It’s no secret that in a world of instant gratification and quick fixes, people’s attention spans are shrinking. In fact, statistics now lead us to believe that our average attention span is now lower than a goldfish’s – but luckily we’ve got a couple of insider tricks to keep audiences glued to your content...
Step Up The Novelty Factor
Neuroscientists have found that novelty encourages us to store information. It’s understandable that most content gets lost in the noise of everyday life because we’re continuously and incessantly bombarded with new novel experiences. The key is to focus on creating a new user experience for your readers. The Reticular Activating System located in the brain helps us decide what to pay attention to - and our brains perceive novel content as hitting the information jackpot!
Positioning Is Everything
Unless readers are fully committed to your content, they don’t actually read it – they scan.
Eye tracking technology has shown that readers scan web pages in “F” shaped patterns, and use this information to make lightning-fast decisions about whether or not to spend more time on your website. With this in mind, make sure your key phrases and take-away messages are in the right spots – where they’re more likely to reach your intended audience.
Be Speedy
Whoever said patience is a virtue hasn’t been stuck on a slow loading website...
Studies have shown that 32% of consumers abandon slow sites within five seconds, so if your website is loading at a snail’s pace, chances are your content is falling on deaf ears. Get on the case and drastically improve your bounce rate by reducing your page size, and presenting your content in bite-sized, easily digested chunks.
It’s Not About Quantity, It’s About Quality
Statistics show 87% of Hong Kong smartphone users read while commuting, which means audiences may only have a few minutes to spend on your content before they arrive at their destinations and put their phones away. The takeaway: keep it short, to-the-point and persuasive!
Will You Read The Next Paragraph?
Science says you will! In fact, researchers have demonstrated that simply asking about your intention to buy something increases the probability that you’ll make a purchase. This is called the Mere-Measurement Effect, and it’s an effective strategy to influence a sale when attention spans are short and time is of the essence.
[Image: The Guardian]