Are Your Customers Goldfish?

Are your customers goldfish? In other words, do they have short attention spans?

Probably!

Mobile devices have made multitasking the norm. When aren’t we looking at a screen….checking email, streaming live videos, checking social media updates? You get the picture. Your customers are doing this….just like you are. And we’re doing this while we’re doing something else, like watching a TV show, cooking, or even holding a conversation.

It should come as no surprise that the average human attention span has fallen to just eight seconds….shorter than that of a goldfish.

Because of customer’s short attention span, your content must be short, clear and to the point. And not just the content of your website. Everything must be written to catch attention quickly. This includes your social media posts and even your printed brochures.

How do you create content that gets read?

Write quality content

Make sure that the content you are putting out is of high quality. Use your keywords so your pages and posts are found in online searches.

Know what your customers will read. If you’re having trouble coming up with blog topics, look at the questions your customers have asked. That’s a great place to get ideas for future blogs. You could conduct a survey of your current customers to ask them what they want to read about.

Use visual content

Studies have shown that readers spend more time looking at images than words on a webpage. Images also promote greater memory recall than text alone.

There are different types of visual content you can use to draw attention to your content and keep your readers engages.

For blogs, use images that relate to the topic you are blogging about. On your website, use images to break up all your text.

Videos are also a great way to use visual content to capture customer’s attention. Videos can be used on your website and on your social media posts.

Make it easy to read

Whether it’s your blog or a webpage, if you make it easy for your readers to skim, they’ll happily consume your content.

Include white space for the reader’s eyes to rest. Use bullet points. A list is a great way to get information out in short sentences.

Use headers and bolded text. Headers can direct a reader to a section they are particularly interested in. Bolded text will draw attention to the information you feel is important.