Before you write a book, you better know how to read! How do your users view your page and read your site?
Having a good grasp of knowledge in this area will help you craft your design in a way that makes sense and is readable to your users. Check out these key pointers that can act as your guiding principles.
You’ve got our attention … for a minute!
The numbers aren’t in your favour for this one. Research on human computer interaction show that the average page visit lasts less than minute. But the average is misleading, as users tend to either leave a page quickly within seconds or stay on your page for a longer time (> 2 minutes).
This means that in the first few seconds, there’s a small window of opportunity to get your users to stay longer. If you can catch your users in this window, they are likely to stay longer to explore your page.
It’s true that the first impression counts, so work on capturing the users’ attention early.
How concise can you be?
From eye-tracking reports on how users read on the web, the approach to content creation is clear – keep it short, sweet and to the point. Research suggests that less than 20 percent of users actually read each every word on a web page, with most simply scanning through the content.
The idea is to use highlighted keywords and meaningful sub-headings to catch the users’ attention. The report also suggests to make the information digestible by sticking to one idea per paragraph, bulleted lists and half the word count that you would normally use.
Your users read quickly, so make sure they catch something useful as they scan through the page!
Don’t say it, show it
How can you compete with the overwhelming content that your users are being bombarded with every single day? Can you say what you have to – but in a visual way?
Condense large chunks of data and information into easy-to-understand infographics and you could be saving your users a lot of time in understanding what you have to say. Consider smart ways to get your message across effectively, like using the size of a graphic to display frequency or intensity.
The more intuitive your graphics are, the quicker your audience will digest your content.
Search and Find
Users today don’t have much patience for a faulty search engine. For aspects of your site that are not easily navigated by tabs, consider how the user will locate this information on the page.
Make sure that your user can key in queries and retrieve relevant and updated results. The user should be able to find what he/she is looking for within the first few matches by a search engine. Tapping on search engine optimisers is crucial for your digital marketing strategy – with Google alone sending 90% of traffic worldwide.
At Krome, we specialise in website design and development services. If you or your client are interested in creating a site, it’s time to tell us about your project or have a chat about what we can do. You can contact us here.