How and why pop-ups don’t work: Pop-up prompted eye movements, user affect and decision making

The average user reacts to pop-ups with responses ranging from mild irritation to vocal annoyance. Meanwhile, software designers and engineers, as well as advertisers and malware distributors, rely on pop-ups for user input and decision making. We conducted two studies, each with twelve participants, using eye tracking and video-cued self-reports with a dual task paradigm: while users were engaged in a series of three primary tasks, a secondary task was introduced in the form of a pop-up dialogue box requiring a user decision. Nine pop-ups were administered; three during each task. The self-reports’ results indicate high levels of negative affect associated with pop-ups, especially annoyance. The eye tracking results reveal that the time it took the participants to first glance at a pop-up was relatively stable (1.3–1.5 s on average). However, response patterns and total time spent viewing the pop-ups suggest that users quickly learn to visually and cognitively dismiss pop-ups. We present an interaction model based on dynamic human social contexts that integrates cognitive processes, including decision making, with affect and polite social behavior. This leads us to a set of three, radical guidelines for the constructive design of efficient and mindful pop-up dialogues.