WK 7: Does the Intrusiveness of an Online Advertisement Influence User Recall and Recognition?

Summary: This study investigated the effect of the type (banner ad, pop-up ad and floating ad) and state (animated and non-animated) of online advertisements on recall and recognition of the advertisements. It was hypothesized that floating ads, pop-up ads, and animated ads would be easier to recall due to their intrusive nature. Results showed that participants in the pop-up ad and floating ad condition had better recall of the presence of the ad as well as better recognition. Animation did not significantly influence any of these measures

There are several types of online advertisements. Floating ads (Figure 1) are seen to be the most intrusive in nature because, apart from being information dense, they obstruct the content of the webpage. Pop-up ads (Figure 2) also obstruct the content of the webpage but they are easier to get rid of by simply closing the pop-up window. Banner ads (Figure 3) can be considered the least intrusive in nature. Even though animation can make banner ads information dense, they do not obstruct the content of the webpage.

Method
Participants
Sixty Wichita State University students were recruited for their voluntary participation in the study. There were 13 male (21.7%) and 47 female (78.3%) participants. Their ages ranged from 18 to 55.
Apparatus and Materials
The study used a Pentium 4 powered computer displaying at resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels on a 17? flat screen monitor. Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 with Macromedia Flash plug-in version 7 was used. Six forms of identical-sized advertisements (static banner ad, animated banner ad, static pop-up ad, animated pop-up ad, static floating ad, and animated floating ad) were placed approximately one-fourth of the way from the top of the left-aligned pages. The structure and layout of all six pages type were identical in layout and content and differed only in the type and state of the advertisement. The advertisement was for a fictitious restaurant.

Procedure

A questionnaire was used to gather background information prior to the participation in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions (static banner ad, animated banner ad, static pop-up ad, animated pop-up ad, static floating ad, and animated floating ad) and were shown a web page that contained a weather glossary and the assigned advertisement for the restaurant. They were asked to complete six information search tasks on that page and record their answers on paper. This was done to allow for adequate exposure to the ad. Participants were lead to believe that the purpose of the study was to evaluate the usability of the webpage only. They were not told that they would have to recall any portion of the web page following the search tasks.

After the completion of the search tasks, the participants were asked to recall the type of the advertisement, animation state of the advertisement, and its content. They were then asked to identify the advertisements that they were presented from a page with five other distracter advertisements. Finally, they were asked to complete a satisfaction questionnaire regarding the web page and the advertisement they just viewed.

Discussion
Results showed that the type of the ad displayed significantly influenced its recall and recognition. Participants in the pop-up and floating ad condition recalled seeing an ad more than those in the banner ad condition. Participants were able to recall the location of the floating ad the most. Recognition was best for the pop-up ad condition closely followed by the floating ad condition. The banner ad condition had a much lower recognition. Animation was found not to significantly influence recall or recognition. These results question the labor intensive, cost ineffective and, more importantly, bandwidth inefficient animations used in the ads.

Results from this study also showed that satisfaction was significantly lower for the animated ads as compared to the static ads. Of the nine participants who remembered exactly what the ad was for, five of them viewed an animated ad. Ten participants in the floating ad condition said that the ad bothered them while just one participant in the banner ad condition said the same, but again, recall and recognition were significantly higher for floating ads than for banner ads. So clearly, if user satisfaction could be ignored, floating ads appear to be the best type of ad to use but how that impacts the user expectations of a website still needs to be studied. If the ad revenue generated obstructs the true purpose of the website, or distracts the user, then the viability of the company itself may be at stake. Further research should investigate exactly what level of intrusion provides the best balance.

Reference: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/81/OnlineAds.htm