Neilsen on most hated online advertising techniques
Howard Lake | 28 December 2004 | News
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen has revealed the 10 most hated online advertising techniques, based on research on how users perceive online advertising.
As more charities test online advertising, whether banner ads, text ads in email newsletters, or microsite sponsorship, it is useful to be reminded of the types of adverts that really annoy Internet users. Jakob Nielsen has done just that in a recent Alertbox article.
Not surprisingly, pop-ups, adverts without close buttons, adverts that trick you into clicking on them, and adverts that cover the part of the page you are trying to read all annoy users the most.
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American non-profit technology expert Michael Gilbert saw the list and was reminded
how non-profits often look to the business world for inspiration, reflecting a “sad (and inaccurate) elevation of businesses as the more sophisticated and professional sector.”
Gilbert adds in his Nonprofit Online News for 23 December 2004: “I wish that fundraising professionals would stop looking for the immediate buck and pay more attention to things that don’t undermine trust, as many of these loathsome advertising techniques do. After all, trust is our sector’s most precious resource.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.