Many websites use popup advertisements to catch the attention of the visitor. There is a common belief that increasing the exposure of an element - whether it is a product, an offer or a specific article - will result in a proportional increase of interest among users.
Popup commercials have been accompanying Internet users for years and have become an integral part of web surfing. Despite the passage of time, however, few companies listen to opinions on this form of advertising.
Anatomy of a pop-up window
One can safely say that no Internet user visits the website to become a snacked jumping banner covering 70-80% of the screen. In a sense, it constitutes an artificial barrier between the user and what he or she is looking for on the website - its content.
A great deal of research has been carried out, which clearly defines feelings for this form of emphasis and promotion of content. For the purposes of this article, we will base ourselves on a survey conducted by representatives of brands such as Yahoo! and eBay.
What are the different aspects of online advertising that affect your use of the Internet?
It responded negatively or very negatively:
- Popup advertisements - 95% of respondents,
- Free charging - 94% of respondents,
- Advertising that misleads to click on it - 94% of the respondents,
- There is no "close" button - 93% of respondents,
- It covers what I want to read - 93% of the respondents,
- Has moved - 92% of the respondents,
- Automatically plays audio/video - 79% of respondents.
As it is easy to notice, users are strongly negative towards advertisements that in a way interrupt the smooth use of a given website.
What is also important is the psychological aspect of negative emotions, which do not focus on the advertisement itself but transfer them to the advertiser and the website on which they are presented.
For nearly 20,000 respondents, 50% responded that unwanted advertising has a negative attitude towards the advertiser. 40% of respondents admitted that it has an impact on the negative perception of the website that displayed such an advertisement.
Internet users are defending themselves against unwanted advertising
The fragrant display of the content has developed natural defensive reactions - many users remain "blind" to any banners and promotional/advertising messages. You can say that the brain automatically "filter" them out of the correct content. In addition, there are a multitude of technical solutions that allow the browser to block advertisements.
This is suffered both by website owners, who depend on the profits generated in this way, as well as companies in the form of advertisers who want to reach as many recipients as possible.
What can we learn from this?
If we need to use such a form of display, it is worth taking into account a few good practice suggestions from users:
- Advertising should inform you what happens when you click on it,
- should be easily recognisable as an advertisement/promotional item,
- present a clear message of what advertising is about,
- present detailed content without leaving the page. What about corporate websites?
Very many negative elements in the case of advertisements can be translated directly into the weak creation of a company website.
- Avoid pop-ups
- avoid long-loading parts and subpages,
- audio/video elements that start automatically,
- Content and links that are only intended to make a click on an item.
Summary
None of us likes to be pushed by an offer or especially an advertisement that we are not interested in. This problem concerns both telemarketing, TV commercials and online advertising.
Research shows that simple, clear and user-friendly websites are better rated, where users do not have too many options to interact - which makes navigating and assimilating content easier.
However, despite all the facts, popup is still the king of online advertising.