Hi all,
People seem to want to talk about user attention, so let’s do that.
8 Seconds is how long you have when somebody arrives on a website to convince them to stay. At least, according to Microsoft.
Even if somebody does decide to stay, they will only read between 20 and 28% of the content on the page.
That means every moment of user attention is precious, and we need to get damn good at directing it to the content, functionality, and calls to action that matter the most. In fact, directing attention is the primary focus of my work in conversion optimization. But it is just as critical if you are trying to make a website usable or content more findable.
So how do we encourage users to pay attention to screen elements that matter the most? Well, I could probably write a book on this subject.
How to Direct Attention
At the most basic level, it is about using color, size, and positioning to draw attention. It’s that simple.
That said, context is probably the most critical factor in determining whether somebody sees a particular element. What other elements are around it?
Other elements can draw attention to an element, such as this image of a person looking at the call to action. However, they can also be distracting.
That is why negative space is so important. If you leave enough space around an element, the eye has nothing to latch on to accept the element you want them to see.
Ultimately you need to seek to remove, hide or shrink any element that could distract from the content you wish to draw attention to. Doing so reduces cognitive load and focuses users on what matters.
Of course, achieving this can be challenging when many stakeholders compete to highlight their content. In such cases, I tend to turn to a workshop activity I call the User Attention Point Exercise.
But even if you succeed in managing your stakeholders and applying best practices, attention is a fickle thing. So it is always wise to test.
Testing for Attention
Fortunately, testing where attention goes doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive. For a start, we can use AI (artificial intelligence) to help us. For example, a tool called Attention Insights has taken thousands of hours of eye-tracking studies and taught an AI to predict where people will look on a page. It’s a great way of understanding where users’ attention might go.
Beyond that, you could also carry out a five-second test. Participants are shown a design for a mere five seconds. Afterward, they are asked questions based on their memory and impression of the design. You know you have succeeded if they remember the elements you wish them to pay attention to.
Testing is so essential when directing attention because it is so unpredictable. It is easy to explain the theory of directing attention, but it is a bugger to master. I am still surprised every time I test.
That said, over the years, you build an intuitive sense of where people will look on a page, which becomes an invaluable skill because attention is the key to creating successful websites and apps.
