NEWS Never have we at silicon.com been so glad we took the move to ditch pop-up adverts more than 12 months ago.
After running a story entitled "Pop-ups 'commercial suicide' for firms" we were inundated with reader comments attacking the intrusive browser ads that are still making the surfing experience frustrating and disjointed for many users.
The message is simple. "I will never buy from any company that advertised by pop-ups," wrote one anonymous reader and that opinion was one held by a lot of other readers.
Nigel Perry wrote: "Pop-ups are remarkably irritating because they obscure what I want to see and thereby waste my time, so I just avoid websites that have them."
One anonymous reader singled out Vodafone for criticism - though the mobile giant is of course far from being the only company guilty of such marketing tactics - but expressed annoyance at the fact that pop-up blockers can't always distinguish between ads and site functionality.
"I have now switched on my anti-pop-up software but lost some of the site-related banners. Come on Vodafone I can't be the only one being wound up by you. There are friendlier ways to advertise," wrote the reader.
Another reader, Gabrielle Shegog, said of pop-ups: "I hate them. Especially when you're merrily filling in some online form and the focus gets shifted by some pop-up for a dating agency."
However, she admitted they can still work - a fact which is no less annoying. "The only pop'ups I ever click on are for Amazon and they should definitely be banned, if only to save my credit card balance," she said.
Brian Challis is not convinced, however. He claims most users close the pop-up window before they've even seen what is being advertised - marketers take note.
"Pop-ups are the most annoying of all adverts and users click them off before they are 'digestable'," he said.
Have your say on this burning issue, read the story and post a reader comment.
Comments
There are 35 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Yes, I also hate pop-ups. But I also use them on some of my websites becuase they actually work.
When I took them off one website, signups to the site's newsletter fell by 50 per cent. I restored them, and the number of subscribers increased again.
Marketing is often about experimenting, and internet marketing makes it very easy to turn marketing tools on and off.
What works on one website may not work on another. And I will experiment again with removing popups for a short while.
2. anonymous
One word - Opera - This single program has made my net surfing a pleasure again. Tabbed browsing, and placing popups in the back ground give you the best of both worlds, altho not a fix for many.....
3. Mike Pendray
Am I right in thinking that I have seen "pop-unders"? Now there is a very civilised form of advertising. It does not interfere with the process you are engaged in, but after you close the browser, there are some nice adverts for you to look at.
I personally find flashing advertising banners on the page I am reading more annoying... Silicon are not immune, and the economist.com is virtually undreadable.
4. Ian Dack
Sometimes there are so many pop-ups I end up accidentally closing the web page I was trying to read. Since I started using Apple's Safari I've been able to switch pop-ups off altogether. If a site needs them to work properly then I'm sorry but I'll just go on a different site to find what I'm after.
5. Trevor
Now that I use broadband I actually see the majority of the pop up adverts (they load before I can close them). Now something is really bugging me! Do people actually sign up or buy the crap that is advertised in the majority of pop-ups? It's a case of more money (and patience) than sense...
6. tim steer
Choice is the key. If browsers had an option to allow/disallow pop-ups the problem would be less emotive. Culturally we have learned to argue against restricting choice.
7. Brian Burkill
www.panicware.com.. Free popup stopper.. Blocks 90%. Those that get through get closed before they have even completely filled in.
I, and everyone I know, DESPISE them, and totally ignore companies that use them. Those that use them in abundance do not get the web site visited again.
Nothing is more annoying than surfing, finding what you want than to have it blocked by something you definitely do not want. Ebay and Amazon are prime candidates, as they pay for advertising all over the place. I do use ebay and Amazon, but only when I WANT to, not as a result of their STUPID POP Ups...
8. anonymous
Pop-up windows are annoying, yes; but they are as nothing compared to their incredibly irritating replacement: the flash movie on a layer that actually covers what you are reading and you have spend time hunting for the close icon because it is never obvious...
9. Antony David
If they were used sparingly with relevant content, pop-ups would be a good addition to the Internet marketers toolbox. But because the environment is unregulated and there are so many people who can't seem to understand the implications of abuse, this isn't possible and so we lose the option. The (largely) benign anarchy of the Internet is one of its big attractions but there is a price to be paid.
