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Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

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Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#21

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

robinjfisher wrote: post #6
jasonkester wrote: post #5

My only real complaint with those ads that follow you around the internet is that they're nearly always trying to sell you something you already own. I bought one of those GoPro cameras that you mount on your surfboard a while back, and was punished with six months of nonstop ads telling me how awesome my life would be if only I'd purchase a GoPro camera. It was annoying to the point where I actually dropped down tha…

Agreed. At the moment, I'm frequently seeing ads for Chargify (already a customer) and Indochino (I buy suits infrequently and have in fact just bought from them). My main issue with Amazon is it recommending items connected to presents I bought for other people. My brother is a keen photographer so I have purchased memory cards etc. from Amazon but I now keep receiving recommendations for lenses/cases.

You can say to Amazon don't use this for recommendations for this sort of situation. It's under "Improve my recommendations".

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#22

Post by thenomad »

jasonkester wrote: post #5

My only real complaint with those ads that follow you around the internet is that they're nearly always trying to sell you something you already own. I bought one of those GoPro cameras that you mount on your surfboard a while back, and was punished with six months of nonstop ads telling me how awesome my life would be if only I'd purchase a GoPro camera. It was annoying to the point where I actually dropped down tha…

I've had the same thing of late. I host my websites through WP Engine, and I'm tremendously enthusiastic about them - but nonetheless, Google Adwords keep trying to tell me I'd be better off hosting through this scrappy, enthusiastic startup called WP Engine instead...

(For bonus points - the retargeting often means that Adwords is advertising WP Engine to someone who already uses WP Engine, with the ads displayed on the site that they are in fact hosting on WP Engine.)

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#23

Post by thenomad »

geoffw8 wrote: post #9

"Users don't spend all their time purchasing goods on the internet - often they are doing different and completely unrelated tasks, sometimes at the same time." Its got to make you ask why the only people who purchase space on a screen are people who are selling goods. How much is a reader worth to someone like NYT? How valuable is a poll answer? I can think of plenty of valuable things people would pay to display th…

Theory: because the NYT can get more reader acquisition for its buck via non-advertising means. Spend the money on ads or on content marketing, aka journalism? For a newspaper, that's a pretty simple choice.

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#24

Post by smcl »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #18
jasonkester wrote: post #5

My only real complaint with those ads that follow you around the internet is that they're nearly always trying to sell you something you already own. I bought one of those GoPro cameras that you mount on your surfboard a while back, and was punished with six months of nonstop ads telling me how awesome my life would be if only I'd purchase a GoPro camera. It was annoying to the point where I actually dropped down tha…

I like Amazon's "you bought a SatNav, perhaps you'd be interested in these other 8 SatNavs"... Possibly the answer is that the algorithms aren't close to good enough. That "might be interested in" isn't good enough.

Another one of Amazon's which frustrated me was that after a few years of buying similar items (programming books, computer odds and ends etc) it started recommending reasonable things. Then I put in an order for two children's books for my mother (who teaches young kids), and from that moment on Amazon somehow only recommended kids books to me.

It's never really recovered, however since I bought a blackberry cover a year or so ago it has started recommending other blackberry covers so I guess it's sort of improved.

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#25

Post by jlangenauer »

Because some of us like to think of ourselves as - oh, I don't know - human beings and citizens, rather than mere "consumers".

Because some of us would like, just for once, some space (either virtual or physical) that's not inundated with advertisements.

Because the basis of advertising is manipulation of free will to serve commercial interests, and is thus inherently degrading.

That's why.

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#27

Post by corkill »

thenomad wrote: post #22
jasonkester wrote: post #5

My only real complaint with those ads that follow you around the internet is that they're nearly always trying to sell you something you already own. I bought one of those GoPro cameras that you mount on your surfboard a while back, and was punished with six months of nonstop ads telling me how awesome my life would be if only I'd purchase a GoPro camera. It was annoying to the point where I actually dropped down tha…

I've had the same thing of late. I host my websites through WP Engine, and I'm tremendously enthusiastic about them - but nonetheless, Google Adwords keep trying to tell me I'd be better off hosting through this scrappy, enthusiastic startup called WP Engine instead... (For bonus points - the retargeting often means that Adwords is advertising WP Engine to someone who already uses WP Engine, with the ads displayed on…

I think this has more to do with the setup, I'm pretty sure it's possible to add a tracking pixel to their payment page, which will stop paying users from seeing the ads.

I agree that this is the annoying part of it at least for me. Seeing ads for stuff you already bought.

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#28

Post by TeMPOraL »

jlangenauer wrote: post #25

Because some of us like to think of ourselves as - oh, I don't know - human beings and citizens, rather than mere "consumers". Because some of us would like, just for once, some space (either virtual or physical) that's not inundated with advertisements. Because the basis of advertising is manipulation of free will to serve commercial interests, and is thus inherently degrading. That's why.

Exactly. And in the example of searching for baseball bat, if I search for "but baseball bats online", all I care about are organic search results. Yes, those are different than ads, and yes, even when I have a strong intent to buy something right now, I still don't want to see ads. They are lying, bending the truth, or just simply presenting me with suboptimal choices. Personally, there is no context I found ads useful in. Ever.

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#29

Post by shellox »

Ad's are always crap. I _never_ bought anything, because of an ad I might have seen. I don't see ads in my browser, since adblock don't show me this garbage, but I see some of it on buildings in the city. The most ads are terrible idiotic and I still have no clue how people can get influenced by ads. Everyone should be smart enough to ignore them..

Re: Why don't users want to see adverts they might be interested in?

#30

Post by fribblerz »

sohn8 wrote: post #26

AdBlock, anyone?

Only reasons I do use AdBlock, Saves bandwidth, data plans are expensive out here. Also ads that expand/play music or video directly - are annoying. I don't mind plain and simple ads. AdBlock beta has an option to allow non-intrusive ads, I do keep it on. Infact it would be great if there were some sort of guidelines (adblock checklist if I may call it so) which marketers can follow and pass adblock if this option is on.
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