In the early days of digital advertising, the “click” was the king of engagement measurements. If a user clicked on an ad, the campaign was a success; if they didn’t, it was a failure. However, with the evolution in mobile advertising and adding more channels, such as touchscreens, voice commands and immersive video, the click is not enough.
Understanding interactions helps marketers get insights about how the audience responds to the creatives, placement, and messaging. Keep reading to explore the types of interactions, measurement methods, and strategies to maximize user engagement across digital channels.
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In the simplest terms, an interaction is any intentional action a user takes with an advertisement, not including seeing it. While an impression counts every time an ad is displayed on a screen, an interaction signifies that the user has “leaned in”. This could range from expanding a high-impact display ad to reveal a hidden menu to matching a video for a specific duration that indicates genuine interest.
The definition of an interaction expands with the evolution of hardware. On a desktop, an interaction might be a mouse-over that triggers an animation or a dwell over a specific product feature. On a smartphone, a tap, or a swipe through a product carousel, or a pinch-to-zoom action. Advanced scenarios include interactive 3D product models where users can rotate a piece of merchandise to see it from every angle.
Interactions serve as a bridge between awareness and conversion. They are the primary indicators of active attention. In a market plagued with “banner blindness”, where users instinctively ignore standard placements, interaction data proves that your ad creative has broken through the noise. When a user interacts, they are internalizing your brand’s message, turning a passive view into an active one that increases brand recall.
In digital advertising, interactions fuel optimization algorithms. Here’s how this works: demand-side platforms use machine learning to identify patterns in engagement that humans might miss. When an ad receives high levels of interaction, programmatic ad tools can automatically shift the budget toward similar placements, specific demographics, or certain times of the day (dayparting) where engagement is peaking.
This process creates an optimizing feedback loop. For example, if the data shows that users on mobile devices interact more with video content during evening hours, the programmatic engine will prioritize bidding on those slots. Therefore, your advertising budget is spent on impressions that have a higher likelihood of turning into a conversation. Without tracking interactions, a programmatic strategy is flying blind, relying on surface-level metrics that may not reflect the inventory’s true quality.
It is a common misconception that interactions are vanity metrics. On the contrary, they are leading indicators of Return on Investment (ROI). A user rarely buys a high-ticket item or signs up for a complex service on the very first touchpoint. By measuring interactions, marketers can track the “micro-conversions” that lead to the final sale.
For instance, a user who interacts with an augmented reality (AR) ad to try on a pair of glasses or see how a sofa looks in their living room is significantly more likely to convert later via a retargeting ad than a user who never interacted at all. A perfect example is the Visit Savannah AI-Powered Experience, where a generative AI chatbot was integrated directly into Perion’s high-impact ad formats. This innovative approach achieved a 14% lift in user engagement.
The Click-Through Rate (CTR) is a binary metric; a user either clicks the link to your landing page or they don’t. This is excellent for measuring direct traffic and immediate intent to buy. However, it fails to capture the value of users who spent thirty seconds engaging with your brand within the ad unit itself but weren’t ready to leave the page they were currently reading.
The Interaction Rate (IR) measures the percentage of people who engaged with the ad unit, such as playing a game, clicking a “more info” tab, or unmuting a video. This distinction is vital because a high-impact video ad might have a low CTR, but have a massive interaction rate.
You should understand the different ways users “talk back” to your ads. Clicks and taps are the most common, but there is a whole range of reactions and interactions. In rich media, we see a heavy reliance on dwell time, which tracks how long a user’s cursor or finger stayed active within the ad boundaries. This is a massive indicator of interest that doesn’t require a single click.
Other interactions include:
Measuring interactions requires moving beyond the standard tracking pixel. Marketers must implement event tracking to log specific behaviors within the ad unit. This is often done using JavaScript-based tags that listen to triggers, such as user scrolling to a specific part of an ad or clicking a non-link element. The interaction rate is then calculated by dividing the total number of interactions by the total number of impressions, then multiplying by 100.
Another critical metric is ad viewability. For an interaction to be meaningful, the ad must be viewable on the screen. If a user interacts with an ad that is only 10% visible at the bottom of a page, that data point is likely an error or an accident. Advanced measurement suites now provide engagement time metrics, which strip out accidental clicks and only count interactions that last longer than a set threshold.
The way we measure interactions varies significantly across the digital landscape. On Connected TV, for instance, interactions are often measured by remote control clicks or QR code scans that bridge the gap between the TV and a mobile device. Because CTV is a lean-back medium, a simple video completion is a powerful interaction metric.
In contrast, mobile and desktop environments are lean forward, requiring more active touchpoints. On mobile, we track swipes, tilts, and taps. On social media platforms, interactions include saves and long presses to view more content. A successful omnichannel advertising strategy requires a measurement framework that can translate these diverse signals into a single, unified view of user engagement.
There’s no perfect path to perfect data. Advertisers face several significant hurdles, starting with accidental interactions. On mobile devices, fat-finger taps are common, where a user accidentally hits an ad while trying to scroll. This can artificially inflate interaction rates and lead to skewed optimization. To combat this, many platforms use confirmed-click or minimum dwell requirements to verify intent.
Privacy regulations also present a challenge, with the decline of third-party cookies and the rise of strict data laws like GDPR, tracking interactions across different websites is becoming more technical. Marketers are increasingly relying on first-party data and privacy-first targeting solutions to get a clear picture. Additionally, there is a lack of universal standardization; what one publisher calls a view might be defined differently by another, making it difficult for brands to compare performance across a diverse media buy.
If your interaction rates are low, the problem is likely your creative. To fix this, you should prioritize high-impact ad formats that naturally invite touch and exploration. Static banners are easily ignored, but rich media units that feature movement or interactive layers are much harder to overlook. You must also ensure that your call to action is clear. Instead of a generic “Buy Now,” try using prompts like “Explore the Features”, “Swipe to See the Difference”, or “Click to Customize”.
Gamification is another powerful tool for boosting interaction. Incorporating small quizzes, scratch and reveal elements, or simple mini-games can keep a user engaged with your brand for minutes rather than seconds. Finally, technical performance is the foundation of all interaction. If an interactive element takes too long to load or feels “clunky” on a mobile device, users will abandon it immediately. Optimizing for speed and responsiveness is just as important as the visual design itself.