10. Dale Strickland-Clark
I switched to Mozilla months ago and haven't seen a pop-up since. Neither do I see most ads. Furthermore, I can now control Flash animations and cookies. Internet Explorer has been banned in our company owing to its numerous vulnerabilities.
11. Steve Phipps
I recently downloaded the Google Toolbar and its been brilliant at blocking pop-ups with just a depression of the ctrl key to let them through when you want them to. Before that I too would quickly close a pop-up before it even displayed its contents.
12. nik
firefox has that option to prevent pop-ups (and tabbed windows too!)
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
13. Steve Rye
Pop ups are VERY annoying and I agree with the comment that people often close them before they are fully loaded. I certainly do anyway !!
14. Richard Crookston
And just as annoying are those banners and side bars with moving graphics that make reading an article on Silicon.com so awful.
15. Barry Haeger
I actively avoid giving any business to businesses that intentionally steal my bandwidth and spoil my enjoyment of the Internet; wasting my time with unproductive clicks to close unwanted pop-ups. Pop-ups do nothing to endear their company or their products / services to me. I will never buy from any company that advertised by such pop-ups.
16. Denys Bennett
It seems that Windows XP has a new feature which allows messenger pop-ups. These are even more aggressive than the pop-ups that are associated with a site you choose to click on, as they seem to appear immediately you connect to the internet. At least two friends of mine have recently acquired XP, and have found their machines practically disabled by the wretched things. They were coming in so fast they couldn't even use Start->Turn Off Computer. It may be a coincidence but they all have teenage kids who were allowed access without their own user account...
It seems that XP comes with this feature turned on, and that you can disable it as follows.
To stop messenger popups: in
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Messenger -> set to Disabled and click Stop. Maybe someone who knows about these things can advise?
17. anonymous
Anything with a soundtrack is automaticaly the most ireful. Newspapers are especially guilty here.
18. Jeff
Popups are much more effective than banner ads, which people now ignore.
It costs money to create a decent website, people should accept web advertising in the same way they do with TV and radio ads. If people want to see a website with no advertising, they should pay to access the site.
I'm considering blocking access to some of my own sites if I detect that the surfer has any kind of ad blocking software. Why should they get to see the site for 'free', when I've spent time and money developing it?
19. Dominic Tristram
A note to Tim Steer - choice is indeed the key! I think pretty much every browser other than IE can stop pop-ups. Try the excellent FireFox from Mozilla - it's free so you've nothing to lose...
20. anonymous
I use Netscape 7 with pop-ups disabled. Seldom now do I suffer from pop-ups when surfing in North America. However, I logged on to the UK Hemscott site last night and was totally unable to do anything due to a popup advertising Jaguar cars. It prevented me accessing anything on the Hemscott site and I was totally unable to get rid of the popup. Clicking the "close screen" simply resulted in another version ofthe popup being launched. As far as I'm concerned this was a denial of service attack.
21. Matthew Jakubowski
What's a popup? Ohh...those old things that you used to get when you used IE. Mozilla integrated pop-up blocking ages ago...something Microsoft is still implementing...and only with XP. To stop the pop-ups and browser vunerabilities, it is better if everyone just switched to Mozilla and stopped complaining.
22. anonymous
Silicon.com pop-up window alert, opens on every page and says "JAVASCRIPT ALERT javascript seems to be running in an infinite loop" is worse than pop-under advertising and pop-up advertising ...
23. anonymous
I hate pop-ups like everyone I know, which is why anti-pop-up software is so popular. I can't see that advertisers using these can get much response because one's focus is on closing the damn things, not reading them. If anything, I would see it as negative publicity.
24. anonymous
I work inside the online advertising industry as an analyst and they can't get their head around this. Truth is pop-ups really don't work as an ad format. They think the solution is to make them BIGGER and harder to avoid. Reality is, most online advertising is a waste of money because ad agencies are still thinking in terms of paper and TV, and don't get the web. Current debate inside the industry is about whether it is moral to give people software allowing them to block ads - naturally general consensus is that ad blocking is immoral.
25. anonymous
Jeff Said::
>>I'm considering blocking access to some of my own sites if I detect that the surfer has any kind of ad blocking software. Why should they get to see the site for 'free', when I've spent time and money developing it?
>>
Fine by me.. The internet is public domain, and anything you put up should be accessible.. Block me by all means. I shall still continue to block Pop Ups, and you shall lose revenue from lack of sales by virtue of the volumes of people who stop visiting your site.. Suits me just fine.. Go for it.
