The research, carried out by Dollywagon Media Science and Other Lines of Enquiry for the RAB, measured the actual browsing behaviour of respondents who heard 23 live radio campaigns from the travel, telecoms, motors, insurance and high street sectors.
The radio campaigns which delivered the highest effect on internet behaviour clearly communicated a simple proposition, used strong brand linkage and directed listeners to go online to a straightforward and self-evident web address.
Simon Redican, managing director at the Radio Advertising Bureau, said: "The internet has become an incredibly important interface for customer marketing but the problem is that it also allows access to all your rival's brands which means the key challenge is to ensure that customers seek out your brand specifically - marketers are increasingly turning to offline media to direct consumers to their brands online."
The radio ads drove on average 34% of the total brand browsing for an average of 10% of the media budget which the research said means the radio spend was on average four times more effective.
The research compared a sample of 1,200 people who had listened to the ads with 600 people who had not. Mark Barber, planning director at the RAB, called it the "first ever study quantifying how offline media influences the actual behaviour of consumers online".
Barber said the findings are highly significant for brands where the internet "provides the crucial final stage" of customer buying and radio advertising offers these brands the chance to "turbo charge" the marketing process.
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