Do you care to read and go through all the ads that keep running on your browsers?

Even worse, have you tried using an ad-blocker?

If your answer is yes, then you too have tasted the phenomenon of banner blindness that has slowly crept in the Internet space.

What is Banner blindness? 

Banner blindness takes place when you become oblivious to the banner ads running on your browsers, to the extent that you do not pay any heed to them.  

Don’t be surprised if you can’t remember any! As per a latest study conducted by Infolinks, only 14% of people have been found to remember the last ad they saw and the company that it belonged to. Despite the jumps in technological sophistication, a large majority of users still strive to find relevance in internet advertising, and surprisingly only 2.8% of the total users online find browser ads are relevant.  

There have been numerous studies and reports that suggest that almost 54% of users do not care to click on the internet banner ads and nearly 33% find them annoying. If you think, all this does not affect you, then how about knowing that the most sought-after CTR or the Click Through Rate has come down from 44% to a dismally less figure of 0.6%. Not only are these figures disturbing for website owners, but for the digital marketers who rely on outbound marketing. 

Banner blindness has become so common over the years that people have become conditioned to ignore online ads. Most banner ads are considered noise. Banner blindness has become one of the gravest challenges of advertising agencies. 

 How to Combat the Challenge of Banner Blindness?

• Placement of the Ad:

Cliché or routine is never appreciated and the same holds true for marketing. So, when you place your ads at the same old routine places, the chances of them getting ignored are higher. It is time to identify offbeat spots to place your ads, where they have a higher chance of being noticed. How about placing them above the fold, or within the blog? Your ad has to carry that surprise element and has to be interactive, and engaging. It is your chance to experiment maximally. Even on Google Adwords, you have an option to test the performance of the ads.

• Relevance of Content:

Ads are effective only when they are relevant. You may have spent a lot on taking care of the visual impact, placement, etc. but if your messaging is not apt or relevant, you lose the game. Ensure the keywords are specific to the needs of the target audience. Make use of cookies for the creation of the proper personal ads and identification of all those people who have visited your site previously. 

• Break the Standardisation:

There is no norm in art. It is a play of imagination mounted on relevance. A great recall is created when your ad is compelling and can generate a proper appeal. Designs that are against the set norms and trends often catch the eye. They cannot be overlooked easily. Think out of the box or maybe go back to it, but do not stay casual. An intriguing story coupled with an emotional hook can never escape the public eye. 

• Mobile Optimization:

The world lives on mobile and if you have to get to the younger audience, you need to have a sound social media presence. So, the next time you make an ad, ensure that you have optimized it for mobile. It is also important that all your Facebook campaigns are activated with visible Call To Action buttons. Apart from this, it is equally important that your basics are checked and your website is optimized for mobile viewership with more content and less clutter. 

• Affiliate Programs:

These are designed so you may collaborate with other companies who share the same kind of audience. If your ads are run on the website of your affiliated publisher, chances are that you can combat banner blindness more effectively.  

Another thing that might interest you here is that banner blindness also has an impact on  CTAs. On one hand, numerous suggestions are saying your CTAs should be prominent and big, but at the same time, you cannot be over-promotional. Do not stuff your web pages with ads, neatness still has its appeal and also saves you from getting ignored. 

Banner blindness is apparent and cannot be put on the back-burner. However, it can be comfortably tackled by people who have the right strategies in place to get maximum visitor engagement. Banners do not break the user experience and continue to remain as the preferred choice for publishers.