The Engagement ROI tool is available to all customers running the Atlas platform starting today, September 22, since Microsoft announced that it was taking the tool outside of the initial limited pool of testers associated with the Beta program. Designed to deliver reporting and optimization capabilities to measure digital advertising campaign performance, Engagement ROI Beta is based on the Engagement Mapping method, and its role is to produce a map illustrating the interaction of website visitors with the online ads made available across a website.

"All Atlas clients now have the ability to use Engagement ROI, which provides a realistic and holistic view of how each ad exposure throughout a media campaign influenced eventual conversions or sales," explained Young-Bean Song, senior director, Atlas Institute, Microsoft Advertising. "As digital marketing campaigns grow more complex, marketers need tools such as Engagement Mapping that validate and maximize online spending beyond the 'last ad.'"

In Microsoft's perspective the Engagement Mapping method and the Engagement ROI Beta tool in particular are set up to offer a more comprehensive analysis of end users’ behavior in relation to online advertising touch points. The Redmond company insists that the "last clicked ad" model is obsolete as up to 95% of visitor interactions with online ads are not credited in any way for the success of an eventual sale or conversion.

"The results indicated that when advertisers or agencies use Engagement Mapping, vertical niche sites and ad networks that are typically underrepresented by the "last ad" method gain credit for conversions with a median improvement of 1 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Consequently, affiliate networks and search, the advertising channels that typically appear near the bottom of the sales funnel, lose conversion credit under Engagement Mapping with the median search buy receiving 7 percent less credit," Microsoft added.