Examining how people read online
Most people do not finish reading an entire article online, instead opting to skim and leave before they’ve read the whole thing. It’s important to put that at the top because most people reading this article also won’t get to the end. If you’re creating content for your website, the first thing you need to know is that the most valuable information should go as high as possible so that readers will actually see it. Otherwise, they could miss what you’re trying to tell them—even if you get a lot of people to click on your links or ads and navigate to your page.
How does this work out specifically? Below are a few key points:
- 38% of readers don’t engage with the page and simply bounce immediately. If 161 people find their way to an article, for instance, 61 of them will likely bounce, leaving only 100 readers.
- Out of the remaining 100, an average of five will refuse to scroll at all. They may read the first few lines of the article at the top of the page, but then they’ll bounce, leaving 95 readers.
- After a few hundred words, roughly half of those 100 readers will be gone. Only 50 people will make it through the first paragraphs.
- Among readers who scroll, it’s possible to track the pixels they reach on the page. A normal article tends to be around 2,000 pixels long, but most readers will only reach the 1,000-pixel mark.
In other words, the vast majority of readers will never finish an article. Many of them will barely start it, even after clicking on it.
Why does this happen?
There are a variety of reasons, starting with the fact that many people simply skim. They may just read headlines or skip to subheaders. They’re looking for specific information and leave once they find it.
Another reason is that people are busy and have a lot of options. After all, researchers find that this failure to finish an article doesn’t just apply online. Many people never finish books, movies, TV shows and other types of media.
Furthermore, many websites are designed to be distracting. While an article may be the main content on the site, that site could also be covered with ads. These ads are designed to grab people’s attention and make them click away—which many of them do.
What does this mean for your content?
One thing researchers found is that people are more likely to scroll through high-quality content that provides the information they’re looking for. This is why it’s so important to have excellent content that delivers on the promise of the headline. When people feel like they’re learning something valuable, they’ll stick around longer.
It also means you may need to consider your audience. For instance, your product pages may contain hundreds of details about a specific product, but each reader may only be looking for one or two things that are important to them. It can be helpful to create articles with subheaders and bulleted lists—like this one—because it’s easier for people to skim to the information they actually want.
Here at Content Customs, we can help you create effective content and get more eyes on your site. Contact us today to learn more.