In Conclusion...
The internet provides consumers with the opportunity to customize their own media experience to an unprecedented degree. Virtually limitless information and entertainment is simply a button click away. The potential for advertisers is just as great. However, it took a few unsuccessful attempts before advertising professionals really began to understand the true potential of this novel environment. When the same old ideology of overwhelming consumers with flashy images was employed in the form of pop up ads, users simply ignored them. Fortunately, marketers were able to learn from experience, and came to understand that the infinite variety of personal interests and preferences of consumers was in fact their greatest asset. By utilizing software that recognized the content of a webpage and embedded a relevant advertisement, advertisers were able to willingly engage consumers with messages they were actually interested in hearing. This presents a far greater opportunity for users to process the message of each advertisement carefully, through the central path to persuasion. So the next time your computer screen flashes a message offering you cheap prescription drugs, hopefully it will be because the email you’re reading from your mother says she hopes you get well soon.
Contextual Ads Reach Target Markets - Part 5
Advertisements are a necessary component of the internet, as they provide websites with the revenue needed to operate. Still, most users are only concerned with the quality of their online experience and thus do not appreciate pop-up advertisements parading in front of them. With all of the options that the internet provides, users are able to customize their own internet experience. Uses and Gratifications Theory states that consumers actively choose specific media to satisfy their needs (West & Turner, 2007). An individualist mentality has emerged, and thus people are able to tailor their own internet experience. As a result, internet users have become intolerant of any generic content without direct relevance to their own interests.
Fortunately, a recent innovation in the new media environment provides the crucial link between satisfying both the needs of the consumer and the advertiser. Contextual advertisements use special software to analyze the text of web pages and provide the most appropriate sponsored advertisements available. This method of advertising benefits the advertisers because they are interested in reaching consumers with the greatest potential of becoming actual customers. Consumers benefit as well because they are interested in obtaining information that is relevant to them. Contextual advertisements enable consumers to further customizer their internet experience, as they will only encounter advertisements that are related to them. For example, Gmail now has a contextual advertisement system which generates advertisements on the side of the e-mail depending on what a user is writing about in the e-mail. If an individual were to write an e-mail about volcanoes, advertisements about vacation hot spots in Hawaii would come up at the side of the page.
Contextual advertisements invite the central route of processing, as it encourages users to engage in high involvement with the message. High involvement messages with greater personal relevance will have more influence than low involvement messages with no personal relevance (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983) (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=105&sid=01ba2c4c-fc80-46aa-a8d5-357e2058be70%40sessionmgr106). People are motivated to devote more cognitive resources under conditions of high involvement, suggesting that people will use the central route of processing to digest the advertised information. Also, the perceived intrusiveness may be lessened for advertisements that are considered valuable and relevant (Edwards, Li & Lee, 2002)(http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=106&sid=a6a4da59-ce84-4da8-bfe3-3b4004313d91%40sessionmgr103). When encountered with online advertising, users may evaluate the degree of congruity between the advertisement content and the editorial content. If the advertisement content and the editorial content are congruent, the user may perceivable this as valuable to their internet experience instead of as detrimental. All of these factors increase the likelihood that a user will engage in the central route of processing for a contextual advertisement. This significantly increases the likelihood of any given advertisement having a measurable effect on consumer attitudes and behaviors.
Fortunately, a recent innovation in the new media environment provides the crucial link between satisfying both the needs of the consumer and the advertiser. Contextual advertisements use special software to analyze the text of web pages and provide the most appropriate sponsored advertisements available. This method of advertising benefits the advertisers because they are interested in reaching consumers with the greatest potential of becoming actual customers. Consumers benefit as well because they are interested in obtaining information that is relevant to them. Contextual advertisements enable consumers to further customizer their internet experience, as they will only encounter advertisements that are related to them. For example, Gmail now has a contextual advertisement system which generates advertisements on the side of the e-mail depending on what a user is writing about in the e-mail. If an individual were to write an e-mail about volcanoes, advertisements about vacation hot spots in Hawaii would come up at the side of the page.
