigns influence consumer perceptions beyond traditional metrics like impressions and clicks.
Google previously offered YouTube Brand Lift 1.0 and 2.0, however as of March 2021, all brand lift studies use YouTube Brand Lift 2.0, which has been renamed “Accelerated Measurement for Brand Lift.” This higher tier of brand lift collects survey responses as quickly as possible for faster results than the previous 1.0 version. There is also the option to reenable your brand lift studies via Google’s Re-measurement feature to see lift performance over time.
Prerequisites for Using YouTube Brand Lift Studies
Before setting up a YouTube Brand Lift Study, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:
Google Ads Account:
Your Google Ads account must be in good standing (e.g. current on payments).
Enabled YouTube Brand Lift Tool:
Ensure your account is enabled for Brand Lift measurement. Contact your dedicated Google Reps or Google Support to activate the YouTube Brand lift feature, providing your account ID, campaign details, estimated ad spend, and business goals.
Minimum Budget Requirements:
To qualify for YouTube Brand Lift Studies, advertisers need to meet minimum budget requirements within the first 10 days of their campaign.
1 Question: Requires a minimum budget of $10,000 over at least 10 days. This allows measurement of one metric.
2 Questions: For a more robust survey, advertisers must spend a minimum of $20,000 over the at least 20 days.
3 Questions: For the most comprehensive survey, allowing advertisers to select up to three of the four possible metrics, a higher budget starting around $60,000 is necessary to cover the broader range of brand attributes.
Learn about the types of brand metrics below in section 5.
Active Campaigns:
Ensure that your campaigns are active and have sufficient reach and engagement to produce reliable data.
Define Your Brand Lift Goals:
Select the brand metrics to measure: Ad Recall, Brand Awareness, Consideration, Favorability, or Purchase Intent.
Ad Recall: Measures how memorable your ad is.
E.g. Which of the following brands have you seen online video advertising from recently.
Brand Awareness: Assesses the increase in brand recognition.
E.g. Which of these brands have you heard of?
Consideration: Evaluates the likelihood of viewers considering your product.
E.g. Which of these brands would you consider?
Favorability: Gauges changes in how positively viewers feel about your brand.
Which of the following brands do you have a positive opinion of?
Purchase Intent: Determines if your ad increased the likelihood of a purchase.
Next time you buy from the following brands, which one are you most likely to buy from?
Identify Keywords to Measure Lift
YouTube Brand Lift studies A key part of running a successful Search Lift study is ensuring you follow our best practices in selecting good keywords for Search Lift measurement.
to measure your actual lift, advertisers need to select keyword a group of related keywords to measure the search lift of those keywords - this is the “brand lift” that we are measuring.
Advertisers can have up to 5 groups, with 5 keywords in each. Typically, only 1 or 2 groups are necessary.
YouTube Brand Lift studies are typical more successful if you focus on a few keywords that are specific and relevant to the product or brand measurement goals, such as various ways users may search for your brand or a tagline prominently featured in the video creative.
Avoid using excessively long lists of keywords, as this practice can dilute the efficacy of the brand lift study.
Select Competitors to Appear in the Study:
List 3 competitors to include comparative questions in the survey.
Select brands in the same industry, with similar market positioning, size, and geographical presence.
Ensure competitors are active on the same platforms to make comparisons meaningful.
Focus on competitors with similar product offerings and audience demographics for accurate insights.
Review and Launch the Study:
Google does the heavy lifting to segment the treatment and control groups, relieving this onus from the advertiser.
Review all settings and survey questions to ensure alignment with your goals.
Once you officially submit your study, The YouTube Brand Lift Study will alongside your YouTube campaign.
Analyze and Apply Insights:
Use the Lift Measurement tab and work with your Google Reps to track real-time results and insights.
Analyze results to understand the impact of your campaign and use insights to optimize future strategies.
Remember, now that YouTube Lift Studies now offer option to reenable your brand lift studies to see lift performance over time.
Strategic Uses for Brand Lift Studies
Brand Lift Studies can be tailored to meet specific campaign objectives:
Brand Awareness Campaigns: Focus on Awareness and Ad Recall to gauge how effectively your campaign introduces your brand.
Conversion-Oriented Campaigns: Use Consideration and Purchase Intent to understand how your ads drive potential customers toward a purchase.
Creative Testing: Compare different ad creatives to see which versions resonate most by evaluating metrics like Favorability and Ad Recall.
Market Research: Beyond measuring campaign performance, use these studies to gain insights into consumer attitudes and refine broader marketing strategies.
Best Practices for Maximizing Impact
To fully leverage YouTube Brand Lift Studies:
Align Metrics with Goals: Select metrics that directly reflect your campaign objectives.
Optimize Creative Content: Ensure your creative assets are compelling and relevant to improve performance in brand lift studies.
Collaborate Early: Engage with creative and media teams early to tailor video assets to achieve desired outcomes.
Iterate and Improve: Use insights to make data-driven decisions and refine future campaigns.
Conclusion
YouTube Brand Lift Studies provide a powerful method for understanding the influence of your video ads on brand perception. By following the outlined steps and best practices, and adhering to cost thresholds, you can effectively measure and enhance the impact of your advertising efforts. Whether you aim to boost brand awareness, drive consideration, or test creative approaches, these studies offer valuable insights to refine your strategy and achieve your marketing goals.