55 per cent of consumers are put off buying products or services if they see the same ad online multiple times, a new study has suggested. Only 10 per cent of consumers are more likely to buy something following repeated targeting.

The research, carried out by ad tech company InSkin Media and media buying agency RAPP Media, showed that while 53 per cent of consumers initially found online ads interesting and useful, the more they are repeated, the more irritating they become.

During initial research into a product, people are almost four times more likely to find a relevant ad encouraging, rather than discouraging. However, once it has been seen up to five times, annoying and intrusive become the dominant reactions, with angry overtaking once an ad has been seen 10 times.

“The retargeting-genie is certainly out of the bottle, but its a fine line to tread as brands potentially lose control through a perfect storm of increased automated buying and the spectre of consumer cookie deletion,” said Paul Phillips, head of media strategy at RAPP. “Marketers and planners are negligent if they dont devote more careful planning around frequency caps and other contextual filters before letting the maths men hit the send button.”

The report highlighted what steps marketers can take to avoid their ads becoming irritants, with ads that appear on websites related to the ad content 40 per cent more likely to be received positively. Website quality is also a big indicator of reaction, with consumers 37 per cent more likely to click on ads if they are served on a site they trust.

69 per cent of consumers are uncomfortable with advertisers knowing their browsing history, marking it as almost as personal as home address (72 per cent) and current location (71 per cent).

“The industry got carried away with retargeting,” said Hugo Drayton, CEO of InSkin Media. “Its a powerful tool but it needs to be qualified by more thought and action to ensure its used effectively. As an industry we risk alienating a generation of consumers. Online advertising is hugely powerful and positive, as long as it is used intelligently.”