Is your website driving away visitors with constant popups and notifications?

[Merlin3189]

Hope this (my Q, not the cartoon) is acceptable and of interest to some.

When I saw this, I posted it in the General Chat of my sailing club. I thought it made a point that has been a bee in my bonnet about our (and many other) websites. Not a soul reacted and no one I asked, understood the point.

So I wonder what others - especially any involved in websites - make of it?

At a trivial level, it's not surprising that one particular visitor might miss such a notice, when making a brief visit to find some specific item. A modal window ought to guarantee they react before accessing any other content, so maybe that's the point? I get so fed up with modal dialogues about cookies and privacy, that I may leave a site if I don't really need to stay. But the last frame is irrelevant if they used that.

I assumed that, after the 99,999,999th visitor, there was a popup activated for every visitor until someone responded - which apparently didn't happen and they eventually gave up and kept the car.
For me the point was that this is a very successful site, attracting millions of visitors, with flashing popups and *everything*, which couldn't even give away a car - the ludicrous extreme towards which many websites seem to aspire. The truiumph of what the designers want, over what the users want.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb sketch about a 'massive yacht'.

 

[Merlin3189]

Thanks for that. I'd not seen it before. Just as simple as that?

 

[Bandersnatch]

Yeah, just that.
Remember how the average internet experience used to look like in around the 90s or so? Obnoxious website ads and reappearing, hard to close popup banners all flashing and colourful, telling you you've just won a car or a million dollars because you're the <insert round number> visitor.
All so that you would click on it - which would likely take you to another website with even more such ads, maybe hitchhike a virus or two along the way.
I guess after a while people wised up to these tactics enough that they faded away from most (all?) places.
The joke is not only in that the flashing banner is actually genuine for once, but also the characters seem completely unaware of how it would be perceived.

But yeah, here's me, explaining jokes. You're definitely overthinking it, is the point.

 

[DrClaude]

Reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb sketch about a 'massive yacht'.

 

[SparkBird]

laughy scetch J and good cartoon exhibit. @Merlin3189, we’re in the one boat.

Actually, it’s really matter “what the designers want, over what the users want” and I think it worth paying attention to that. It’s not only about web-sites design. If we talk about ads banners, it’s already found that people have “banner’s blindness”. Marketers know about that now and professionals normally investigate the user experience (UX), at time of ads placement or web-site designing.

However, like exactly @Bandersnatch outlined, the main point is the joke is about “how it’s perceived” and I’d add that it’s about the “framed thinking” and about approaches to grabbing attention.

 

[SparkBird]

Continuing the subject... It sounds so simple or even funny, but it's actually not a small thing. How often do people care what their words lead to? How much time and resources do we spend looking for the best ways to be perceived and understood by others? Are we paying enough attention to whether we are saying what our listeners really want to hear?

I'm currently working on preparing an eLearning course for a specific software application and I need to ask myself a lot of questions about how to make it catchy, interesting, well-perceived and easy to learn for students. I have to learn also the different methods of presenting materials. I have to think in advance how it is perceived by visuals, auditory, kinesthetic etc., and what tools to use - text, sound, video or cartoons. I need to know, for example, the best saas explainer videos creating practices and approaches in order to apply in my cases.

Well, maybe I'm one of those perfectionists or "old school" thinkers, but I think it's really good when people find what they're looking for. It would be really good also in the example shown also if the university website matches what the students want.