Do Users Pay More Attention to Banners or Text Advertisements?
In Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox for April 21, 2003, he claims that advertising does not work on the web because it interferes with the user's goal - which is to find what she needs and then leave as quickly as possible. The two exceptions to this rule are classified ads (because they have content), and ads for search engines (because people always end up using search engines at some point.
Text-only ads on search sites however, have become more and more successful, and many non-search sites are attempting this approach as well. If this indeed proves to be a successful advertising tactic, it shall only be due to the novelty effect according to Nielsen. Web users have long ago become "browser blind" which means we naturally ignore the banner ads we see on websites. I personally could not tell you about any I've seen recently that are not ASP.NET related :-) . Text only ads are not necessarily guaranteed a bright future, because their novelty is likely to wear off, rendering them to be eventually be ignored by users. They do however have some advantages over traditional web marketing.
Because text ads are a low-level media format, users may take them more seriously. When advertisers are limited to a more simplistic and focused method of communication, it forces them to work harder at succinctly relaying the message to users. These ads are likely to better describe what the user will find when clicking on the link because of the lack of visual references.
Many companies use graphically rich ads with the notion that they are "promoting the brand", but in reality they are ignoring the user's needs and wants. We all hate banner ads and other graphical web advertisements (my pet peeve are those flash pop-up-and-takeover-my-browser ads - I would never buy ANYTHING from someone who uses those).
The future of the text only advertisement movement may be yet to be determined, but one thing remains clear. Successful advertising on the web depends on ONE sole item - giving the user what she wants today, and adjusting for what she wants tomorrow. According to Nielsen, web users are "are utterly selfish and live in the moment. Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it. "
Enjoy more from Nielsen at www.useit.com