How to Stand Out When Attention Spans Are Dwindling

A new study by Chartbeat shows that “on average 55 percent of Web pageviews get less than 15 seconds of attention.” What this means for marketing teams is that the content on a page has to draw in the reader in a short amount of time or they will lose the reader’s attention forever. Whether you are a local company in Utah or in another state the amount of time a reader spends on your site will determine whether they purchase your product.

Brian Rigney, the CEO of Zmags, said “For brands, this means there are only tiny windows of opportunity to grab attention: They have moments. And they have to make each moment matter by delivering ‘instant gratification’ – the best possible customer experience instantly. Content is no longer the king, now it’s the moments that matter.” This bold statement points out that you cannot simply rely on great content to be your marketing strategy. Your brand’s website must be eye-catching and reel your audience in quickly in order to get them to stay to read your posts. 

Chartbeat’s research also showed that “If you can hold a visitor’s attention for just three minutes they are twice as likely to return than if you only hold them for one minute.” Understanding who your target audience is can be vital in understanding what will get them to stay on your website. Make sure the most interesting information is the first thing that your reader sees. For example, if you are a Utah snowboard company include an epic snowboard video that makes your viewers stop and watch it. 

Another important statistic that Chartbeat reported on the native ad content “only 24 percent of visitors scrolled down the page at all, compared with 71 percent for normal content. If they do stick around and scroll down the page, fewer than one-third of those people will read beyond the first one-third of the article.” Marketing teams need to be more clever in creating ads that flow with the rest of the site. Creating material that is directly related to the product that also gives the audience a unique perspective on your industry, like a snowboard brand in Utah, can really grab someone’s attention.

Creating new ways for marketing teams in Utah and other states to pull readers in can be a challenge. However, understanding the unique interests of the target audience can help make a more focused ad campaign. By having a superior user experience the reader is sure to return again. 

Lura Briggs writes for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. She writes for many other clients as well. Follow on Twitter.