When you are working on your online display campaign, that’s a big question. Is there actually any difference in the performance of static and animated banners? Which one is the best option for you and which one will catch your audience’s attention more effectively?

We understand the difficulties of having a strong brand imagery, a powerful message and a catchy CTA in such a brief marketing element, but there are ways to achieve all three, and we’ll go through them here:

As technology has evolved, so has the banner. With better and faster internet connections, animated formats like gifs and HTML5 have become more popular. And you would think that an animated banner would be more engaging to attract the reader’s attention, but that doesn't mean that a static will be less effective.

Both formats, as part of a good and well-planned marketing strategy, will boost your brand awareness, direct traffic to your site, and will help increase the CTR (Click Through Rate) and conversions.

How to build an effective banner:

Whether you go for static or animated, a well-designed banner should have:

• A good structure: Regardless of size, we need a core message, preferably with an image, and a CTA.

• Relevant imagery: Don’t use a random image. It will visually represent your core message and it will grab the attention of your audience.

• Typography: Your display ads campaign is an important tool to keep your brand in the forefront of your reader’s mind. Make sure that your typography is on brand, but it also needs to be legible and the message needs to stand out from the background.

• Colour: Use your branded colours to build your brand awareness. The colours will represent your brand values and they’re part of your brand identity.

• Simplicity: Keep it simple, with concise messages that are straight to the point.

Which one is right for me?

They both have their advantages, so choosing one format over the other will depend on a few factors:

• Your campaign objectives

• The core message

• Your budget

A static banner will be good if you have an important message to launch to your audience, as the message will be permanently visible. You will also have all the relevant elements (image and CTA) displaying alongside, which means that the first impression that you make on your customers will last (it won’t change after a few seconds with a different slide).

In terms of design, they’re easier to produce, so they’ll work best for you if you have a limited budget. They can also be universally implemented, so can be displayed almost anywhere.

If you go for animated banners, you’ll find that they’re very eye-catching and will attract lots of interest and that they usually generate a higher Click Through Rate (which could lead to more conversion rates and to a higher Return on Investment, too) and you can be more creative.

They’re highly customizable, and if done well, they can stir the reader’s interest by appealing to their different needs. However, you need to be careful and try to keep all the slides consistent with each other. An animated banner is still a single marketing element and the objective and core message need to be homogeneous.

Other things I should consider?

Placement is something else that will affect your display campaign performance. Ensuring a good position within a web page will make a big difference because the exposure will be higher or lower, depending on location.

We know that the decision is not easy, and we would say that many of our clients benefit from both static and animated banners (on the Today websites and the newsletters). Our advice would be to use static banners for more generic messages (e.g. an Easter discount on your software for agents) and animated ones to showcase the features/benefits of a new product or service.

If you’re unsure about how to approach your online display campaign on our Today sites and newsletter, we’ll be happy to help!
Call us on 0208 663 4989, or email lee@angelsmedia.co.uk and we’ll contact you asap.