Contextual advertisements invite the central route of processing, as it encourages users to engage in high involvement with the message. High involvement messages with greater personal relevance will have more influence than low involvement messages with no personal relevance (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983) (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=105&sid=01ba2c4c-fc80-46aa-a8d5-357e2058be70%40sessionmgr106). People are motivated to devote more cognitive resources under conditions of high involvement, suggesting that people will use the central route of processing to digest the advertised information. Also, the perceived intrusiveness may be lessened for advertisements that are considered valuable and relevant (Edwards, Li & Lee, 2002)(http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=106&sid=a6a4da59-ce84-4da8-bfe3-3b4004313d91%40sessionmgr103). When encountered with online advertising, users may evaluate the degree of congruity between the advertisement content and the editorial content. If the advertisement content and the editorial content are congruent, the user may perceivable this as valuable to their internet experience instead of as detrimental. All of these factors increase the likelihood that a user will engage in the central route of processing for a contextual advertisement. This significantly increases the likelihood of any given advertisement having a measurable effect on consumer attitudes and behaviors.
Enter: The Pop-Under Ad - Part 4
As users became familiar with the new media form of the Internet, they began demanding personalized content with which they could directly engage. Thus, pop-up ads, and the peripheral cues which they utilize to attract user attention, were ineffective. Advertisers soon realized they needed to innovate to be successful in the digital age. As it was clear users could not be swayed into processing the messages contained in advertisements with flashing lights and exclamation points, marketers finally began an attempt to develop a tool which would allow them to engage users through the central route to persuasion. This tool, the “pop-under,” sought to minimize the flashy and invasive nature of the pop-up, and engage users on their own terms. While pop-up ads are often shown and closed instantly, pop-under ads stay underneath the current browser window. They only appear after all other browser windows are closed.
As pop-under ads remain hidden until the user has completed their task on the main website, they do not disrupt users’ activities, and are not considered invasive. This prevents users from instinctively engaging their reaction to close the pop up window without even seeing it. Without the intrusion, internet advertisers believed this first alternative to the pop-up would produce better results by allowing for more time to process. Users would be able to centrally process the information on the ads after they finish with their own online activities.
The article, “Central and peripheral routes to advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of involvement,” (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a783685454) cites the importance of the central route of processing in permanent attitude change. Attitudes created via the central route of processing are less resistant to change and influence (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). By using the pop-under instead of the pop-up, advertisers hope to take advantage of the permanent staying power of centrally created attitudes.
The creation of the pop-under marked a new era for online advertisers. They realized the importance of not disrupting the user’s online experience and influencing users via the central route. However, ads were still very non-specific and not necessarily reaching their target audiences. A more personalized form of advertising needed to be created to match the intimate experience of the internet.
Peripheral Processing Is Ineffective - Part 3
Before internet advertising, print, radio, and television ads produced successful results using the peripheral route of persuasion. Print ads are made to look aesthetically pleasing to attract the eye, radio ads use fast talking announcers to gain attention, and television ads present products with well known celebrity endorsers to create an illusion of credibility. However, as found in a study by Eastin, Yang, and Nathanson, these uses of peripheral processing are not effective in internet advertising. The study, titled “Children of the net: An empirical exploration into the evaluation of internet content,” (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=106&sid=a6a4da59-ce84-4da8-bfe3-3b4004313d91%40sessionmgr103) found that perceived validity is an important factor for internet advertisements to exert maximal influence over users.
