How To Leverage Banner Blindness
A recent study by Marketing Experiments found that ad designs that blended into the site content could improve conversion by 127%. As the study concluded:
Advertising that blended in and looked like a "native" site content performed significantly better than ads that stood out from the rest of the page.
The idea is that users are getting better at picking out what is advertising and what is not, and are less likely to click on ads if they don't look like legitimate site content. However, because the study only examined one kind of site, it failed to account for how different kinds of users behave very, uh, differently. Essentially, it all depends on what kind of content you have on your site. Sometimes the more that advertising stands out, the better.
Different kinds of users behave in different ways (duh), and you can use the content on your site to gage what kind of users are visiting. By determining what those users are lookking for when they come to your site, you can determine whether or not you want your ads to stand out or blend in.
Informative Content
Marketing Experiment's study covered three sites: (1) WebProNews, (2) eMarketer, and (3) an unnamed site sells subscription for paid content. What these three sites have in common is that they all cater to users looking to learn something.
These are users that are looking to be informed. They are seeking authoritative sources of information. It can be inferred, then, that if they are on these sites, they deem them as credible sources of information. Consequently, they are not as keen as being lured away by advertisers to sites whose credibility is uncertain or dubious.
If you're advertising on such a site, then, it makes sense that your ads should be as inconspicuous as possible. Users will be more likely to click on them if they perceive them to be leading to sources of information that are as valuable and trustworthy as the page that they are already on. Users are not looking to be informed all of the time, however, and this is when you might consider having your ads stand out as much as possible.
Entertainment Content
Content that's geared toward entertaining users rather than informing or educating them attracts users with different habits. If someone is looking only to be entertained, they are going to be willing to click on whatever looks like it might serve that end.
Consequently, it might be worth it for advertisers on such sites to make their ads stand out as much as possible. This way, the user is more likely to notice the ad, and if the adcopy is something that appeals to the user, they are likely to click on through to the other side.
For example, many celebrity gossip blogs that feature PPC ads from Google Adsense have found that if they format those ads to have different color schemes from their blogs, they will experience I higher click through rate. Basically, user notice these ads, and as they feature copy that will appeal to a user interested in the latest scandalous pics, the user will click on through.
However, users that are interested only in being entertained may not part with their credit card info so easily. This can be a problem for advertisers who are looking for more than just a high click through rate. If those clicks need to convert into cash transactions, banner blindness may still pose a serious challenge to PPC advertisers.
Warning to Advertisers
Now, just because a user clicks through, that doesn't mean that that click will convert. Essentially, there is more to successfully exploiting PPC advertising than understanding the user base of any give site. once an advertiser has an understanding of the user's incentive for visiting a publisher's site, there are still two things that the advertiser needs to consider: (1) what they consider a conversion; and (2), who controls the ads.
As the Marketing Experiment's study pointed out, if you want your ads to convert (on informational sites), then it is best to have them blend in with the surrounding content. Conversely, if you are advertising on entertainment sites, then you'll experience a higher click through rate if your ads are clearly distingsuished from site content. Click through rates, however, do not necessarily translate into conversions. A problem with users looking to be entertained is that they might not be willing to pay for services. Consequently, having your ads stand out might end up being rather costly.
Advice to Publihsers
If you're currently moetizing your traffic with an adserver that allows you to customize the color scheme of the ads on your site, then you might want to take this information into consideration when placing those ads on your site. If your site is informational in nature, it is definitely worth it to try and make those ads blend into your site design as much as possible. Of course, this is less possible with Google Adsense, as most every user recognizes a Google ad for what it is, but it surely can't hurt to still try. Furthermore, if Google is your adserver of choice, you might want to try sponsored links over text boxes. If made to blend in with the motif of your site, they might appear more legitimate than the text boxes.
Conversely, if you webmaster a site whose content is geared primarily toward entertainment, you most definitely want to consider tweaking those ads so that they both look attractive, and stand out from your site content. Chances are your users are more whimsical in their clicking, and once they've exhausted the entertainment value of your site, they will be looking for a "click fix" for their amusement. Ads that clash with your site design will no doubt catch their attention, and if those ads are keyword targeted, you can be almost certain that they'll be clicking on them.
