Online Marketing Myths - Busted by Eye Trackers
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 6:18 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer
As marketers, we are told a lot of things: Where to place copy, how much to place, market your brand - the list goes on.However, companies who do eye tracking research have recently busted some of these myths. Yes, the Nielson Norman Group who used to track what you watched on television is now tracking where you look on your computer screen!
There are actually three companies doing eye-tracking research, which proves, to me at least, that there is an important focus on the area.
Here are three common marketing myths that have recently been “busted” by these companies:
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Long Copy is Better. Anik wrote about this in an earlier blog post. I have always been told not to skimp when writing sales copy – the longer the better! However, people stop reading as soon as they’ve got a good idea of what’s being said. All of those extra words are just a waste of time for both parties.
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Branding – Branding is good, but pushing your brand too hard is not so good. It’s ok to use your brand name throughout your copy, just don’t start and end every sentence with it.
- The Fold – This one is a little tricky. We have been told to put everything above the fold. However, people are now comfortable scrolling through a web page.If you pack all of your information into the first half of the screen, it may become cluttered and difficult to read.
As we know, there is only a short period of time to capture the customers’ interest. So, put as much as possible at the top, but don’t worry too much if you have to scroll down a little to get to the rest of the story.
So, there you have it. I guess things change every day. What we’re told one day may not be valid the next. We’ll just have to keep up on what the eye tracking researchers are finding out in their focus groups. Who knew?!
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