Attention Please: Do not skip in 5 seconds!
The decline in the attention span of consumers is no new news but it would always help to have a fresh perspective on it. For an upcoming E-Commerce website, you could consider that the attention span of the consumers is divided instead of reduced and present in an unequitable proportion for every opportunity that pops up in the form of a hyperlink in front of a potential visitor.
The consumers in today’s era have enormous options available to them, be it the choice of the electronic device they want to use or the website they wish to access or the language in which they choose to view the content. Thus, making the marketers hustle to grab the consumers attention. You have to please the consumers before they scroll past your content.
For completing a successful transaction, a two-fold strategy (of grasping attention and retaining it) would be needed to convert a visitor into your customer.
For E-Commerce websites the following pointers can prove to be really advantageous:
1. Have something for everyone- There might be searchers or browsers that visit your website. Where searchers would know what exactly they are looking out for browsing might just be casually hanging around. There should be something for everyone who visits the website. The website should not be an indefinite scrolling page nor it should be a collection of small fragmented hyperlinks. The content should be clearly laid and easily navigable for grasping the visitor’s attention in as less time as possible.
A visitor might be using multiple screens as well. Hence, the website should be porous and the content should be adaptable on multiple mediums. The visitor should have the option of being able to complete one transaction on varied screens. Personalised accounts can come in handy for this purpose other than providing content customized based on past interactions on the website.
2. Lesser the wait, more the profits- From the time taken for your website to load to the time taken to respond to complaints on social platforms, consumers want every action to be completed in a jiffy. Every disappointed visitor/customer is revenue lost. Impressive yet simple homepage, compressed images instead of videos, clean menus would help. It is imperative that consumer complaints if posted on social platforms must be addressed publicly for everyone to know your handling methodology. Other than serving as a grievance redressal mechanism it would also negate any negative impact in the minds of onlookers of the complaint.
3. Hit the nerve- When you need to grasp and retain the visitor’s attention it would be important to hit the correct chord first and then buildup the story around it. If the first few crucial seconds of the advertisement or the homepage of the website are used as introductory notes the visitor/consumer would lose interest in the very first go itself. The USP needs to be sold first and then explanation could always follow in the epilogue when the attention has been grasped and interest already been built.
4. Rule of 7- The simple Rule of 7 says that a consumer needs to see or hear an advertisement at least 7 times before reacting to it. With the divided attention span it becomes all the more significant to ensure that multiple yet consistent ways are being used to grab the consumers attention. The consistency in the advertisement would ensure that it is relatable across platforms and devices.
When YouTube gives an option to skip an advertisement just after 5 seconds, Snapchat lets users put stories as short as ten seconds and Instagram stories disappear after twenty-four hours, the consumers are bound to expect similar time lines on other platforms as well. It is a race for attention where quickest and the most gripping wins!
