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Nothing bugs me more than clicking on a site to get information than to have to click through one or two pop-ups to get to the content. Actually, I get even more perturbed when I can’t find the opt-out quickly enough. And the ones that give me some dumb response for no, “I don’t want to make extra money,” are especially annoying. Why can’t you let me read your article to decide for myself if I want more information?
I wonder how effective these ads are. Maybe in the beginning, they worked. But now these pop-ups are mainstream. Personally, I ignore them. I want to believe that I’m not the only one. On my smartphone, many times, I can’t even figure out the opt-out, and I simply click out of the site without ever viewing the content.
Smart Bug Media reports that about 70 percent of searchers want to block sites from search results due to too many ads. Ad blocking software is becoming more prominent. And even ad agencies aren’t sure if pop-ups are effective.
In some cases, websites have seen a boost in email list opt-ins. Despite the fact that most users are anti-ads, it doesn’t stop us from interacting with them. Entrepreneur.com saw an increase of subscriptions of 86 percent with pop-ups.
I find pop-ups to be most successful when they’re unobtrusive and they offer something unique. I think businesses have to be aware of their bounce rate or the average time spent on a page when users have to get around their ads to get to content. The data about pop-ups is just beginning to come in, so there is no real standard. And by the time there is long-term research, they may have been replaced with another ad campaign.
I can’t back up my observations with much data, but I do believe that I’m an average user who gets annoyed with pop-ups. I’d be surprised if this ad style is effective in the long-term, but I’d love to hear from companies that are using pop-ups effectively to learn more about the best practices.
