NEW YORK: Almost three-quarters of client-side and media agency executives believe the current consumer experience with digital marketing should be improved, according to research published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The IAB – a trade body for organisations involved with digital marketing – partnered with mobile advertising marketplace Kargo and publisher Refinery29 to survey 283 brand marketers and agency buyers.

And, their analysis revealed, fully 73% of these interviewees agreed that the existing user experience provided by digital marketing needs to be enhanced.

Drilling down into this subject, advertising clutter was regarded as the greatest obstacle to achieving this goal in a multi-screen environment. It was mentioned by 54% of participants overall.

Creative quality recorded 37% on this metric, while matching advertising with appropriate content registered 35% – the same score as interrupting or distracting from content consumption.

Page load time followed next on 31%, ahead of both privacy and responsive design, on 27% apiece. Audio and video auto-play came at the bottom of the rankings, on 16% and 18% respectively, the research showed.

"It is imperative that ad creatives, brand marketers, publishers, and technologists realise that they must join forces to engage consumers in digital in new ways," said Randall Rothenberg, President/CEO of the IAB.

"Brand stories can more effectively reach today's audiences when they are crafted within great user experiences."

Data sourced from IAB; additional content by Warc staff