Friday, July 29, 2005
What's Needling Net Users? :
"Published: July 29, 2005
(After August 06, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Pop-ups, site registration, slow pages, dead links... These are just a few of the many things that Internet users don't like.
A new survey conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) for Hostway finds that Internet users have plenty of complaints. Some 2,500 adult consumers throughout the US were asked to identify things that annoyed them about commercial Web sites. More than one-third of respondents cited pop-up ads. Other sources of aggravation included having to register and log in (16.7%) and having to install extra software (15.7%).
If a Web page is irritating, consumers are quick to respond. Over 75% of respondents said they were "extremely" or "somewhat" likely to not visit an offending site again, and three-fourths of users expressed some degree of likelihood about unsubscribing from the offending company's promotional messages. Around 70% of users said they might refrain from making purchases at that Web site, view the company in a negative way or even refrain from making purchases in the company's offline stores. Interestingly, only 25% voiced any intention to complain to the company.
Will companies take heed? Some annoyances can be fixed — dead links, slow pages, outdated content. But pop-ups aren't likely to go away, despite user irritation. According to a recent survey of online publishers by Advertising.com, pop-ups and pop-unders are one of the top sources of expected revenues in 2005 (though expectations for them are down a bit compared to 2004). Similarly, it's unlikely that many Web sites will stop requiring users to register. In fact, registration will probably become more common as a way of gathering user information to deliver better targeted, and therefore more lucrative, advertising.
For more on aspects of Web pages that consumers find irksome, read The Cookie Report: Threats to Online Ad Measurement, available on eMarketer's Web site."
"Published: July 29, 2005
(After August 06, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Pop-ups, site registration, slow pages, dead links... These are just a few of the many things that Internet users don't like.
A new survey conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) for Hostway finds that Internet users have plenty of complaints. Some 2,500 adult consumers throughout the US were asked to identify things that annoyed them about commercial Web sites. More than one-third of respondents cited pop-up ads. Other sources of aggravation included having to register and log in (16.7%) and having to install extra software (15.7%).
If a Web page is irritating, consumers are quick to respond. Over 75% of respondents said they were "extremely" or "somewhat" likely to not visit an offending site again, and three-fourths of users expressed some degree of likelihood about unsubscribing from the offending company's promotional messages. Around 70% of users said they might refrain from making purchases at that Web site, view the company in a negative way or even refrain from making purchases in the company's offline stores. Interestingly, only 25% voiced any intention to complain to the company.
Will companies take heed? Some annoyances can be fixed — dead links, slow pages, outdated content. But pop-ups aren't likely to go away, despite user irritation. According to a recent survey of online publishers by Advertising.com, pop-ups and pop-unders are one of the top sources of expected revenues in 2005 (though expectations for them are down a bit compared to 2004). Similarly, it's unlikely that many Web sites will stop requiring users to register. In fact, registration will probably become more common as a way of gathering user information to deliver better targeted, and therefore more lucrative, advertising.
For more on aspects of Web pages that consumers find irksome, read The Cookie Report: Threats to Online Ad Measurement, available on eMarketer's Web site."
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