Popup's Completely ruin the product they're advertising

This might just be my opinion but I would like to know what others think...

I will never... EVER buy or even consider buying a product that popped up on a computer... especially my own computer...

I understand the idea behind popups, they're trying to get their product out there as much as possible

Though IF that company will go so far as to invade my desktop or browser...

You just made your product worthless to me

I don't care if said product is the most brilliant ingenious invention that has ever graced the planet...

IF that company is so desperate to advertise that they need to use a pop up to let me know how amazing it might be... You just lost me as a potential buyer

In fact I will blatantly avoid ANYTHING that pops up uninvited on any computer

IF you want to advertise on a website on the sides or at the top... sure I have the option of looking at your product and I might be interested... I might even click on it... in fact I have downloaded several games just from seeing the advertisement on TV or on a website in passing...

BUT IF you think you're going to force me to look at what you're trying to sell...

F**K...THAT! (pardon my French)

I never even look at them... they get the X without even a glance

Popups do nothing but piss me off... and I will not ever buy something that is shoved in my face

And IF I see that old lady pulling her face off when I log into ATS one more time!!!

I completely agree with your rant. I also detest those Ads that start automatically playing audio.

When you think about it, its all about advertising. Films, TV, music, magazine's, everything

This day and age everything is an advert. You drive a car, your basically advertising their product,

Without advertising this world would be a better place.... Companies not ramming their products down your throat, its a sad point. But true.

Even now while I'm on my favorite site, I'm being shown adverts from my browsing history sold to the highest bidder

a reply to: Akragon

It will get worse, wait till the day comes when it's like the movie minority report.

They are a waste of time, because they waste my time, and I never remember what they are about as I get rid.

a reply to: Akragon

100% agree mate.

Popups are not professional at all. Well said.

a reply to: Akragon

I couldnt agree more!!

I try no to buy ANYTHING i have seen advertised at all!!

Product description and a price is all i need. I got Adblock, thank god for that!!

I dont watch TV anymore, because of commercials (Beside i dont want to spend my life watching stupid things on a screen)

When any side gives me a popup, i close it down immediately, glad to hear iam not the only one

a reply to: Akragon

They've done studies and pop up advertising actually works. You said you avoid the products than said "I never even look at them... they get the X without even a glance" you can't do both, so by your very wording you probably buy the products that use pop ups without realizing it.

I agree with you it's annoying but they work, or else they wouldn't do it

I totally agree, if I see a popup, I would never want it. I think that the advertisers have been led to believe all of us are stupid.....Oh, look at that...yellow....I like that color....I got to check out that flashing yellow popup.

a reply to: PsychoEmperor

Right... they work because of subliminal messaging

Which is a dirty underhanded way of advertising...

And no I don't buy anything that has popped up on a computer... period

They work on people that don't understand how a computer works because they don't know they can just X out... thats about it

I totally agree. I won't buy anything from a pop up either. They P1ss me off so I refuse to buy the product even if it's amazing and very cheap.

Even if you force yourself to not consciously see it, your subconscious sees it and that creates a familiarity when you see the product in another setting - a setting where you're in a mood to spend some money. All it takes is that bit of subconscious familiarity to make it more likely you will choose their product over another. They don't care whether you look at the thing or click on it.

I find ANY advertisement repugnant; what I'd love is a place to go to see advertisements when I want to shop. I abhor this manipulation.

a reply to: Akragon

I'm not going to "defend" some of the more aggressive online advertising tactics, merely outline some unfortunate truths about the evolution of the media landscape.


The Audience Paradigm

As the New York Times and other news sites with full or partial paywalls have discovered, in order to realize break-even revenue off subscriptions, you need an audience willing to pay for content that's at least 20% of the size of the audience who wouldn't pay for it. Meaning, if there are 100,000 daily visitors to free ad-supported content, you need at least 20,000 willing to pay before ads can be removed or scaled-back.

In our case, ATS, even we suspect that every daily logged-in member would be willing to pay some level of monthly subscription, it's still only 4% of the monthly audience that visits the site.


The Digital Advertising Marketplace

For mid-market sites like ATS, the advertising options have changed significantly. After years of consolidation and shifts to "robotic" buying of advertising space through ad exchanges and automated marketplaces, the revenue-per-impression has dropped by nearly 75%, across the board, over the past 10 years.