26. Bill Richards
It never ceases to amaze me how many times I tell major companies how much people hate pop-ups. But they persist. I've been doing internet usability consultancy and development management for a few years now and despite my advice it is still jealously supported by the so called marketing experts and the techies love building them. When are they going to learn? I don't know a single consumer who doesn't hate them, they are the online equivalent of those annoying advertising slips that are packed into every magazine you buy these days. Surely they must recognise the link between pop-ups and the demand for anti-pop up software? Or is it pandering to the 'any advertising is good advertising' mission? I only wish I could send them back pop-up e-mails. Now there's a thought ...
27. Pete Blackshaw
Shame on all the advertising associations for sitting idle while the pop-up issue has tarnished and soiled the reputation of the entire advertising community. Shame on the IAB for not having the courage to even push for modest frequency standards on pop-ups. Shame on the AAAA and ANA for punting on this issue. Shame on Orbitz for righteously preaching the gospel of 'usability' in every executive speech while raining pop-ups 3 times the average size on millions of consumers. Shame on Double Click for making it easy for all of us to turn a blind eye to this issue through disingenuous "click-optimization" research re: pop-ups. Shame on all of us (ALL OF US) for creating a situation where more consumers now use pop-up filters than the number of consumers signed up for the do-not-call list. That's our damn legacy, and unless we finally address this problem, you can bet the every "click" on the planet that consumers will take out their revenge on EVERY form of advertising, including TV (which now allows much greater consumer choice, don't forget).
(I moderated a well-attended panel on this topic at Fall '03 Ad Tech....except for the heroic efforts of Google and Microsoft in baking pop-up blockers into their software, very little has been done on this issue. Shame on all of us.)
28. Nick Dickson
I too am an absoloute hater of pop-up's because they are so intrusive and time wasting and can ruin the experience of a good site. What surprises me even more are A) The respectable companies that allow it and B) even worse, the respectable companies that indulge in it.And as result I would never buy from pop-up advertisers.
29. k l green
Popups are rude and sleazy. The perpetrators have no respect for other people and are therefore deserving of none. This practice should be outright illegal - punishable by severe fines. Furthermore, browser hijacking should incur severe fines and jail time. We need to get the pseudo-intellectuals nitwits out of government and get people in there who will address these issues immediately.
30. k l green
Popups are rude and sleazy. The perpetrators have no respect for other people and are therefore deserving of none. This practice should be outright illegal - punishable by severe fines. Furthermore, browser hijacking should incur severe fines and jail time. We need to get the pseudo-intellectuals nitwits out of government and get people in there who will address these issues immediately.
31. anonymous
Yes Pop Ups works against the advertisers. It annoys allmost all in such a manner it would be too silly to shop at those who are using them. I have send many letters of Protest to advertisers without success. some deleted their contact email address., e.g., netbroadcasters.com
Isit legal to find and use a sortware program that send a 1000 email messages at a time to those advertisers just saying, please stop your pop up ads.
32. Robert Stevens
Pop-ups are like having a conversation with some one on the phone and every 60 seconds someone interrupts to shouts “BUY AN IPOD!”
33. Jeff
Anonymous from Stevenage wrote:
"Block me by all means. I shall still continue to block Pop Ups, and you shall lose revenue from lack of sales by virtue of the volumes of people who stop visiting your site.. Suits me just fine.. Go for it."
I won't lose sales - because my websites don't sell anything.
A lot of sites that provide useful content don't sell things, they rely on advertising to survive. While a lot of people find popups annoying, they work much more effectively than standard banner ads. If I block access to people who disable ads it's no loss to me, because they won't earn me any money anyway.
People really should get out of this 'everything on the net is free' mindset. Websites cost money to make, we don't all do it as a hobby, some of us do it for a living.
Disabling popups is the thin end of the wedge. Programs like Norton Internet Security block all kinds of ads by default, and programs like this are becoming so popular websites that were once commercially viable are now struggling to break even. If people continue to block ads it will kill off a lot of good websites.
34. anonymous
I have pop up software but every so often they garbage up my system and I have to clean them off. I make a list of the advertisers and boycott their brands. So should everyone. That would stop them.
35. anonymous
This site boycotts pop-ups:
http://www.popupssuck.com/