In recent years, the use of adblockers in browsers, mobile phones, and apps has grown rapidly. Nowadays, around 30% of internet users use adblockers. 

But what’s an adblocker? It’s a software that automatically detects any advertisement on a website and blocks it. Sometimes ads can be intrusive and annoying, and they can be used to spread malware so shoppers started installing adblockers to avoid them. 

Although visitors don’t come to your store to see ads, many brands and entrepreneurs use them to increase their profits.

Adblockers may come in several different ways such as:

• An extension in a browser
• An application in a phone
• Part of an antivirus
• Part of the firewall of the network connection that the visitor is using

Why should you avoid adblockers in your WooCommerce site?

It’s worth noting that even though adblockers can be beneficial for users who don’t want to see ads, they have other consequences. This type of software reduces the revenue of websites that use Adsense or charge per click, affecting content creators, developers, and advertising platforms. Additionally, it causes trouble for those who sell products or services through these ad spaces.

• According to a GlobalWebIndex study, 34% of Millennials say that they’re informed about new offers and products through online advertisement. However, this same generation claimed to have used ad blockers at least once to avoid annoying ads.
• According to research conducted by Ovum, nearly 20% of users have adblockers installed. And this will have devastating effects for publishers who will lose nearly $ 32 billion to AdBlock software by 2020.

How to avoid adblockers?

Block the entry of users who have adblockers

This is the most drastic action. If you want to go in this direction, there are some plugins that will allow you to block these visitors:

Ad Blocking Detector

This plugin has a very original way of addressing the use of adblockers: instead of showing the shoppers what they want to see, it displays a customizable pop-up message explaining that they can see the content once you add that website to the white list of your adblockers or deactivate them completely. 

Ad Blocking Detector works well with all major adblocking browser extensions on all main browsers such as AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and Ghostery.

Simple Adblock notice

With this plugin, you can show a customized message that the user can discard and continue browsing. The best part is that you can get it for free. If you want more options, however, there’s a Pro version for $5 that lets you use the “strict mode” that blocks all the content of the page until the adblockers are deactivated.

Block Adblock

This plugin blocks the website until the adblockers are removed, but keeps the content SEO-friendly. You can customize your message across 3 different layouts and add a pop-up delay in seconds.

Even though blocking users that use adblockers on your site is a possibility, you may want to think twice before doing it. Studies show that 77% of Adblock shoppers leave websites with Adblock restrictions.

That’s why redirecting them to a custom page or giving them more options are better alternatives.

Guide them to a custom page

Ad Blocker Notify Lite

AdBlocker Notify Lite uses random selectors to avoid being detected by adblockers. With this plugin, you can set a custom page to redirect users and show them either unblocked content or a customized message.

This tool has a responsive design and it’s fully integrated with your theme, look and feel. In addition, it provides you with valuable statistics and an admin panel.

Give the user more options instead of deactivating the adblockers

Another alternative to avoid blocking visitors is to use plugins that request the shoppers to turn off the adblockers or add your website to their white list. 

Keep in mind that this option adds more steps to the user journey which can affect conversion rates. However, nowadays many websites use this type of plugin so most customers are already used to this kind of message.

There are many options available out there but some of the best ones are:

deAdblocker

The plugin detects the adblockers and automatically creates a banner notification asking users to turn it off. You can show a customized message in a popup or a bar on the top of the website and encourage the visitor to deactivate the adblockers. In addition, deAdblocker doesn’t affect the website’s speed making it an excellent choice.

Advance ads

One of the top features of Advance ads is that it allows you to show alternative content where the ads were before the adblockers. Therefore, you can use these spaces to promote your subscribing list, social media profiles or information about your products. 

When you use Advance ads, the key is to avoid naming the images “banner” or “ad” because otherwise, adblockers will recognize them as ads. 

This software also offers statistics that you can use to learn about the user’s behavior on your website. Advance ads starts at €39 and includes support and updates for one year.

WooCommerce websites depend a lot on conversion rates to boost their sales. Therefore, if you start using some of these plugins, it’s important that you keep track of your main metrics and make sure your conversion isn’t affected.

Additionally, as adblockers are constantly being updated, you should keep an eye on the new versions and adapt your store so everything works smoothly.

Other monetization strategies for your eCommerce store

Create a membership site

Membership plans are a great way to increase customer loyalty. You can offer premium content for your clients and get rid of AdSense or any other kind of ads and adblockers. A good example is Patreon.

Offer an ad-free experience

Another option is that you offer an ad-free experience to visitors who subscribe to your newsletter.

Sell ads directly

You could create an ads plan for your website and sell the advertising directly. The advantage of this method is that it avoids having to ask the user to turn off the adblockers. This practice is widely used by famous websites such as Refinery29. 

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to boost the sales of your WooCommerce site. It consists of getting partners and offering their products in exchange for a commission. The brand or vendor will give you a link that they’ll track to detect the sales that come from your website.

It’s worth noting that you don’t have to push your users to buy that product or service. The key is to partner with companies that offer something good that your customers are interested in.

Sponsored content

Similar to affiliate marketing, you can use your content to review and offer information about some product or brand. This practice is widely used by tech and beauty brands. Some companies accept the product as payment while some others set a price for each post.

Create info-products

You can offer info-products like ebooks, checklists, courses, downloadables, etc. and sell them on your website.

Regardless of the plugin you use or the monetization strategy that you use, it’s important that you optimize your store. That’s why you should provide the shoppers with the best customer experience, avoid adding unnecessary steps to the user journey, and have a smooth checkout process to increase your conversions.

Do you use adblockers? What’s your favorite? Please let us know what you think in the comments below!