The tactics used in pop-up ads are purely peripheral: they flash, they change colors, they move around your page, and they make noise. None of these methods show the actual benefits of the product or service being advertised. Users do not need to process any information, so a minimal amount of cognitive attention is devoted to the pop-up. When less attention is given to assessing the source and message of the ad, less thought is given to its validity. An advertisement that is not perceived as credible will decrease attention and information recall. Validity or trust-worthiness of a source can depend on if there is a relationship between the advertised content and the editorial content. When the lyrics database website http://www.azlyrics.com/ is visited, a flashy, colorful pop-up ad offers a download for free cursors. These two products, lyrics and cursors, are seemingly unrelated and are judged by users as unimportant and invalid.
Instead of providing a successful visual stimulus like commercials and print ads, pop-up ads are an ineffective annoyance. In order to reach the massive audience on the Internet successfully, advertisers need to find a new form of ad that utilizes the central route of processing and leaves the old notions about the peripheral route behind. Since internet use is such a highly personal and cognitively involved process, advertisements need to fit into the changing new media landscape.
The tactics used in pop-up ads are purely peripheral: they flash, they change colors, they move around your page, and they make noise. None of these methods show the actual benefits of the product or service being advertised. Users do not need to process any information, so a minimal amount of cognitive attention is devoted to the pop-up. When less attention is given to assessing the source and message of the ad, less thought is given to its validity. An advertisement that is not perceived as credible will decrease attention and information recall. Validity or trust-worthiness of a source can depend on if there is a relationship between the advertised content and the editorial content. When the lyrics database website http://www.azlyrics.com/ is visited, a flashy, colorful pop-up ad offers a download for free cursors. These two products, lyrics and cursors, are seemingly unrelated and are judged by users as unimportant and invalid.
Instead of providing a successful visual stimulus like commercials and print ads, pop-up ads are an ineffective annoyance. In order to reach the massive audience on the Internet successfully, advertisers need to find a new form of ad that utilizes the central route of processing and leaves the old notions about the peripheral route behind. Since internet use is such a highly personal and cognitively involved process, advertisements need to fit into the changing new media landscape.
Pop-ups are Peripherally Processed - Part 2
Structural features of pop-up advertisements account for the limited persuasion effects that they exert on internet users. The animation and flashing effects contained in these pop-up advertisements are often successful in capturing attention, but they often do not leave lasting impressions on the users that encounter these ads. Rather than inviting full cognitive processing of the information at hand, pop up advertisements lend themselves toward the peripheral route of processing. The strategies utilized such as animation and flashing aim to influence users via the peripheral route of persuasion, as they are mainly surface level techniques.
The goal of pop-up ads is to attract the user’s attention and then exert influence through peripheral cues such as source attractiveness and perceived credibility.
Although pop-up ads do provide a sense of immediacy for the user, these ads are not conducive to thorough cognitive processing. Consumer behavioral studies, such as the study by Stuart, Shrimp, and Engle (1987) (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=05-12-2013&FMT=7&DID=576119&RQT=309)have shown that after people are exposed to a large number of trials, their behavioral responses can become conditioned to the repeated stimulus. This type of conditioning can be applied to the context of pop-up advertising, as many consumers are repeatedly bombarded with pop-up ads when they are browsing the internet. People are often conditioned to quickly close pop up ads without seeing as much as the flashing colors or the clip of animation. In fact, this conditioned response has become so pervasive in digital culture, that a popular web based game exists mocking it. Here is the link to “Kill the Pop-Ups”, which demonstrates the conditioning that users experience when closing out pop-ups: http://www.maniacworld.com/kill-the-pop-up.htm. Because of this conditioning, users experience brief exposure to pop-up ads. Processing often takes place very quickly, and at times on a subconscious level. Therefore, the pop-up ads exert minimal influence because they invite the peripheral route of processing. As a method of advertising, pop-ups are largely ineffective in advancing consumer attitude and behavioral change.
