To start let’s find out what annoys users in advertising.
To answer this question we would recommend you to read the article „The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques“ published by Therese Fessenden from the Nielsen Norman Group. In their report, the Nielsen Norman Group noted that not all advertising formats on apps and websites are appealing to people, but mobile users are even less tolerant of advertising. Users also noted the load time for ads as a negative factor. From this we come to the following conclusion: users are most likely to dislike ads that block and slow down the interaction with the interface.
To get a general sense for this problem it is important to know what are the major advertising formats for electronic devices:
- Native advertising: These are ads, that can be configured so that when displayed in the application or on the site, they look like an integral part of the interface. Native advertising, as a rule, is more effective than most other types, since it is fully integrated into the application or site.
- Ad insertions: These are full-screen ads that show up when the user moves from one task to another.
- Banner ads: These are smaller ads that appear on the top or bottom of the screen. They are less effective than other formats because people are used to not to pay attention to banners.
- Commercial inserts in the video: This option of video advertising is shown in the video player at the beginning, middle or at the end of the video.
- Video with bonuses: This is a type of placement for gaming applications that allows players to receive rewards for watching video ads.
All of these advertising formats have their advantages and disadvantages, but there is a general direction for working with them:
- Explore your target audience and their attitude to advertising. According to the article from Therese Fessenden, attitudes toward advertising may differ among people. Conduct in-depth interviews with your users to find out their opinions and to analyze past experiences.
- Explore user experience when engaging with your ads and eliminate the biggest irritants. For example, replace one non-skippable ad format with an interstitial advertising format. Or embed native banners that fit your product’s style and are less annoying to the user.
- Explain to users why they see ads. It sounds obvious, but most do not understand that advertising allows developers to work on the product.
- Keep track of the frequency and number of ads per user. Frequent ad impressions can affect your product badly.
We hope we could provide you with new and interesting information about online advertisement.
We see you next week for our new article! Until then, have a great weekend!