According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, average attention spans are just over eight seconds. Pretty short, isn’t it? General research also found that attention spans may be even shorter while surfing the web. Nearly twenty percent of reported page views lasted less than four seconds.
There is a very small window, indeed, to connect with visitors to your website. The question is: what can be done, if anything, to keep people on your site beyond the initial four seconds?
- First: ensure your site is fast loading.
- Second: place your most engaging content in an easy to view design.
- If visitors fail to find attention-grabbing content within the first four seconds of clicking through your site, they’ll probably look for another site which will cater to their needs.
- You should be familiar with the concept of heat mapping which can show you which portions of your pages draw the most visitor interaction.
With ever-shortening attention spans, it’s becoming more important for website
Designers to consider the four-second rule when creating and optimizing their
websites.
Mike Djordjevich – mike@mdj-cpa.com