Do you sometimes think that some advertisers and marketers have lost their mind? Click on the animated cartoon below and watch it happen.
Jacob Nielsen wrote "The Most Hated Advertising Techniques" back on 12/6/04 with a survey based on 605 respondents. Here are the results:
| Design Element | Users Answering "Very Negatively" or "Negatively" |
|---|---|
| Pops-up in front of your window | 95% |
| Loads slowly | 94% |
| Tries to trick you into clicking on it | 94% |
| Does not have a "Close" button | 93% |
| Covers what you are trying to see | 93% |
| Doesn't say what it is for | 92% |
| Moves content around | 92% |
| Occupies most of the page | 90% |
| Blinks on and off | 87% |
| Floats across the screen | 79% |
| Automatically plays sound | 79% |
All of these things can be summed up to advertising that promotes SATURATION, CLUTTER, INTRUSIVENESS, and last but not least, DECEPTION. While on the other hand, "Not many ads are actively loved by users, but some advertising techniques do have a positive impact on the user experience. Users were particularly pleased with ads that clearly:
So when will advertisers and marketers learn that many of their "cool" and latest technology techniques like some kinds of "Rich Media" can actually be counterproductive to sales!
The Interactive Advertising Bureau issued "Guidelines" that were supposed to be tested and acceptable to the public. While these are better than nothing at all, personally, I don't even like to be forced to hit a "skip" button or see a "floating" ad of any size. These distractions cause me to lose time through added "clicks", and get me annoyed while I'm trying to get to my relevant information in the shortest period of time. While I know these distractions are designed to get my attention, most of the time they not only don't build my interest, they turn me off to coming back to the web page that I found them on. But, I know that I don't speak for everybody. How do you feel about these things?
Animated cartoon courtesy of www.artie.com.
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