Pushy Pop-Ups Shown the Dumpster, er, the Door...
It's an acknowledged fact that internet users, by and large, and
especially those who shop online, are savvy, and becoming
increasingly so with each passing day. But what is less
acknowledged, mostly to the detriment of advertisers and sellers
pushing their wares, is that they're also fed-up with the petty
annoyances that obstruct their direct path to the information
and products they seek. Whereas previously these internet
devotees merely shrugged aside that which was marketed to them
against their will, they now vehemently cleave in twain all
which intrudes beyond their Spam filters and Pop-Up blockers.
Their weapon of choice, however, is less gruesome than the
previous sentence imagines. Rather the means unto an end (of
sites pushing Pop-Ups, that is) relies more upon the speed of
their motor reflex skills than the force any show of strength
might level with a mighty blow. Simply put, as clickly... I
mean, as quickly as Pop-Ups pop in, float down, or follow a
scroll like some scraggily stray mutt, internet enthusiasts
flick their click, and click, click away not only the Pop-Up but
the collaborating site that allowed the Pop-Up to slip in
through the backdoor.
As much as email users distrust unsolicited email, i.e. Spam, so
do the majority of internet addicts distrust not only Pop-Ups,
but also the sites that make the mistake of utilizing them as a
principal marketing technique. Research already demonstrates
that internet users make final aesthetic decisions about a
website's worthiness, either yea or nea, a mere 1/20th of a
second after it fully loads on the browser. First impressions
are, for better or worse, everything online. Digging deeper,
such research increasingly demonstrates that Pop-Ups, once even
a staple in AOL's, Amazon's, and eBay's advertising arsenals,
are primary culprits torpedoing a site's potential for providing
a visitor with a pleasing aesthetic experience. The result:
1/20th of a second after a condemning judgment passes against
those websites bearing Pop-ups, the clicking finger is already
in motion, clicking closed every conspiring window.
If you, as a seller, have a legitimate product--i.e. something
you believe in and trust for your personal use as much as you
desire a buyer to trust in and use it--than why sacrifice such
confidences in the eyes (with synapses constantly firing with
the mind) of said buyer by harboring an immediate and lasting
distrust. Nothing, in fact, negates your chances of closing a
sale with more finality than creating suspicion as to the
legitimacy of the claims you make about your product. And, if,
rather than even making claims, you immediately attempt to
incite shoppers to buy, than in all likelihood, you in turn
incite them to find fulfillment of their needs elsewhere.
An online marketing expert I know recently likened the sharp
decline in the effectiveness of Pop-Up advertising to the
negative reactions people have toward someone who goes door to
door proselytizing. She said, "the first time a proselytizer
knocks on your door, you greet them, perhaps with confusion, but
nonetheless amicably. You smile as they preach, you accept their
literature, and sometimes you even invite them beyond the
threshold and offer them something to drink. Maybe you consider
their pitch, but 99 times out of 100 you're secure enough in
you're beliefs, you're not looking for answers, or you simply
don't trust them, and when they've gone you dismiss their pitch
and forget their person. Not long after, they, or another of
their ilk, knocks again. Maybe this time its on the weekend,
your one chance to sleep in; or maybe you've just stepped out of
the shower; or sat down to dinner with your family; regardless,
the last thing you want in any of these moments is to be
interrupted, told to change who you are, and commit yourself to
a new product (in the case of the proselytizer, their specific
brand of religion). You dismiss them a little more abruptly this
time. But, not getting the subtle, harsher tone behind your
seemingly pleasant excuses, they keep coming, always with the
same thing you don't want or need, regardless of whether you
share their beliefs or not. Finally you reach the point where
enough is enough. You slam the door in their face. That," she
says, "like the door to door proselytizer, is the fate Pop-Up
advertising has brought upon itself. It's been shown the door
once and for all, and if internet users could, they would surely
show it the dumpster instead."
Her analogy, is no doubt long, and perhaps not the strongest
imaginable--consider substituting telemarketers in place of the
proselytizer, or whatever other annoyance you encounter
frequently, but wish you encountered never again--but ultimately
it speaks the truth of both statistical evidence demonstrating
internet users' antipathy and distrust of sites advertising with
Pop-Ups and the non-quantifiable negative emotional response
such advertising generates. In short, in a world where we demand
information--on products, anything really--quickly, without
distraction, and only from sources we can rely upon and trust,
there isn't space remaining on our computer screens for an
extra, uninvited Pop-Up window.
Alas, in this very pitch I turned myself into the proselytizer
preaching against the use of Pop-Ups, perhaps in many instances
to readers who previously advertised using Pop-Ups with great
success. To past success I can only raise a glass in toast--"I
commend you good fellow or fair lady"--but it is to the future
that I implore you to set your sights. There upon products you
believe in, to consumer confidences you wish to earn, cultivate
and retain--be they won without overt intrusion, like a cyber
handshake, not a Pop-Up window, provoking internet users like a
cyber slap in the face.
Copyright 2006, Robert K. Blanc. All Rights Reserved.