I am reading Paul Newman’s obituary on nyt.com, and suddenly an invitation to take a survey is slapped over the text I’m reading. Annoyed, I close the invitation. It seems obvious that this is a poor way to offer a survey. I’ve just started reading something of geniune interest to me, I’m a paragraph or so into the article, and a popup ad blocks my view, mid-sentence. Remember popups? Remember why they fell out of use? People hated them, and they reflected badly on the site and the advertiser alike.
I could take the survey and tell them how annoying it is, but I don’t want to encourage them. I would like to hear about the response rate of this tactic from someone who actually knows.
