Click here, you idiot
Autor: Jeffrey Veen
Clique aqui para uma versão em português

We're all annoyed by advertising. Whether driving in our cars with the radio on or trying to get through the last two minutes of a football game, there comes a point when we've had enough. But commercial messages are as inevitable as death and taxes.

The same holds true for advertising on the Web, of course. If our industry's tenuous business models are any proof, reliance on advertising is something that won't be disappearing any time soon. So it's not surprising that some online advertisers are becoming dismayed with the ever-decreasing performance of their banners. We, as users, see so many ads that we simply ignore them. And that's not something advertisers can afford.

Therefore, some advertisers will go to any means necessary to get your attention. In fact, some will go as far as deception to gain your click.

Some of our advertisers, especially the ones placing ads on the HotBot search engine, say that consultants and agencies recommend banners that mimic operating system interfaces, because these ads increase clickthroughs. So advertisers blindly submit ads that look like dialog boxes or download-progress indicators, aiming to trick people into clicking through to their sites.

Know what? In fact, they do work.

We've consistently seen clickthroughs on banners like this double or even triple the average yield across our sites. And the cycle perpetuates: Agencies continue to promote ads like this to their clients because the numbers prove they work.

Know what else? Clickthrough rates mean nothing. In user testing, we've seen subjects fall for these deceptive banners again and again. They'll come to our search interface, type a query, and be presented with a "dialog box" that tells them their "Internet connection isn't optimized," or some such nonsense, and then an "enhancement" is supposedly downloaded. Users go for the Cancel button, but it sends them to the company's homepage. They are confused and disoriented. They scan the page and suddenly realize what has happened. And then they immediately hit the Back button, often with a few choice words about the company. Is this the user experience the advertiser was after? Is this what clickthrough is meant to represent?

Advertising should entice, not deceive. Good advertising is valuable to a targeted audience, and great advertising builds a relationship between customer and client.

Personally, I try not to start relationships with lies.

Jeffrey Veen é co-fundador do grupo de consultoria Adaptive Path. Também escreveu livros sobre design na Web.