If your site has a Flash intro, or a client is asking you to put a Flash intro on their site, definitely check out this quick article. 579 consumers spoke out and their comments are fascinating.

Also includes general advice for consumer packaged goods firms on how to avoid home page mistakes that all too many of them make.

Time to face facts: consumers hate Flash.

"If you must offer a 'skip intro' option, shouldn't your better
judgment kick in?" asked Anna Murray, President e*media inc.,
during a panel on Marketing to Women at the recent AD:TECH
conference.

On October 29th, Murray ran a poll garnering responses from 579
consumers voting for their favorite of two home page variations
for "Acme Haircare". One version started with a Flash intro, the other was static HTML. (Link to original poll below.)

80% of respondents voted for the site *without* a Flash intro.

So, why do so many consumer packaged goods firms -- including
Coke, 7 Up, Lipton, General Mills, and Clairol -- not to mention
many advertising agencies, love to plaster Flash intros on their
sites? (Perhaps it reminds them of good old television?)

Here's more data from Murray's poll, plus the top three other
homepage design mistakes she sees Fortune 500s make.

-> Flash intros & Flash navigation

70% of those who took Murray's survey have jobs that do not
include marketing or advertising. Of that number, 80% chose the
site without Flash. (Those within the industry disliked the Flash
site even more at just over 80%.)

Respondents' comments revealed how deeply anti-Flash feelings run
these days. "People really waxed poetic about how much they hated
Flash," Murray says.

Read the full story: www.marketingsherpa.com