Beyond the Click: Which online ads are the most effective? (Part 2) (page 2 of 2)

The second most common act was for users to click anywhere on the webpage so that the pop-up minimized. Both clear indications of users ignoring this format and avoiding the ad interruption.

To add insult to injury, no participant in the study actually clicked on the pop-up. Although not confirmed, possibly the only ad format in the study not to generate a single click. Eyetrack III did offer a sliver of hope to this quickly diminishing format by conceding that the pop-up used in the study was small and hence participant viewing patterns may be different if replaced by a larger version.

Conclusions and Tips

The series of observations in the Eyetrack III study range from the totally obvious to utterly baffling. Clearly there are a number of thoughts which emerge, questioning previously held beliefs when comparing ad formats and ad placements. The nature of this study is strictly observational hence leaving the door open for any critic to draw his/her own conclusions from the findings, but perhaps the following are the most striking:

• Advertisers and publishers need to address the growing phenomenon of user ad avoidance. Clearly as users gain in Internet savvy, they also learn to avoid viewing page space normally attributed to ads.

Furthermore, the study suggests that the more contrasting the ad is from the surrounding content may actually result in increasing the hindrance to generating visual traffic. As a solution, the study suggests ad placements to be in very close proximity to key web 'realestate', ie the page content and navigation bars.

Resulting in higher use of 'Island ads' and 'text
ads' which naturally lend themselves to these placements and proved to be amongst the best performers in the study.

• Ads which aren't obviously ads and blend in to the look and feel of a site often generate the highest viewing percentages. This means that web designers need to rethink any unnecessary design touches around the ad content such as lines or added space and instead think about ad integration into the rest of the page content. Considering that most websites in the Middle East rely on ad revenue to survive, this is not an unreasonable request to make and drastically shifts the focus in web design.

• Size may still matter but the difference is not as pronounced as the price differences may suggest. Advertisers may warrant questioning larger ad units which cost twice as much as smaller options in a publisher's ad portfolio. Since cost-effectiveness may not justify the difference. This may also help to explain the traditional 468x60's continued popularity in the face of new, larger ad formats.

• Ad creative, though important, is not the defining line between a campaign success and failure. It seems that placement is just as important, if not more so. This truly has implications in the Middle East where many advertisers are investing in creative development and then not bothering with employing a proficient media planner to even think about where and how the ad will appear in the media. A major area for improvement.

• When developing the ad this study highlights that your window of user attention is a small one indeed. This means that your core message needs to be delivered fast and this is often an impossible task. Instead, consider using message 'hooks' near the beginning of the ad copy to hold the consumer's gaze for a longer period to be able to deliver the final proposition.