A recent survey provided exclusively to this columnist by the Ponemon Institute, a research institute dedicated to privacy management practices in business and government, leads to interesting conclusions about Internet advertising.
The survey found that while online advertising is somewhat effective, consumer frustration over ad bombardment threatens to weaken its effectiveness in the future. And yet, while consumers desire a solution to advertising "clutter," they are not willing to pay for any such solution.
Consumers state a strong preference for online advertising that is targeted to their interests. They're even willing to give up private information to enable targeted advertising. Furthermore, consumers report that they would embrace technology that would reduce clutter by delivering targeted online advertisements, as long as it did not collect private, personally identifiable information.
Drilling down into the numbers, while more than 60% of those surveyed always find telemarketing annoying, Internet pop-up ads are despised even more, with close to 80% stating that such ads always annoy. E-mail spam isn't far behind, with more than 60% reporting that it always annoys (putting spam on par with telemarketing calls). Both Internet banner ads and text ads great only a bit less, with almost 60% reporting that they always are annoying.
And yet...
Amazingly, given how off-putting Internet advertising can be, a striking 31% of respondents report that they have responded to a product or promotional offer made from an Internet advertisement. And seven percent state that they actually have made a purchase or engaged a particular service based on a banner ad.
Moreover, even though consumers seem to resent online advertising, 65% of respondents still aren't willing to pay for Internet services to block unwanted ads and unsolicited messages. Similarly, the majority of respondents are not willing to give up free services to avoid ads. Thus, while the ads are annoying, consumers still respond to them, are not willing to pay to get rid of them, and do not want to lose free services to cut down on receipt of online advertisements.
The survey found that Internet advertising would be more effective if it were more focused in approach. Indeed, 52% of respondents report that they would be more likely to respond to a banner ad if it were more relevant to their particular interests. Likewise, 66% would deem banner advertisements less annoying if they were more relevant to a consumer's particular interests or needs.
Going further, 45% of respondents reported that they would disclose additional personal information if that meant that they would receive more targeted Internet advertisements. Still, 55% of respondents believe that a technology that would allow Internet marketers to achieve better targeting without collecting personal information would make them more likely to visit a particular Web site. And 31% would have greater confidence in an advertiser if its Web site posted a "good privacy practices" seal from a third-party such as TRUSTe or BBB.Online.
None of the foregoing should mask the true annoyance felt by consumers when it comes to Internet advertising. In fact, 44% of respondents believe that unwanted online ads should be "banned by law."
Internet marketers should take note and give the people what they want – targeted advertising that does not result in the disclosure of consumer personal information.
Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris (www.duanemorris.com), where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology disputes. His column appears Wednesdays at USATODAY.com. His Web site is www.sinrodlaw.com, and he can be reached at ejsinrod@duanemorris.com. To receive a weekly e-mail link to Mr. Sinrod's columns, please send an e-mail with the word Subscribe in the Subject line to ejsinrod@duanemorris.com.
Reprinted here with permission from USAToday.com.