Best Ways to Beat Banner Blindness
What is Banner Blindness?
Banner blindness, also known as advert or ad blindness, is the phenomenon that occurs when people ignore or avoid banner ads. This happens because they often feel a sense of annoyance for the page. They are usually distracted by other content on the page and do not respond to banners.
According to a study by Infolinks, 86% of consumers experience banner blindness.
Factors that could cause or contribute to banner blindness:
Location
The location of the banner has an unmistakable effect on the users.
And like many other user behaviors on the web, viewers learn to skip the banner part of a webpage. This is because they have browsed a lot of marketing websites that displayed a banner ad. Users expect the layout of any webpage to be the same and get accustomed to it. Hence, banner blindness.
Ad Clutter
Another reason behind ad blindness is the number of advertisements on a webpage.
If there is a clutter of banner ads, popup ads, text ads, and links on a webpage, users often lose their focus. Too many ads cause sensory overload and annoy visitors. Eventually, they lead them to ignore the ads altogether and focus solely on what they came for; the content.
Visuality and Ad Style
The typical look of ads or poorly designed ads annoy visitors.
As we mentioned before, ignoring ads is a learned behavior. Therefore, users have a conscious or unconscious knowledge of how ads look, and they simply dodge them.
Perceived Usefulness
Target audience, folks. Target audience.
If you display your ad to the wrong audience, they will ignore it. Advertisements that are irrelevant to the marketing users will only be seen as annoying and boring. Never forget that viewers’ responsiveness is closely related to personalization.
Best ways to beat banner blindness:
Check your ad placement
People disregard the routine, the usual, the cliché. And that’s even more true when it comes to advertising.
So try to place your ads in unconventional places, including:
- Above the fold where it’ll get more visibility. (This is at the top of the page)
- In the text or right after it. Most people start reading a page at the top and give it more attention.
- Within your blog — for example, between the posts in your blog.
Remember, your ad can be beautiful, interactive, surprising. To improve your click-through-rate (CTR), experiment as much as you can with elements that attract attention like social media buttons and video.
Use relevant content
As an advertiser, you should understand your audience’s needs and be able to offer a relevant solution.
Avoid being irrelevant and ignored:
- Don’t deliver ads without first identifying what your visitors want.
- Use relevant content, including the keywords that reflect the interests of your primary audience.
- Choose the right ad network so you’re linking your marketing audience to publishers who are relevant to your audience and your specific focus.
- Use cookies to create relevant personal ads – which will help your site identify people who’ve previously visited your digital site.
Try non-standard sizes, colors, and ad formats
Seeing the same thing over and over again gets boring – and can decrease the performance of your digital ads.
- When creating ad space, choose non-traditional and memorable locations to improve user recall. Non-standard formats and designs will also help you avoid being overlooked.
- Create your banner as a part of the page, not as an outer ad.
- Use unusual colors and brand personality, extraordinary ideas, animated banner ads and even 3D design. In addition, applying motion effects could also be a method of increasing interaction.
Optimize for mobile
Nowadays, in order to keep up with today’s younger, smartphone audience; you need to have a mobile and social presence. When you do, consider:
- Using video for your mobile banner ads
- Activating your Facebook campaigns
- Including a ‘Call Now’ button in your ads