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> My biggest feature request: A check box that says, "[ ] I'm not buying anything" The primary purpose of ads isn't to get you to buy something. It's to plant

> My biggest feature request: A check box that says, "[ ] I'm not buying anything" The primary purpose of ads isn't to get you to buy something. It's to plant a brand in your brain so that next time you do want to buy something, you'll think of the brand. Ads are very good psychological manipulation.

function_seven 5y ago
I’m not talking about ads. I’m talking about the “natural” search results. Of course those are also really ads in a sense, but somehow there’s got to be a way to provide a real search engine that doesn’t show only e-commerce sites. I’ll pay for it!
moron4hire 5y ago
If we are to believe advertisers are so great at their jobs, why can't they produce any meaningful metrics that don't commit egregious sins of statistical analysis? Here's a thing that I am absolutely convinced happens. Ad network tracks purchases. Ad network track ad impressions. Ad network correlates the two and finds that 90% of people who saw the ad also bought the product. But they conveniently "forgot" to check if the ad impression was before or after the purchase. I'm confident this is happening because the only times I see ads for anything I'd be interested in buying is after I've already bought the damn thing.
- dorgo 5y ago
  If 1 out of 100 impressions leads to a purchase it's alredy a good performance. The effort to improve this rate is not always worth it. That's the reason we are spammed with ads.
  - moron4hire 5y ago
    I'm not convinced even 1 out of 100 is happening. If advertising is having an impact, it would be measurable. If it's not measurable, there's no impact.
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    > If 1 out of 100 impressions leads to a purchase it's alredy a good performance. But do they at all take into account the fact that probably about 50 out of 100 ad impressions lead to an "I'll NEVER purchase anything from the purveyor of this ad-spam shit!" reaction?
- aoms 5y ago
  This

function_seven 5y ago

I’m not talking about ads. I’m talking about the “natural” search results. Of course those are also really ads in a sense, but somehow there’s got to be a way to provide a real search engine that doesn’t show only e-commerce sites. I’ll pay for it!

moron4hire 5y ago

If we are to believe advertisers are so great at their jobs, why can't they produce any meaningful metrics that don't commit egregious sins of statistical analysis? Here's a thing that I am absolutely convinced happens. Ad network tracks purchases. Ad network track ad impressions. Ad network correlates the two and finds that 90% of people who saw the ad also bought the product. But they conveniently "forgot" to check if the ad impression was before or after the purchase. I'm confident this is happening because the only times I see ads for anything I'd be interested in buying is after I've already bought the damn thing.

dorgo 5y ago
If 1 out of 100 impressions leads to a purchase it's alredy a good performance. The effort to improve this rate is not always worth it. That's the reason we are spammed with ads.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  I'm not convinced even 1 out of 100 is happening. If advertising is having an impact, it would be measurable. If it's not measurable, there's no impact.
- CRConrad 5y ago
  > If 1 out of 100 impressions leads to a purchase it's alredy a good performance. But do they at all take into account the fact that probably about 50 out of 100 ad impressions lead to an "I'll NEVER purchase anything from the purveyor of this ad-spam shit!" reaction?
aoms 5y ago
This