CMO

Report: Consumers say scrap annoying ad tactics

In global poll conducted by Marketo, two-thirds of respondents said they are tuning out the old-fashioned brand strategy of blasting the same message over and over

Two-thirds of consumers are highly annoyed by the way brands repeatedly blast advertising messages, a recent survey conducted by Marketo has revealed.

The poll, conducted by Marketo, surveyed more than 2200 consumers in Australia, the US, UK, France and Germany. While the responses varied from country to country, Australia stood out as one of the most intolerant when it came to seeing the same ad messages over and over again. The preferred response seems obvious – 45 per cent of Australians said, ‘show ads to me less often.’

“It’s expected that consumers would rather not see ads, but it’s encouraging that more than half didn’t choose the ‘less ads’ response,”Marketo’s CMO, Sanjay Dholakia, said.

Dholakia said making ads more personalised also surfaced as an issue in the survey, with a quarter of respondents saying they wanted content more relevant to them, and for advertisers to pay attention to where they prefer seeing ads. A further 14 per cent suggested advertisers relate content back to how the consumer has interacted with them.

“This demonstrates how people expect advertising, but they have grown tired of the one-size-fits-all approach,” he said. “Advertisers have to engage more on a one-to-one basis.”

The report further revealed Australian’s particular dislike for push ads in mobile apps. Thirty one per cent said it was the type of advertising that irritated them most, compared to just 18 per cent in Germany and 27 per cent in the US. TV ads ran a close second.

Instead, the survey showed consumers prefer to interact with brands on their own terms. Forty nine per cent of Australians said visiting their website was the most likely way they would engage with their favourite brands. Following and engaging via social media was the preference of 23 per cent and email newsletters popular with 21 per cent.

“These results are proof of the challenge that companies face when trying to consistently engage their customers across a wide range of digital channel,” Dholakia added. “For years, campaigns have been crafted in isolation, often designed in silos with a specific digital channel in mind. Facebook ads, for example, are often not linked to prior interaction on a company’s website. This lack of connectedness between digital channels makes it difficult for companies to have a two-way conversation with individuals, which is why they resort to the one-size-fits-all approach.”

Earlier this year, Marketo introduced a solution aimed at helping brands tailor their advertising to an individual, allowing the messages to be customised based on where a person is in their buying journey. Ad Bridge connects online advertising to an overall marketing strategy.

“Research like this shows consumers are savvier than many give them credit for,” Dholakia concluded. “They understand the concept of personalised messaging. Many, it seems, are annoyed that they are not seeing more of it.”

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