study: Website affinity and online ad impact

from our "Just Common Sense" department

[rcjordan]

The study found that the three most influential factors in the creation and enhancement of a users' affinity for a site are word-of-mouth, satisfaction with content, and favorite status within an interest category such as news, sports, finance, special interests or hobbies.

The level of the users' sense of trust in the content of a specific site was found to impact their perception about how intrusive the site's online ads were. The survey found that 75% of high-affinity users felt that ads interfered less with their experience of accessing content, compared to 31% of low-affinity users

AdAge [adage.com]

[erikv]

I'm not surprised. I just read Lenker's book 'Train of Thoughts', which states the same. Lenker thinks Nielsen is to restricted in his views of how a web site should be designed. Instead, Lenker applies a broader range of psychological theories and one of the conclusions he comes at is that people won't mind large graphics and lengthy download times, as long as the design makes them feel good--which is probably what these chaps are referring to with affinity.

Basically, it comes down to a webmaster getting away with pretty much anything, as long as his/her audience likes the rest of the site--or should that be the whole of the site...

My two cents...

[hayluke]

Nielsen seems to view teh web as a pure information store but it can also be an entertainment provider to some extent. People won't use the web instead of watching TV or anything like that but they expect a bit more than just easy to read well laid out information..

[chiyo]

I'm curious at what speed Lenker accesses the internet and if he ever does it from a laptop in hotel rooms in remote areas.