[Sigia-l] how user-initiated pop-ups affect the user experience

[Karl Groves]

> 1. Up-to-the-minute numbers on user attitudes toward 
> *non-advertising* pop-ups. I've got tons of information on 
> how much people hate pop-up and -under ads... but are they as 
> frustrated with "legitimate" pop-ups in other contexts? Is 
> there any evidence of transference; that is, is annoyance 
> with pop-up ads affecting users' tolerance for pop-ups in 
> legitimate contexts? Is there any qualitative/quantitative 
> data on how user-initiated pop-ups affect the user experience?

During July 2003, we placed a survey on our website to get members' impressions of our website.
Our #1 complaint was "Stop opening so many new windows".
In reading the comments (681 of them), there did not appear to be any difference in attitudes of users in their hatred of new windows, regardless of their legitimacy.
To paraphrase: "If I wanted a new window to open, I would open it myself."

Although it lacks any hard data, Sean Kenney outlines a strong case against pop-ups.
http://www.seankenney.com/publications/2001-04/