Google has released the results of an internal study it has carried out, revealing that 69 per cent of visitors who were served an interstitial app install ad for its Google+ social network abandoned the page entirely.

While interstitial ads are an extremely common format on the mobile web, and are often used to encourage consumers to download a native mobile app, their nature as distracting roadblocks to the browsing experience runs counter to mobiles focus on speed and convenience.

Googles research into the format looked at visits to the mobile web version of its Google+ service in July 2014, where visitors were served a full-page interstitial ad encouraging them to download the app, while also providing them with a link to continue on to the mobile web site.

While nine per cent of visits resulted in the Get the app button being pressed, this figure does not allow for users who already had the app installed, and does not guarantee that all users who pressed actually downloaded the Google+ app.

The far more worrying figure is that 69 per cent of visitors abandoned the page, failing to either visit the app store or continue to the mobile website. Responding to the figures, Google decided to experiment with replacing the interstitial with a Smart App Banner ad, making for a less intrusive experience.

As a result of this change, Google+ app installs were largely unaffected, dropping only two per cent, while one-day active users on the mobile web version of the service increased by 17 per cent.

“Based on these results, we decided to permanently retire the interstitial,” said David Morell, software engineer for Google+. “We believe that the increase in users on our product makes this a net positive change, and we are sharing this with the hope that you will reconsider the use of promotional interstitials. Lets remove friction and make the mobile web more useful and usable!”