Today's e-marketers have another issue to contend with: banner blindness. New research shows that consumers have come to ignore most banner ads, mentally blocking them out. Like TV and radio commercials before them, banner ads have to work harder to grab attention in today's crowded web space. Smart e-marketers are taking note . . . and taking action.
Rsearchers first identified the term “banner blindness” in the late 1990s, referring to website viewers' tendency to focus on page content and not accompanying banner ads. Early studies also showed viewers' recall and recognition of banner ads to be lower when they were looking for specific information online, as opposed to when they were just browsing websites.
A more recent finding by the Nielsen/Norman Group, which studied eye movements and mouse clicks of website viewers, showed that many avoid viewing banner ads altogether. They tend to view a web page by simply glancing at the top of the page before settling into the center, where primary information is placed. Some reasons for overlooking banners may be time constraints—viewers don't have time to digest complex branding messages, they may have had unfavorable experiences with banner ads in the past or they equate them with “pop-up” messages. Whatever the reason, the tendency for “banner blindness” has many companies rethinking—but not abandoning—their banner ad strategy.
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