Rarely will you find someone eager to see more ads.
We acknowledge that ads wield significant marketing power and can effectively drive leads and sales. However, consider this: according to a recent WARC report, 53% of survey participants believed that an excessive volume of ads could potentially harm a brand’s reputation.
The intricate dance between ads, websites, users, and their behaviour is a subtle yet impactful one. It’s a realm where every detail, from the shade of a background line to the curvature of a ‘buy’ button, can quietly shape your thoughts, intentions, and decisions, whether you’re consciously aware of it or not.
As an illustration, studies reveal that introducing a second ad placement can elevate the click-through rates (CTRs) compared to a single ad placement. Moreover, if you’ve ever made a purchase through an advertisement on your preferred social media platform, you understand the pivotal role ads play in a successful customer journey.
We grapple with a recurring question: How do we strike the perfect equilibrium between content and advertisements? What occurs when our website becomes inundated with an ‘overload of ads’?
The Challenge: Dealing with an Abundance of Ads
Marketers count on advertisements to boost traffic, raise awareness, generate leads, and drive conversions. Publishers depend on them to generate revenue. But for users, ads can be a source of frustration if they intrude too aggressively or negatively impact website performance.
The digital realm operates on an unwritten agreement, a form of social contract known as the rule of reciprocity. In essence, website users generally accept advertising as a kind of ‘currency’ they provide in exchange for accessing valuable content at no cost.
However, this arrangement only functions effectively when the website’s content is genuinely attractive, offering high utility and quality. In fact, when faced with issues like page abandonment, declining traffic, or search ranking problems, marketers often pinpoint ad quality as a primary factor.
Keeping this in consideration, we found it imperative to address two key questions:
1. What types of ads resonate best with users? Are they inclined toward high-quality ads that align with the content they are viewing, or do they prefer ads that reflect their past online activities?
2. How can we strike the perfect balance between ads and content, ensuring that ad revenue is maximized while safeguarding the quality of our visitors’ experience?
User Preferences: Types of Ads That Resonate
Programmatic ads provide a unique feature that our in-house ads lack: through advanced targeting technology, programmatic ads align with a user’s browsing history and their specific topical interests, going beyond SEO and marketing considerations. However, the question arises: are programmatic ads always the superior choice? Can personalized ads sometimes be perceived as intrusive when users are focused on work-related tasks?
Why Do Users Invest More Time in Reading Despite Increased Ads?
Frankly, we’re uncertain about the reasons users appear to favour sites with an increased ad presence. Although we can’t provide definitive answers, we do have a few hypotheses…
• Advertising Rivalry
We often assess the appeal of something by evaluating it in relation to its surroundings, a phenomenon known as ‘the halo effect.’ Certain studies have indicated that when multiple types of ads appear on the same website, one type of ad can enhance the appeal, click-through rates, and attention garnered by the other type. If these ads are precisely tailored to the user’s preferences, and if users have a positive response to the promoted products, the halo effect might extend to other items and offerings on the site, potentially enhancing the user’s overall perception of the website.
• Frequency of Exposure
Research has demonstrated that the impact of repetition on ads can vary depending on users’ perspectives. When you have a favourable opinion of an ad, repeated exposure tends to make it appear less intrusive and more positively impactful.
When you have an unfavourable opinion of an ad, repeated exposure can lead to a more negative perception of it. Could it be that with fewer ads and consequently, less diversity in ad content on a page, visitors perceived the ads as more repetitive, thus intensifying their negative opinions?
• Effect of Personal Involvement
We tend to hold a higher regard, experience greater satisfaction, and exhibit more loyalty toward things we’ve actively contributed to or invested in. This principle is precisely why fraternities and sororities incorporate initiation rituals and why IKEA encourages customers to invest hours in assembling its furniture.
Interestingly, ads may function in a similar fashion. In accordance with the IKEA effect, users might perceive viewing ads on a website as their ‘payment’ for accessing the free content.
Initial studies exploring this theory in digital marketing yielded diverse outcomes, indicating the presence of potentially influencing factors. Nonetheless, these studies were conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the landscape of users and the online realm has undergone significant transformations since then.
