What Is Ad Experience & Why Does It Matter?

An ad experience can make or break a relationship with your audience and their perception of your brand. When handled correctly, it can offer an opportunity to cultivate trust, improve brand recall and sentiment, and encourage the consumer to engage with or act on your ad. Conversely, if you fail to consider the ad experience for your target audience, you could deter them entirely. 

Today, advertisers have an opportunity to meet consumers at a higher level. With countless ways to consume content, a seamless ad experience is crucial to better position your brand's messaging and perception. So, what is an ad experience, and how can your brand create a better one?

What Is Ad Experience?

Ad experience is more than just whether an ad is delivered without issues and how clear it is that your brand is the one behind it. Instead, the focus is on how and where your audience will consume the content—and how much it resonates.

There are technical factors, such as the platform on which you choose to air your ad or the length of time it takes to get your message across. But there are also more minute details that come together to impact the overall ad experience. For example, the type of voice talent you choose, properly targeting the right consumer, the timing of when your message is delivered, the overall ad environment in which it is encompassed, and so much more. Advertisers who create a high-quality ad experience can generate brand recognition, build trust, and acquire loyal customers.

Why Ad Experience Matters

Consumers understand that, when it comes to consuming content across their favorite media channels like podcasts, satellite radio, and streaming audio, ads are just a part of the experience. And thankfully, the research says that a majority are okay with that—nearly 71% of consumers expect to see and hear ads as they consume media.

But anticipating and appreciating advertisements are two entirely different things, and failing to make the experience as positive as possible for your consumers could have detrimental effects on things like brand perception and engagement. 

With a good ad experience, you have the chance to form a connection between consumers and the brand. That valuable engagement turns into trust, driving brand loyalty. Conversely, if the ads are awkwardly placed, impersonal, poorly executed, or otherwise off-putting, the listener is probably going to either tune out or skip over your message. Even worse, if it strikes a sensitive chord (in the wrong way), they might take a personal stance against your brand for good.

How to Create a Better Ad Experience

Consumers want a premium ad experience that feels similar to their elevated content experiences. Here are a few things to take into consideration before you place your next ad.

Personalize Your Ads

Image this: You’re a millennial juggling your career and your young children. Do you think you’d pay much attention to an ad for a senior living facility? Chances are, you’d probably tune out the message as soon as you realized it’s meant for a different audience.

The point here is, ads should cater to a listener’s unique life experience and resonate with them on a personal level. Consumers want to listen to ads that speak to them—like you’re reading their minds. Before data collection, it was more of a guessing game about whether the perfect ad would reach the right consumer. Now, thanks to data sharing, ad personalization is well within reach.

Place Your Ads in the Right Environment

An ad shouldn’t conflict with when or how the consumer is being presented with the content; a good ad experience takes the activity of its target audience into account. For example, placing a blaring, high-energy ad for the newest action blockbuster on a sponsorable meditation playlist is probably going to rub the recipient the wrong way. 

Luckily, with SiriusXM Media, you can target a specific time of day and place for their ads. This introduces consumers to the most relevant products and perfectly fits into the flow of their day. And with 41% of U.S. households owning at least one smart speaker , it’s easier than ever to reach people at the right time of day, increasing conversion rates.

Make the Ad Experience Memorable

Good ad experiences are memorable—they capture the listener’s attention, pique their interest, and keep them thinking of your message long after the advertisement stops. Carefully curated sound design, engaging voiceover talent, and interactive capabilities are just a few of the ways you can get your consumers engaged with your ad and keep your message top-of-mind.

Make Sure the Ad is Valuable

Ads should be of value to customers, meaning they should educate and entice customers to engage with the brand. Value-driven ads promote the most positive association since customers want to hear about the latest products available to them.

One way to get customers on your side is to generate an offer, since many consumers don’t mind ads if they can get their content for free. In fact, over half of Pandora listeners say that hearing ads is a fair price to pay for free audio content.

Final Takeaways About Ad Experience

The average consumer understands that ads play a role in making digital audio as accessible as it is. But if you want to stand out from your competitors, drive true impact, foster positive brand sentiments, and achieve real ROI, tailoring your ads to create a positive, memorable, and personal experience is a must. By considering a user’s mood, activities, lifestyle, and motivators, and then using the right channels and targeting capabilities to connect with them, you can create true connections with your target audience.

Now that you know all about the importance of creating a positive ad experience, you need a partner that’s going to get you in front of your target audience and offer the tech to home in at exactly the right time. We can help with that. Let’s talk.