A new study from location-based mobile and digital company Retale found that a majority of mobile users are accidentally clicking on mobile banner ads because of the small screen size, fat-thumbs or finger slippage.
For a week in January 2016, 500 U.S adults were surveyed on several aspects of mobile banner advertising engagement. According to the study, respondents said they were either annoyed (68 per cent), frustrated (45 per cent) or angry (22 per cent) after accidentally clicking on a mobile banner ad; only 6 per cent said they would feel calm, satisfied (5 per cent) or excited (3 per cent).
The study found consumers don’t see the value in mobile banner ads. In fact, 66 per cent deemed banner ads “useless” or “not very successful.” Only 16 per cent said they would click an ad intentionally because they like the promoted company, product, or service. Those who accidentally clicked a mobile ad, because of their fat-fingers, said they’re unlikely to review the company or service features.
Pat Dermody, president of Retale, said: “Mobile display spend will hit $18 billion this year. Given the investment and with the majority of mobile banner clicks done accidentally, brands, marketers and agencies should reconsider their mobile strategies. Keep in mind, mobile display campaigns may suffer, not just from accidental clicks, but from viewability and fraud. To counteract these challenges and reach mobile users, other approaches need to be part of the mobile marketing mix.
“Mobile users aren’t showing any love to accidentally clicked ads. They’re too frustrated by the experience to care, which means more wasted dollars and opportunities for brands and marketers.
“We need to engage users through mobile in a smarter, more effective way. Going programmatic in the mobile display space will help the efficiency but not likely the effectiveness. The key is to a find a mobile platform in which the users welcome a branded or promotional message.”
