Just how do users react to banners? Do they love them, hate them, or are blind to them?
What kind of users are more vulnerable to banner ads? Some studies reveal the answers to some of the key questions every internet marketer should know.

An Internet survey by market researcher COBUS with 1178 German Internet users showed that banners with an appealing design do attract the users' attention (Leest 1996; Belz 1997). The studies showed that:
ü 50 % looked at advertising banners if they were well designed
ü Less than 25% felt that banner advertisements were disruptive;
ü 25% ignored banners altogether.

According to another survey by Wong (2001) it was found that 80% of internet users had a favorable opinion towards banners on the Web.
 
In another survey, it was found that internet advertising was superior in terms of customer trust as compared to general advertising.
Furthermore, it was shown that banner advertisements can have an impact on the purchase intentions of customers and a positive influence on their assessment of the advertised products (Briggs and Hollis 1997). Likewise, a study by Gruner + Jahr Electronic Media Service and Media Transfer (1999) with 2000 Internet users revealed that brand names were rated more positively after users had looked at advertisement banners for those brands.

A study suggested that navigation behavior has an impact on the (non-)perception of Web banners. It seems that people who are browsing aimlessly are more susceptible to perceiving a Web banner, because the banners' color contrast or animation trigger an orientation reaction that is followed by a bottom-up process of information processing. Subjects who search for information, on the other hand, seem to apply cognitive schemata that suppress a deeper processing of Web banners.

It can thus be concluded that, especially on Web sites that users access to look for specific information (e.g. search engines), it is likely that banners are overlooked. In particular, if the desired information is normally not contained in a banner or a similar graphical element, users will probably fade out areas of the screen where banners are placed. In contrast, the likelihood that a banner is perceived seems to be higher on pages that users preferably visit to browse for information in a more unstructured manner (e.g. online magazines).

Online marketers should be updated with user behavior with regard to web banners so that they can use banners more effectively and tell their message where people are more likely to give an ear.