The Audience Engagement Map page graphically displays user movement through each campaign stage. Real-time data points show progress through creative types and (if available) conditions and stages. Data analysis requires a bit of storytelling à la Don Draper to uncover meaning and insights. So, when you review the data, pour yourself a drink and ask, "Is the audience moving through the different campaign stages and journey as you expected?"
The data on this page can help you answer those questions with campaign insights. To construct a more complete and nuanced story, be sure to review the results in the Report Builder. The granular data available in that report (e.g. form fill conversions and CTRs) can help you fill in the gaps and deep dive into questions.
Opening an Audience Engagement Map
Log in to illumin and select an account. Click Insights on the menu bar and select Audience Engagement Map on the drop-down.
On the next page, click the Journeys field and select an option. If your account has many advertisers and journeys, you could first select an advertiser on the drop-down to narrow the list of options. Click the Version field and select an option. Then click the Date field and select an option. In the example below, I select the Journey Length/Range and click Apply.
What's a version?
The illumin platform saves a new version of the canvas each time you make a major change (e.g. adding a new path or step) and republish a campaign. If you expand a version folder, the menu displays sub-versions (e.g. records of minor changes like modifying a goal or targeting). These options can help you understand how your edits impact performance and outcomes.
Understanding path data - example 1
Learn how to read the main data points inside a path. The example below shows an Open Web path on the Awareness stage with two steps (video and CTV).
- Get a summary of the budget, current spend, flight range, and assigned goal.
- The audience (i.e. number of users) that started the path for the selected time period.
- If available, click the path icon. It opens the Audience Connection Breakdown side panel, which displays connection details and an audience breakdown. See below.
- The number of unique users served this creative.
- Click the icon to display a modal that shows impressions, clicks, and conversions.
- The number of users from the previous step who completed the condition. In this example, 1,586 users completed the condition (i.e. watched the video twice) compared to the 2,963 users who were served the video. The result is a 53.5% completion rate for this creative step. The other step had fewer users and a slightly higher completion rate (i.e. 60.6%). Note that these flow-through rates (i.e. the percentage of users who met the view condition) cannot be used to evaluate goal success, which was a video completion rate (calculated as video completions/video impressions served).
- The total number of users who completed the path.
Audience Connection Breakdown panel
The side panel displays three groups of data.
- The top row displays the audience feed for this creative path. In the example below, the panel indicates this creative path is served impressions from Open Exchange publishers. (If you click the icon for the other creative path, the panel indicates the audience segment is served impressions from CTV publishers.)
- The chart shows the potential audience size with color-coded sections. Each section indicates the relative size of each audience segment.
- The list shows the audience segments assigned to this creative path and their size in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the whole.
Understanding path data - example 2
This example shows you how to find and read data for two paths (Path 1 and Path 2) in a funnel. In the example below, 3,059 users started the first path (Awareness stage), and 1,824 users completed this part of the funnel. The starting audience for Path 2 (Engagement stage) was 925 users, a number smaller than the 1,824 users who completed the first part of the funnel. Non-matching numbers are common. Over time, the gap between these numbers normally closes, but the two numbers are unlikely to be the same.
The orange Condition element in Path 2 shows a 3.6% completion rate. Completion means the percentage of the path's starting audience that clicked something (e.g. the display ad). This figure is calculated as 33 (the number of completions) divided by 925 (the number of unique users who started the path, aka audience.) If you look at the top row inside the path, the CPC rate is $4.22.
Does the 3.6% number represent a click-through rate? The answer is No. Here's why.
A CTR is calculated as the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions served. In Path 2, we see the audience size (925 users), but we do not know the number of impressions served, so the CTR cannot be calculated with this data. BTW, open the Report Builder page to view CTR data.
Understanding path data - example 3
The visual nature of the data on the Audience Engagement Map makes insights based on comparisons comparatively easy to identify. The example below shows completion rates for two paths. Each path has a different audience (Legacy and Launch), video display condition, and average completion rate.
- In the top path (Legacy - Awareness), each user is served a video once. The completion rate is 83% or higher.
- In the other path (Launch - Awareness), the condition is set to two views. The completion rate is lower (59% or less).
What's the takeaway? Here's a thought. Less restrictive conditions can generate higher completion rates, but that might not always be your goal. You might, for instance, want to control audience flow by applying different conditions.
Understanding path data - example 4
Finally, switch on the Pathlight Analysis toggle to find top-performing paths for different metrics.
Click an option (i.e. lowest completion cost, most clicks, and most conversions) to see the best performer among the paths on the canvas. The tool dims the background, highlights the best option, and displays a brief explanation.
Exporting the canvas
You can download the entire audience engagement map as a single JPG file. That makes it easy to display your work (e.g. during a client meeting or email update) without sharing access to the canvas.
Go to the top right corner of the page and click the Export icon.