Could it be that we unconsciously differentiate and categorize programmatic ads separately from other ad types? This is indeed a plausible consideration.
• Principle of Mutual Benefit
Behavioural scientists have proposed the idea that websites and their readers engage in an implicit social contract, where content is provided in exchange for the viewing of ads. However, when we exclusively display in-house ads, this arrangement shifts, and ad views no longer function as a form of ‘payment.’ This departure from the reciprocity principle might potentially reduce user tolerance.
Could it be a possibility? Certainly, but it’s probable that it’s not the sole contributing factor.
• Sense of Community
We all yearn for a sense of belonging, and this feeling significantly contributes to our overall well-being and life contentment. But how can you create an environment on your website that fosters this sense of belonging? Research highlights three key themes that nurture this sentiment among site users: interaction and engagement, a culture of continuous learning, and support.
Therefore, when the ads displayed on a website align with our previous online behaviours, seamlessly integrating our work and personal experiences or simply mirroring our past, present, and future interests, this sense of belonging can extend not only to the website itself but also to the brand behind it.
In simpler terms, it appears familiar and as if the website truly understands us, instilling a sense of belonging. This theory also taps into the concept of the endowment effect. We tend to place a higher value on something when it’s in our possession compared to when it belongs to someone else. So, by creating an atmosphere where readers feel they ‘belong’ on our site, is it possible that users might perceive our site as having greater worth, thus potentially justifying the presence of more ads?
• Sense of Recognition
Behavioural science has revealed that we tend to experience happiness and comfort in familiar environments. However, when something deviates from the norm, we become alert and pay heightened attention to the element that seems out of place.
Here’s an illustration to clarify:
Imagine you walk into a bank carrying a briefcase; most people inside the bank won’t pay much attention to you. In fact, they might not even notice your presence. However, if you were to carry a pink flamingo into the bank, those same bystanders would undoubtedly take notice. The unusual object you’re carrying would captivate their attention to such an extent that they might struggle to recall specific details about your appearance later on. This effect is even more pronounced if we perceive the unconventional item as a potential threat, a phenomenon known as the “weapon effect.”
Now, consider this scenario: What if our website visitors have become so accustomed to the site’s layout that they find it unsettling when we display fewer ads? In such a case, even if there are fewer ads in reality, users might perceive them as more intrusive simply because they stand out. Could ad tracking be enough to trigger this sense of unease? It’s a possibility. If this theory holds true, users might actually prefer a website with fewer ads, but only after they’ve had time to adapt to the new look and feel of the site.
• User’s Purpose
Previous research has indicated that a user’s intent significantly influences their perception of and interaction with advertisements. When users are in casual browsing mode, they tend to encounter and engage with more ads compared to instances when their online activities are purpose-driven.
For instance, users are more likely to click on ads while scrolling through their favourite social media platform than when they land on a website with the specific goal of researching hotels.
Given that much of the behaviour scrutinized in this experiment was task-oriented (users clicked with a particular purpose in mind, such as reading an article or seeking answers to a question), it’s plausible that they paid less attention to the ads and might not have noticed the reduced ad count. However, it’s essential to note that this theory doesn’t fully account for the decrease in site usage as the number of ads decreases. Still, it can offer some insights into why having fewer ads didn’t lead to an increase in site engagement.
• Focus
Previous research has shown that when ads don’t align with the content in terms of topics or visual aesthetics, users tend to spend less time engaging with and reading the content. Various theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, but one of the simplest relates to how our brains process web pages.
When ads appear incongruent with the content or seem out of place, our brains may process the ads (the context) and the content (the focal point of our attention) separately. However, when the ads seamlessly match the content, our brains integrate the entire page as a unified whole, making the ads appear less like contextual distractions and more like integral components of the page. This cohesive perspective frees up cognitive resources, allowing our brains to focus more on reading the content, ultimately reducing overall attention given to the ads.
Closing Remarks
The key insight to remember is the value of experimentation. Results can vary between different websites, and audience behaviour may differ significantly. The most significant lesson? Don’t blindly accept common beliefs as facts. Instead, challenge assumptions and validate them through your own testing.