The intrusive and irritating nature of pop-up ads also contributes to their limited influential effects. Pop-up ads often interfere with the goals of consumers and create impatience. These ads often produce irritation and ad avoidance instead of comprehension which is the desired effect. The Boomerang Effect and more specifically, Psychological Reactance Theory can explain the adverse reaction toward pop up ads. When people perceive a threat to their individual freedom, psychological reactance theory states that this threat triggers a resistance to conformity, as found by Edwards, Li, & Lee in 2002 (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=106&sid=a6a4da59-ce84-4da8-bfe3-3b4004313d91%40sessionmgr103). Since pop-up ads effectively limit the ability of a user to control their own internet experience, the user will react in the opposite way that the pop-up ad intended.
Although pop-up blocking technology has been developed, in reality, the advertising technique was rendered obsolete by the public’s refusal to passively accept a bombardment of advertisements. Pop-up blocking software was created as the inevitable response to the public outcry of a more active generation of media consumers. These consumers, recently introduced to the freedom of choice inherent in the instant and infinite expanse of the internet, were unwilling to be affected by such an invasive marketing attempt. Rather, they adapted, and trained themselves to ignore and eradicate these unwanted distractions.
The goal of pop-up ads is to attract the user’s attention and then exert influence through peripheral cues such as source attractiveness and perceived credibility.
Although pop-up ads do provide a sense of immediacy for the user, these ads are not conducive to thorough cognitive processing. Consumer behavioral studies, such as the study by Stuart, Shrimp, and Engle (1987) (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=05-12-2013&FMT=7&DID=576119&RQT=309)have shown that after people are exposed to a large number of trials, their behavioral responses can become conditioned to the repeated stimulus. This type of conditioning can be applied to the context of pop-up advertising, as many consumers are repeatedly bombarded with pop-up ads when they are browsing the internet. People are often conditioned to quickly close pop up ads without seeing as much as the flashing colors or the clip of animation. In fact, this conditioned response has become so pervasive in digital culture, that a popular web based game exists mocking it. Here is the link to “Kill the Pop-Ups”, which demonstrates the conditioning that users experience when closing out pop-ups: http://www.maniacworld.com/kill-the-pop-up.htm. Because of this conditioning, users experience brief exposure to pop-up ads. Processing often takes place very quickly, and at times on a subconscious level. Therefore, the pop-up ads exert minimal influence because they invite the peripheral route of processing. As a method of advertising, pop-ups are largely ineffective in advancing consumer attitude and behavioral change.
The intrusive and irritating nature of pop-up ads also contributes to their limited influential effects. Pop-up ads often interfere with the goals of consumers and create impatience. These ads often produce irritation and ad avoidance instead of comprehension which is the desired effect. The Boomerang Effect and more specifically, Psychological Reactance Theory can explain the adverse reaction toward pop up ads. When people perceive a threat to their individual freedom, psychological reactance theory states that this threat triggers a resistance to conformity, as found by Edwards, Li, & Lee in 2002 (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=106&sid=a6a4da59-ce84-4da8-bfe3-3b4004313d91%40sessionmgr103). Since pop-up ads effectively limit the ability of a user to control their own internet experience, the user will react in the opposite way that the pop-up ad intended.
Although pop-up blocking technology has been developed, in reality, the advertising technique was rendered obsolete by the public’s refusal to passively accept a bombardment of advertisements. Pop-up blocking software was created as the inevitable response to the public outcry of a more active generation of media consumers. These consumers, recently introduced to the freedom of choice inherent in the instant and infinite expanse of the internet, were unwilling to be affected by such an invasive marketing attempt. Rather, they adapted, and trained themselves to ignore and eradicate these unwanted distractions.
Elaboration Likelihood Model - Part 1
The Elaboration Likelihood Model is a theory that states that the amount and nature of thinking that a person does about a persuasive message is a very important determinant of the kind of persuasion that occurs.
