Pop-up 'suicide' can kill your brand

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35792.html



Pop-up 'suicide' can kill your brand
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 24/02/2004 at 15:32 GMT

Employing pop-up ads to target punters is like playing Russian roulette with your brand, according to Web behaviour consultancy Bunnyfoot Universality.

They reckon companies that use - or host - pop-up advertising are a big turn-off, risking "suicide" for their brand. Bunnyfoot's research found that pop-ups were the "single biggest turn-off among users" with users deleting the ads on average just 2.5 seconds after they appear.

Using special technology that tracked the eye movement of people looking at a computer screen, Bunnyfoot found that pop-ups were only seen in two per cent of cases.

Half of those tested closed the ads before they even loaded while a third didn't even look at the advertisements.

Six out of ten of those quizzed said they mistrusted brands that used pop-ups to advertise their products and services.

Said Rob Stevens, director of business behaviour at Bunnyfoot: "Brands are undoubtedly committing commercial suicide by insisting on using pop-ups. The effect of such techniques goes way beyond simply annoying the user: they frustrate, they impose and they engender mistrust. Pop-ups are therefore not just a huge waste of money, they are also extremely negative for a brand."