Marketers have flocked online in order to achieve a higher ROI on their ad campaigns. Display advertising still commands a significant portion of online ad spending. But how's that really working for your clients? Let’s take a look.

SmartInsights​.com reports that the average global CTR stands at about .05% for all formats. That’s 5 clicks for 10,000 ad impressions.

As you might expect, there’s significant variation in the size and style of display ads. When Smart Insights analysts checked the various types placements, they found that rich media formats fared the best, attracting CTRs of up to .28%.

Size makes a difference, too. Middle page units (MPU) with flash in-​page technology score a .09% CTR rate. The mobile ads that Google started allowing last year measure 300 by 250 units. These are much more noticeable than the smaller 320 by 50-​unit ads that often appear as banners on the bottom on the page. They’re popular, too. Last year 34% of all mobile ad impressions were the 300 by 250-​unit size. Analysts suggest marketers buy the ‘above the fold’ position on the mobile screen to be more noticeable.

It’s no secret that some publishers drive higher CTRs for marketers than others. At this point, Facebook is in a good position with an estimated average 0.9% CTR (WordStream data on Facebook – cited by Smart Insights).

And some industries do much better than others in FB.

• Legal 1.61%
• Retail 1.59%
• Apparel 1.34%
• Beauty 1.16%

These days, marketers are paying $0.59 per CPM on Facebook. The average CPC is $0.50. As a result, marketers can count on revenue of $1.63 for each visitor that clicks through from Facebook.

While buying Facebook ads is one way to boost the potential ROI for an ad campaign, your clients may be looking for something a little more. Step them through the statistics compiled by a Digital Audit report you generate through AdMall from SalesFuel. Using this report, you can select an audience that matches your client’s business type. You can show them specific percentages of potential clients that have taken action as a result of seeing online or mobile ads. That information will help you sell them more ads and help them increase their CTR.