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Bettering Ads With UX design
It’s time for companies to include UX designers in their ads campaign
Ads are becoming more and more invasive on the internet. Platforms all seem to follow the same path: at the beginning, the ads are few and discreet, then to earn more and more money, platforms increase the number, frequency, and intensity of ads.
The most obvious case is Youtube, which now has up to 6 ads per video, but Netflix has also mentioned this idea recently.
Consumers have been outraged by this idea. If ads on Youtube are tolerable because the platform is free, it is much less so for Netflix which is a paid service. It’s not to be forgotten that the Internet is the land of the free. If a service becomes too obnoxious, people always have to possibility to leave and find what they want elsewhere or download it illegally.
Youtube hasn’t been deserted because people use adblockers, and some people predict that piracy will bloom again because of the multiplication of paid streaming platforms.
We are now at a breaking point in the functioning of the internet that will perhaps lead to a new golden age.
Internet advertising is a paradox for companies.
On the one hand, studies show that they have a significant impact on consumption. Whether we like it or not, being exposed to an ad influences our choices later on because we associate a product with a brand.
On the other hand, Internet users are exasperated by ads and end up having a negative opinion of brands. Nord VPN’s e-reputation has gone from an interesting product to a market leader, to a meme on sponsorships, to the heavy part of a video.
While everyone would prefer to be ad-free and still use free services, this is impossible today. However, internet ads can be seen as digital products that can be improved from a UX design point of view.
