The simple exercise your website will thank you for later.
The windowof opportunity for marketers to engage their web visitors has shrunk drastically.
Accordingto a 2015study by Microsoft Corp . , our atte ntion spans have been whittled down tojust eight seconds. The culprit? Our digital lifestyles. Thank emojis and thankTwitter for their 140 characters limitation, and TikTok for their quick dopamine hit.
EightSeconds. Yes, that’s one second less than agoldfish. And we’re all in same fishbowl; thedecrease was seen across all age groups and genders in the study. There was anupside though: our ability to multitask is increasing.
As marketers,what do we do with this information? What can we do in eight seconds, to draw ourweb visitors in? Here are some tips to help you pass the 8-second challenge:
- Don ’ t make them wait. Make sure you website loadsquickly. 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes longer than threeseconds to load.
- Make your content easy. Easy to navigate. Easy to read. Easy to scan. Put the most importantinformation upfront and outline your content with numbers or bullet points. Drilldown your key message and say it outright and quickly. There is no need to makethem wait for it.
- Keep it short. Too much content will distract readers from your key messaging, so splitdetailed content out into secondary pages for readers who are interested. Tellthe reader what they need and want to know, and no more. A difficult, butimportant rule to follow.
- Utilise visual content. We process images 60,000 times faster than we do text. Use images thatconvey your key messaging and be strategic about where you place those images.Choose a place that will draw the customer’s eye as they move down the screen.
- Tell the reader what to do. If the purpose of your website is to convert visitors, you need to makethe path clear. Present clear action items for the visitor who is ready to buy and for the visitor who is intrigued, but still not sure (an important, and oftenoverlooked, segment).
Now it’s time to take the challenge. Set yourstopwatch for eight seconds and type in your website URL. Does you messagingget through before the buzzer goes off? Is it compelling? Does it inspireaction?
This simpleexercise will most likely get you thinking about you website design, layout andkey messaging. Hopefully, it will inspire you to make some strategic changes.
And forthose of you that have made it through to the end of this blog post, giveyourself a pat on the back!