While we do have a firm that represents premium ad spots on ATS, and occasionally sells high-value ad campaigns, the direct-sell volume has remained flat over the years. This is common among all the other mid-market site owners I talk to.

For top-market sites like major news/entertainment sites, it's not as difficult. Their higher-value volume and demographics do reasonably well on those automated ad exchanges/marketplaces.


Desperation Tactics

Yes, pop-up and video-overlay ads are rather desperate techniques to get audience attention in an increasingly diluted and crowed online content marketplace. While irritating for you and others, the data is showing that there is some success -- and not just from accidental clicks.

The Direct Marketing Association has been collecting data on the efficacy of these more intrusive ads for nearly five years. Their model measures not just clicks-to-purchase, but retention and long-term consumer awareness. Meaning: if you seen an ad for a type of Gieco insurance product in a video pop-up, the long term data supports overall consumer awareness in that product, and ultimately improved sales as a result.

Yeah, I know, for experienced Internet users, we might think the data is flawed, but don't forget, we are the aberration in the much larger audience.


The Cookie-Blocking Fallacy

I'm going to say something rather unpopular here; blocking third-party cookies will make your ad experience, across all website, much worse -- if not unbearable.

If you, like me, accept ads as the fair-trade of the content you want to read, consume, or watch, then blocking third-party cookies from advertising networks/servers is among the worst things you could do for your online experience. Those cookies are used primarily to "remember" the ads you've seen, where you've seen them, and which ad you should see next. If the technology at the ad network cannot find a cookie for you, then you are relegated to the crap pile, and get the lowest-value ads in their inventory -- often over-and-over again because there's no way to track the frequency with which you see all the ad creative that you hate.

Also, for those video pop-in, roll-in, scroll-in, or slide-in ads: you'll see them way too often. Most of the ad suppliers for those types of ads use the cookies to manage frequency caps -- meaning they don't want to show you more than one or two a day of those types of ads.

SIDE NOTE: I've never blocked or deleted any cookies, ever, in my entire time online unless it was for troubleshooting something I was doing.





This doesn't diminish your frustration with irritating ad tactics, merely explains the origins, and perhaps offers one way to see an improvement.

a reply to: Akragon

Popups make me leave automatically.

Peace

a reply to: jude11

Same here. Alt F4 so I don't click an invisible link! I don't care if it closes everything I'm doing.

As Bansky (graffiti artist) said.
"If they force that ad into your face, then you own it", and he'd use it for his graffiti.

We need a way to use the popups

a reply to: Akragon

I couldn't agree more. In my opinion, and unwanted popup or invasion like that is no different than a virus and I think companies should be fined when it happens. Ironically, out of all the websites that I visit, ATS seems to be one of the worst when it comes to crap like that.

ID

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I can't deny that popups work... but again it diminishes the value of the product being offered

In the case of ATS... Yes realise you guys need money to keep this place up and active...

This is why I refrain from putting my fist through the screen every time I get the side scrolling popup on the log in screen that lags everything from by brain to the typing I do... (aside from the needless destroying of innocent computers)

A product should be able to stand on its own... and not be stuffed down peoples throats...

They work on people like my mother, who doesn't realise that she didn't actually click on anything to get that screen on your desktop... Or people who only browse the net on the occasion and haven't the slightest clue how to use the internet aside from clicking on the google search bar...

I am totally with you, I will not buy something or download an app that annoyingly got in my way.

a reply to: Akragon

Yeah, I hear you!!! It's really becoming obnoxious and annoying. I understand how businesses want to advertise their products, but when annoy the hell out of people, you're really creating a negative image for your product.

I find TV commercials just as annoying! You can't avoid them by switching to another station because they're all inserted at the same exact time. The satellite and cable companies should be paying us a royalty for allowing them to advertise products in our private homes! I pay for the satellite reception, not the annoying advertising that goes along with it! If a company wants to advertise in a ball park, or in a mall, they have to pay for a monthly advertising space. Why should it be any different if advertisers want to pitch their products in our private homes, or our mail boxes? Junk mail, that's a whole other story.