Subsequent Reaction to Online Advertisement Disturbance

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine subsequent reaction to online advertisements in information searching prior to product purchase. Total valid samples were 283, out of 300 surveyed respondents. The mobile phone is used in this study as objects. The informativeness of online advertisements including dimensions of price/promotion, service, design, and function are what respondents intend to view. For respondents in the ad-neutral cluster, price/promotion and service are factors valued more importantly. On the contrary, for respondents in the ad-annoyed cluster, design and function are more important factors than price/promotion and service in terms of information upon seeing online advertisements. The results indicate internet users are aware of online advertisements and understand the disturbance caused by online advertisements is unavoidable. When internet users are disturbed and the annoyance can be tolerated, the information searching behavior goes on.  When internet users are disturbed and the annoyance cannot be tolerated, the information searching behavior is terminated.  The effort of designing online advertisements ended up with users’ ignorance or termination can be wasted and useless. Marketers and advertisers not only try to attract attentions of online users with advertisements, but also need to restrict the annoyance or disturbance of online advertisements to an acceptable level to reduce the opportunities of being ignored or terminated.