FreshDirect delivers 388% increase in conversions with programmatic advertising

Testing the “halo effect” of programmatic advertising

FreshDirect is an online grocery-ordering service in the New York tristate area. Given its online model, digital activations and promotions are crucial for the company’s success in a highly competitive market.

Working with agency Tombras, FreshDirect has been using The Trade Desk’s platform to deliver ads programmatically on the open internet with great success. However, the company wanted to test the theory that programmatic ads had a “halo effect” of positively influencing the performance of ads run on social media and search platforms.

Driving a positive impact on conversions with programmatic media

To measure the effectiveness of display and online video ads delivered programmatically on non-programmatic media, we placed a universal pixel on FreshDirect’s website to understand user behavior across the site. With custom pixel mapping, the grocer gained insight on customers’ paths to purchase, including exposure to programmatic ads, visits to the website from a paid search or social ad, and ultimately, conversions.

To measure success, Tombras compared the conversion rates for people exposed to paid search or social ads only against users exposed to paid search or social ads and ads delivered by our platform.

The campaign resulted in a remarkable 388% jump in conversions for people who saw programmatic ads delivered by our platform on top of paid search. And conversions rose 274% among people exposed to ads delivered by our platform in addition to paid social.

The results were clear: using our platform to deliver ads programmatically as part of an overall media plan alongside search and social was a winning strategy to boost overall conversions.

“Our programmatic approach in The Trade Desk has truly elevated our marketing strategy, driving a phenomenal 388% increase in conversions and proving the powerful halo effect on our paid search and social ads.”

Lauren Medina

Director of Programmatic, Tombras

Want to discover how you can add programmatic advertising to your next campaign to positively influence overall campaign performance? Contact us or reach out to your account manager at The Trade Desk today.