The Most Hated Advertising Techniques
Source Article: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20041206.html
Advertisements are everywhere today. The web is not immune. In fact, we probably view as many ads on the web if not more. Advertisements can have a great effect on us, whether positive or negative. Statistics are not well kept on this issue because only the click through rate is usually recorded. John Boyd from Yahoo and Christian Rohrer did some heavy research to find out what really aggravated web users. Most advertising techniques where dispised by 90% or more of users. Many of these techniques include:
- Pops-up in front of your window
- Loads slowly
- tries to trick you into clicking on it
- Does not have a "Close" button
- Covers what you are trying to see
- Doesn't say what it is for
- Moves content around
- Occupies most of the page
The hatred towards these advertising techniques can not be understated where it exists. It makes many users irrate. Most users today use pop-up blockers of some form to fight against these types of ads. There is little else we can do to protect ourselves. When a user views one of these advertising techniques, it not only makes him angry, it transfers a portion of that anger to the website that posted it. Trust is lost in that site and a feeling of negativity now exists to some degree or another.
We cannot rule out advertising all together. Many of the free services we find on the web are fueled by advertisements. Yet, there are good forms of advertisement that can be substituted. In fact, users were particularly pleased with ads that clearly:
- indicate what will happen if people click on them
- relate to what people are doing online
- identify themselves as advertisements
- present information about what they are advertising
- provide additional information without having to leave the page
Of course, these things follow basic web design principles and conventions. People don't click these kind of links on accident or without knowing what they're getting into.
At this point, I have no intention of putting advertisements on my website. However, when I get to that point, I will be very careful not to use any the cause anger in 90% of my visitors. I will also avoid:
- Pop-ups
- Slow load times
- "Teasing" links, misleading categories, and other elements that trick users into clicking
- Content that doesn't clearly state the site's purpose or what a particular page covers
- Content that moves around the page
- Sound that plays automatically
