It is fair to say that public opinion does not favor most online ads — our research confirms it. In a recent study, we collected open-ended responses to understand what truly makes or breaks an online advertising experience. From the 300 responses we received, comprised mostly of negative comments, combined with our insight from a presentation by Christian Rohrer and John Boyd at Nielsen Norman Group’s User Experience Conference in 2004, we were able to distinguish five user requirements for interacting with advertisements. Complying with these will make your ads less insufferable and may even make customers like you:

  • User control
  • Instant gratification
  • Placement
  • Predictability
  • Relevance

User Control

One of the 10 usability heuristics is user control and freedom. Not surprisingly, people complained when the ad took control of the interaction and forced them to perform actions (e.g., watch a video ad) against their will. In contrast, they expressed positive affect when the ad was triggered by their action or when they could opt out of the interaction.  

For example, if users clicked a button to play a video and the video started with an ad, they were less annoyed than if the video had started playing by itself (autoplay). Additionally, being given the option to skip or dismiss an ad was a valued capability which gave users a sense of control.

Not surprisingly, modal ads, which take away user control and interrupt the current task, while requiring users to interact with the ad — either by dismissing it or selecting a call to action within the ad — were among the most disliked ad types both on mobile and on desktop.

Examples of user comments:

  • “The best ads are the ones that you can simply click on to close and you don't have to view them anymore while you're on the webpage.”
  • “I like ads that do not obstruct content. I can glance to the side and decide if I want to open [them] but am annoyed when I don't have that choice.”
  •  “I hate having to close something to seek content on a site. That is nonsense — I didn't ask for that and I tend to dislike the company even more.”
  • “I strongly dislike ads that I'm forced to watch…”

Instant Gratification

Respondents often complained about ads that “delayed” or “blocked” access to content of interest. Examples of such ads include prevideo advertisements, modal ads, or ads that slowed down the loading of the page. The inability to skip an ad hinders access to primary content. The additional load time and delayed content delivery divert attention from the main task, increase cognitive load, increase time between interaction and feedback, and often do not support the user’s primary task.

Examples of user comments:

  • “Any ad that makes a page difficulty to load or read is annoying.”
  • “Video ads before a video you want to watch are okay as long as they are short and give you an option to skip after so many seconds.”
  • “I dislike especially the ones that start and don't let you close for 5 seconds”

Placement

This dimension refers to physical obstruction of content. For example, a modal advertisement with a dark background will obscure the primary content, and a persistent banner will physically occupy many pixels on a page, thus pushing information below the fold — especially on a mobile device. On the other hand, an advertisement in the right rail does not impede the use of primary content, and is in a location conventionally used for advertising. Respondents often complained about ads taking up “space” or “covering” the desired content.

Examples of user comments:

  • “I hate disruptive advertising. An online ad should be no more intrusive than a standard magazine ad. That is, it should not flash, demand action, or be placed in the middle of an article. Off to the side or below is best.”
  • “I am fond of links to the side and at the end of my pages. I can't tell you why, but I like them and am much more likely to click on them and check them out than anywhere else.”
  • “Since ads are a necessary evil, they must exist. I can tolerate ads that just sit in the right-hand side of the screen, and do nothing. Ads in the middle of Facebook, are okay, unless I see the same one often.”

Predictability

Predictability relates to the user’s ability to anticipate the behavior and response of a site (and is related to the user’s ability to feel in control). Typical unpredictable interactions involve videos that start playing automatically when the user lands on a new page (thus violating the users’ expectations that audio will only play after they have initiated an explicit “play” interaction), or text that gets shuffled around to make room for an ad that was just loaded.

Our ratings data shows that ads that were highly predictable and easily identified as ads (e.g., appearing in the right rail) were less disliked than others.

Examples of user comments:

  • “I hate when ads pop up in the middle of a page while I'm already trying to read, making me lose my place."
  • “Least disruptive are ads that don't make any noise, or fit well into social media timelines.”
  • “Videos that suddenly start as you go to a page can be very disruptive, and shockingly sudden. These also are embarrassing if you are in public and your volume is not turned off.”

Relevance

Relevance refers to whether the ad is related to the user’s goals or interests. Relevant ads are perceived as less annoying than completely unrelated ones. For example, social media advertisements and retargeting ads tend to be based on user’s previous “likes” — which increases the likelihood that the advertisement will be similar to the user’s interests.

This effect is only true to a point. Ads which are “too” relevant tend to become creepy and intrusive, and lose their perceived value. Additionally, if the ads were once relevant, but are no longer relevant (i.e. the item was already purchased or the user did not want the item anymore), the value of the ad (and the brand) was diminished. Those retargeted red shoes that you see on every website quickly become annoying, and after a few weeks turn the corner into being infuriating.

Related links are, by definition, relevant to the user’s current goal. Not surprisingly, they were rated as the least disliked ad type — both on mobile and on desktop.

Examples of user comments:

  • “And I know lots of people think it's creepy to have ads show up with items you've been searching for, but I like it!”
  • “… I always find it unnecessary when I see ads for the exact product I was searching, it would be better if they showed similar products instead.”
  • “I HATE that something you searched for pops up later on other websites. Way to ruin Christmas!”

