Popping Off About Pop-Ups

By George Anderson

We’ve all had it happen. Click on link to read a story online and get an unwanted pop-up ad first. At yesterday’s @d:tech New York conference, executives discussed how to keep
pop-ups from getting linked in the collective disgust to telemarketer calls and spam.

A survey by Intelliseek found more than 90 percent of consumers get “very annoyed” when pop-ups pop up.

Geoff Silver, director of e-marketing at Orbitz, a travel firm whose pop-under ads have become seemingly ubiquitous across the World Wide Web, acknowledges there is a problem,
reports DM News. “We have to moderate the number of pop-up and pop-under ads so consumers don’t become turned off to the medium,” he said.

Others argue consumers are hiding their annoyance at pop-ups, quite well, as their conversion rates are substantially higher than the standard banner ad.

Mr. Silver asked, “If this is such a negative thing, why are people spending so much time with our ads?”

Moderator’s Comment: Should consumer marketers give more weight to the negative reaction consumers have to pop-up and under ads or the upside of higher
conversion rates?

Banner ads do not generate as much traffic as pop-ups and unders. Of course, we’re willing to bet, they don’t tick quite as many people off either. [George
Anderson – Moderator
]

BrainTrust

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