The Peripheral Route to Persuasion does not require full cognitive processing and relies on a simple, low-effort decision strategy such as source attractiveness or message length
The Central Route to Persuasion involves carefully thinking about and thoroughly examining information relevant to a topic
For more information on the Elaboration Likelihood Model please refer to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaboration_likelihood_model
The Peripheral Route to Persuasion does not require full cognitive processing and relies on a simple, low-effort decision strategy such as source attractiveness or message length
The Central Route to Persuasion involves carefully thinking about and thoroughly examining information relevant to a topic
For more information on the Elaboration Likelihood Model please refer to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaboration_likelihood_model
Introduction
Whether it’s catching up on the latest presidential election primary results on CNN.com, or sneaking in a round of Addictinggames while your boss isn’t looking, everyone has their own activity of choice on the internet. However, what all of these sites have in common, from Google to the sleaziest of niche market pornography, is that they are able to provide endless entertainment to consumers free of cost. The mechanism that allows for this incredible bargain is, of course, advertising revenues. While most consumers would probably prefer not to be bombarded with solicitations while they surf the web, it is generally understood to be a necessary evil.
Initially, when the internet began to become a part of our every day commercial and entertainment experience, advertisers approached the medium much as they were used to in more passive medium, such as the radio and television. Bombarding users with advertisements, and interrupting content, was the norm, and with the advent of the pop-up ad, things were no different on the internet than they had been on TV. However, internet users were not the passive sponges advertisers were used to dealing with, and soon began to take steps to protect their media experience. The pop-up was largely ignored, and then blocked, and it was clear a more informed understanding of consumers’ behavior in the digital age would be required to formulate effective advertising. The pop-under, which politely appears behind the active web browser, served as a significant improvement to its predecessor. However, in contrast to the highly personalized experience offered by the limitless resources of the internet, this form of advertising also failed to grasp users’ attention as effectively as possible. Eventually, advertisers came to realize that in order for effective marketing to take place online, users would have to willingly engage with advertisements, and process them through the central route. Software programs delivering ads relevant to the context of the webpage based on the use of key words and phrases were able to perform this function to a greater degree than any previous advertising device. This demonstrated advertisers' increased understanding of the active roll of consumers of internet media, and the need to engage them with material specific to the individual.
Our research team plans to explore the evolution of online advertising over time in our upcoming series of posts. We will discuss the choices made by advertisers in the development of a variety of advertising tools, and the implications that the characteristics of these tools have on their effectiveness. Most significantly, we will explore the relationship between the newfound power of consumers to dictate the content of their own media experience in the digital age and the ability of advertisers to adapt to meet these new standards.
Initially, when the internet began to become a part of our every day commercial and entertainment experience, advertisers approached the medium much as they were used to in more passive medium, such as the radio and television. Bombarding users with advertisements, and interrupting content, was the norm, and with the advent of the pop-up ad, things were no different on the internet than they had been on TV. However, internet users were not the passive sponges advertisers were used to dealing with, and soon began to take steps to protect their media experience. The pop-up was largely ignored, and then blocked, and it was clear a more informed understanding of consumers’ behavior in the digital age would be required to formulate effective advertising. The pop-under, which politely appears behind the active web browser, served as a significant improvement to its predecessor. However, in contrast to the highly personalized experience offered by the limitless resources of the internet, this form of advertising also failed to grasp users’ attention as effectively as possible. Eventually, advertisers came to realize that in order for effective marketing to take place online, users would have to willingly engage with advertisements, and process them through the central route. Software programs delivering ads relevant to the context of the webpage based on the use of key words and phrases were able to perform this function to a greater degree than any previous advertising device. This demonstrated advertisers' increased understanding of the active roll of consumers of internet media, and the need to engage them with material specific to the individual.
Our research team plans to explore the evolution of online advertising over time in our upcoming series of posts. We will discuss the choices made by advertisers in the development of a variety of advertising tools, and the implications that the characteristics of these tools have on their effectiveness. Most significantly, we will explore the relationship between the newfound power of consumers to dictate the content of their own media experience in the digital age and the ability of advertisers to adapt to meet these new standards.
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