Image source: blogger Brett Terpstra
The chances are that you won’t finish this article. Only half of you will read below “the fold” – that is, what sits on the screen. They are not great odds for a content producer, so why do we persist in pumping out material at an ever-increasing rate?
This lack of stickability, or readability, has landed the acronym: TL;DR – too long; didn’t read. The phrase dates back to at least 2003, and was added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online in 2013.
It is not that people don’t read online – the first myth busted – they just read differently in a digital context. Simply, they scan.
In 2013, analytics vendor Chartbeat analysed websites and found that most visitors scroll through about only 50-60% of an article page. Few make it to the end of an article.
So how do you strengthen your reading habits, and how do you produce content that is more successful in driving readers? These are the golden questions of our times.
How little do browsers read?
The Nielsen Norman Group’s “eye-tracking study” from 2008 indicated that less than 20% of text is actually read on an average web page.
Statistics show that for every 161 people who land on a page, about 61 (38%) are immediately gone. That is, you “bounced” in web traffic jargon, meaning you spent no time engaging with the page at all, according to Slate journalist, Farhad Manjoo.
Of that remaining 100 only 50% will read below the fold. Others you have lost as they are already off socialling a link to the article without fully reading it. Sound familiar?
Manjoo writes: ‘There’s a very weak relationship between scroll depth and sharing … articles that get a lot of tweets don’t necessarily get read very deeply. Articles that get read deeply aren’t necessarily generating a lot of tweets.’
I admit it. I suffer from TL;DR, and that is rich coming from one of the culprits for this churn – a journalist. I want to read it all – I really am interested – but time is always snapping at our heels.
What I have learnt is that there are two simple rules to remember:
- Keep it relevant – you will only snare readers if it is relevant to them
- Write for skimmers – people scan for relevancy and entertainment, and if you don’t provide those hooks you loose them very quickly
And as a reader, at least, have a quick scroll down the piece for triggers before you swipe on to the next browser tab, the next tweet, the next thing demanding your attention. It is a good way to build retention of information.
Eye-tracking optimisation
While this sounds like you need an ophthalmology degree to understand, it is really quite simple.
Because today we are a society of skimmers, highlighted words, catchy headlines, short paragraphs, and bullet point lists work better than words.
A further study by the Nielsen group tested different wording styles for a website. Concise, scannable and objective copywriting resulted in 124% better usability.
People are honing in on that relevance – and skipping the rest.
A further study found that after three days, a user retained only 10-20% of written or spoken information but almost 65% of visual information.
An illustrated text was 9% more effective than text alone when testing immediate comprehension.
According to the Visual Teaching Alliance:
- Our eyes can register 36,000 visual messages per hour.
- We can get the sense of a visual scene in less than 1/10 of a second.
- 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.
- Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text.
Images and video are key to content are probably determining what your read.
Did this image catch your eye? Visual content can be curated for better readibility. Image cc Pexel.com
Tips for conquering TLDR:
Data scientist at the traffic analysis firm Chartbeat, Josh Schwartz reports that we have forgotten how to focus.
The more I type, the more of you tune out.
Basically it is only my mum or most loyal friend who will get to this point in an article (thanks guys!) and a mere 20% will make it to the end of any article.
So let’s talk about how to conquer scroll depth.
1. A headline will halt – this is the most important thing to getting a reader to stop and read. It much catch the core relevance of the article.
2. Sub headings are tools to snag readers and to parcel content into relevant topics
3. Bullet points and numbers lists are great for quick digestible information – in a skimmed article the reader will still take away your subheading and bullet points.
4. Short sentences and short paragraphs. Given that so much content is viewed on mobile devices today (traffic pushing up into the 80% plus bracket) this is vital for reading.
5. Keep it image-rich. Remember this is circulating digitally so keep resolutions on the low side for quick loadability.
Did you make it?
At 855 words, this article is arguably sitting on the cusp of TL;DR tolerance. And for those of you who made it – that rare 20% – the majority of you will have skimmed. Mum is even gone at this point.
Want your message to cut through? Then note to self – take these tips on board and learn from your own reading habits.
