Have you ever pondered buying a new product for so long that you find you can no longer make a decision about it? This is called “analysis paralysis” – and while it may be inconveniencing you personally ,it could also be affecting the results of your online advertising campaigns.

The theory is simple and the research backs it up. Users are approximately 30 percent more likely to act after seeing an ad the first time than they are when they’ve been exposed to it more frequently.  So users will make up their mind about your ad within the first few seconds of seeing it – and it will take more than just blasting repeats of the ad to change their mind.

The research is striking and clear evidence that it’s crucial to target users with the right offer on the first exposure. The first exposure is likely to achieve a conversion rate close to 0.13 percent before dropping to 0.08 percent after the second exposure. Check out the analysis below which shows how quickly conversion rates drop off.

Perhaps the most important learning here for marketers and advertisers is that they need to make sure they serve their most successful and attractive offers to the right audience straight up.

Matching audience and ads can be easily done using tools including automatic creative optimization, which uses historic data to serve the most relevant ad.  Also keep in mind that dynamic ad formats do a better job at grabbing users’ attention – rich media use in financial ads can more than triple CTR and increase conversion rates, while video can boost CTR by 300 percent and increase conversion rate by 21 percent.

Everybody wants to make a good first impression, by being aware of what ads you are offering to your different audiences from the first interaction; you can enhance your chance of instant conversions. To download the full research, click here.