Violating User Requirements Increases Annoyance

As discussed above, based on user comments, we identified 5 factors most likely to affect users’ annoyance. The top most disliked advertising techniques in our study violate at least 3 out of these 5 factors. For example, modal ads take away control by interrupting the current task and requiring the user to take an explicit action in order to dismiss them. Their placement also covers content of interest and are usually unpredictable.

Autoplay video ads violate user expectations of predictability — audio suddenly starts, startling and embarrassing the user. Often it forces her to fumble around, trying to locate the source of the noise and a way to shut it down. Autoplay video prevents the user from controlling the presentation of content (the ad plays when the system dictates, not when the user does) and delays gratification by adding an extra step: locate the source of the audio, close it, and continue to primary content.

This exercise can be applied more broadly to all of the ad types: the greater the number of expectations violated, the greater the likelihood that the ad will be hated. On that same note, the fewer requirements violated, the greater the likelihood the ad will be tolerated. Thus, if UX practitioners wish to create engaging ad campaigns, it is in their best interest to meet as many user requirements as possible, while using contextual information to provide meaningful experiences at the right time. Here are some practical guidelines that may help advertising professionals as they design campaigns:

  1. Be polite. Ensure your user consents to seeing the information being presented.
    Consider your current designs and identify the circumstances in which your advertisements are presented. Do they interrupt your readers mid-sentence? Do they dive into an audible monologue while your customer is busy doing something else? In short — pretend your advertisements are uninvited dinner guests. You wouldn’t want your dinner guests to waltz in, unannounced, and burst into a prepared speech before you know who they are. Let the user decide when to listen. Don’t use autoplay audio or video. Don’t use modals to barge in on the user’s main tasks. Use the periphery to allow your advertisements to make themselves known, so that your users can view and interact with them on their own terms.
  2. Don’t delay the delivery of primary content.
    Don’t slow your users down. Acknowledge when your users might be more open to novel information; usually this doesn’t happen when they’ve just landed on your site. Wait for them to walk around and find some content of interest, gain their trust, and then present ads. Be nonobtrusive by placing the ad  on the right side or bottom of the screen. Better yet, if your advertisement enables them to reach the desired content more quickly, they might be more inclined to view it, but calling an extra step by another name doesn’t change the fact that it is still an extra step to reach content.
  3. Prioritize high value interactions when considering advertisement placement.
    While your stakeholders might insist that conversions are the highest-priority interactions, it is a designer’s responsibility to balance the priorities of the business with the priorities of the user. If your most valuable screen real estate is being used for intracontent advertising and persuasive modal dialogs, beware of the potential to convey the wrong message: that the company’s revenues are more important than your users’ goals. After all, we cannot even begin to accomplish business goals until we accomplish user goals.
  4. Consider platform conventions; limit any unwelcome surprises.
    When you are courting a potential customer, you are essentially building a new customer relationship and establishing trust. Unconventional and unpredictable behavior (in a person or in a product) diminishes trust over time. In the effort to be creative, designers sometimes create interactions that are uncomfortable and jarring. In order to win over and put new customers at ease, make it easy for them to locate primary content and your advertisements. If users are confident that they can find what they’re looking for, they will be in a state of cognitive ease, and will be more likely to trust the advertisements you present.
  5. Don’t compete with primary content. Enhance it.
    Relevance can be hard to achieve, but if your user is looking at a piece of content, it is in your best interest to amplify the current content rather than to compete with it. Using a user’s personal information is potentially beneficial, but runs the risk of being intrusive and even ruins holiday and birthday surprises for some users and their families. Which is more certain: that a user will still need that pot she’s been shopping for this past week? Or that the user may be interested in the article she is reading right now? Use the current content as a basis for how to shape your advertising content.

Conclusion

Even though our discussion in this article has been focused on 3rd party advertising, the guidelines are equally applicable to a site’s own promotions for its own products and services. In fact, self-promotion is even more likely to generate distrust and dislike if done too aggressively, because users have nobody to blame except your company for every single annoyance triggered by your own promos.

For regular advertising, the blame for any user annoyance is shared between the site hosting the ad and the brand being advertised. Both parties have an interest in avoiding antagonizing their customers:

  • The website will eventually lose traffic if users decide that the pain and suffering imposed by aggressive ads aren’t worth the trouble. Loyal users are the way to build a durable business on the Internet, but you won’t foster loyalty if ads virtually muscle their way through (or over) content every time a user visits.
  • The brand will build a negative reputation if users consistently hate its advertising. Why pay to erode the integrity of a brand and make it less valuable?

Advertising and promotion are necessities in business — we won’t argue that. The challenge for marketers and advertisers lies in the delicate balance between quantity and quality. It is understandable to attempt to reach as many eyeballs and eardrums as physically possible with a given budget, but our research findings are clear. If you have the opportunity to refine a campaign, from its inception down to delivery, do it. It is worth the slight extra time and forethought, and could make (or break) your first impressions with your future customers.