The attention span of average web users gets shorter every day. People rarely invest time and effort sifting through sites to get the information they’re looking for. Site visitors want to find what they need as soon as the web page loads.
Here are three tips for improving your website to attract visitors with a short attention span.
“Snackable” Content
A highly-effective website is made up of different elements. Snackable content is one of them. These are bits of information that give visitors everything they need to determine if the site is worth browsing.
A good example of a site with bite-sized content is Microsoft’s homepage. It uses short, succinct sentences – often just a line of text and links – to describe each of their services. Apart from being mindful to short attention spans, concise content is easy to digest. Snackable information also makes the content easier to share on social media.
Avoid overloading your website with walls of text. It’s easy enough to expound on products and services on separate web pages. That being said, those pages also need to be divided into digestible portions.
Loading Time
Arguably the most critical part of a website’s UI is how fast the page loads. Ideally, the loading time should not exceed three seconds. If so, users will leave the site and look for another that is more responsive. This is the main reason why most websites prioritize speed and responsiveness when optimizing their content.
Hi-res images and videos significantly slow down a website. This is particularly true if the user is using a handheld device. One way to counteract this is by using mobile-friendly image formats that don’t take long to load. Another solution is using Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). This option generates a mobile version of a website that is stripped-down and mobile-optimized so photos and videos render quickly.
Personalization
One of the current demands of web users is a tailor-made experience when they visit a website. They want the site to anticipate what they want so they don’t have to spend time searching for information. Netflix is a prime example of a personalized website. It uses analytics to suggest TV shows and movies that a user may be interested in based on their viewing history.
You can use Google Analytics to personalize your website. It can help you better understand your visitors and use the insights to customize the content based on their practices.
These quick tips will help your visitors absorb your message and come back for more.