This just in: “Readers” actually don’t do much reading.

Indeed, just 19% of participants in a Harris Interactive poll read articles word-by-word. Many more skim mostly headlines (34%) or the full article (25%).

That means 67% skim, and 81% don’t read, online news.

Why?

People don’t have time to read online news thoroughly. Instead, they’re more likely to be skimming a text for specific information like a phone number or selectively reading to reduce the amount of time they spend with your information. Whichever “reading” technique or “reading” method they use, they are actually not reading much at all.

Beyond news

It’s not just news. People skim and scan text in other online channels and devices, as well:

• How people read on the web: They don’t; so make webpages scannable
• Do people skim, scan, read emails? Just 19% of email newsletters get read thoroughly
• People are skimming text on tablets: Insights from Poynter’s EyeTrack study
• People skim through the text of blog posts: They read 3.5% of the words on the page
• Eye tracking online shows where people look: Change how people see your page with 6 eye gaze patterns

Reel in your readers

So how do you catch these skimmers and scanners? According to the Harris poll:

• Hook them with your headline. A catchy headline (54%) tops the list of elements that convince skimmers to read.
• Wow them beyond words. Interesting pictures (44%) and compelling infographics (28%) are also strong lures.
• Draw them in with data. Interesting data or research that supports the article, which drew 43% of respondents to read, was the only content element that made the list.

Bottom line: Draw skimmers and scanners in with display copy and images. Don’t expect to reach them with paragraphs.

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Source: “TV is America’s Preferred News Mode Overall, but Online is Matching or Outpacing it in Some Segments,” Harris Interactive

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Your email recipients aren’t reading your message. They’re scanning your emails.

Indeed, according to the Nielsen Norman Group’s latest eye-tracking study, email recipients:

• Skimmed 69% of the e-zines they received
• Thoroughly read just 19% of e-zines
• Read the majority of the content of 6%
• Glanced at but did not read at all 6%

So here’s the reading technique for emails: Recipients scan pieces of information quickly, speed reading to find specific information.

“Scannability is important for websites,” writes NNG principal Jakob Nielsen, “but it’s about 50% more important for newsletters.”

Why write skimmable e-zines?

Because:

1. Recipients skim even more on mobile.

In NNG’s most recent study, mobile newsletter readers reported that they:

• Skimmed newsletters 74% of the time
• Fully read newsletters 24% of the time
• Glanced at but didn’t read 2% of the time

2. People read only 37 to 200 words of your email.

People spend just 51 seconds, on average, with an email newsletter after opening it, according to another NNG study. That’s only enough time to read about 200 words.

For sales emails, the numbers are even more brutal: People spend just 11 seconds on e-blasts, according to a 2017 report by Litmus. That’s enough time to read only about 37 words.

So which words do they read?

3. They read the microcontent.

Email newsletter subscribers in NNG eye-tracking studies read the headlines and the first line or two of the story. They often skipped the paragraphs, sometimes because they were scrolling too quickly.

Instead of reading the paragraphs, their eyes were drawn to:

• Headlines. If they could get the gist of the e-zine from the headlines and without reading the text, they were happy with the newsletter.
• First 1-2 lines of text.
• Bulleted lists. Subscribers read the first item more than subsequent items and the first words in each bullet more than subsequent words.
• Links. They’re blue and underlined, so they’re the easiest elements to skim on the screen.

Are you putting your email messages where recipients’ eyes are?

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Sources: Mike Renahan, “The Ideal Length of a Sales Email, Based on 40 Million Emails,” HubSpot, July 11, 2018

Kim Flaherty, Amy Schade, and Jakob Nielsen; Marketing Email and Newsletter Design to Increase Conversion and Loyalty, 6th Edition; Nielsen Norman Group, 2017

Jakob Nielsen, “Email newsletters: Surviving Inbox Congestion,” Alertbox, June 12, 2006

Jakob Nielsen, “Targeted Email Newsletters Show Continued Strength,” Alertbox, Feb. 17, 2004

The post Do people skim, scan, read emails? appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Consider the numbers:

• 43% of people skim blog posts instead of reading them, according to Hubspot.
• 55% of people spent fewer than 15 seconds on an article, ​​according to ChartBeat.
• That means people read about 50 words, on average, of a post, using an average reading rate of 200 words per minute.
• The average blog post is 1,416 words long, according to OrbitMedia.

Which means that audience members read, on average, 3.5% of the words on a post.

They don’t read the text. Instead, their “reading strategy” is to skim.

Beyond blog posts

It’s not just blog posts. People skim and scan text in other online channels and devices, as well:

• How people read on the web: They don’t; so make webpages scannable
• Do people skim, scan, read emails? Just 19% of email newsletters get read thoroughly
• People skim and scan text in online news: Only 25% read word by word
• Eye tracking online shows where people look: Change how people see your page with 6 eye gaze patterns
• People are skimming text on tablets: Insights from Poynter’s EyeTrack study

Which words do they read?

So how do you reach nonreaders with words? Put your message where their eyes are — in the microcontent and display copy.

So which words do they read? Your audience members look at magnetic elements, including:

• Bold-face text
• Callouts
• Captions
• Decks
• Headlines
• Links
• Lists
• Subheads

So put your message where their eyes are — in the display copy.

Pass The Palm Test.

So break up walls of words to make messages look easier to read.

In one study, Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice Coyne rewrote a New York Magazine post about New York City restaurants. They added more bullets, bold-faced text, highlighted key words and white space to break up walls of words and make the message look easier to read.

Audience members spent about twice as much time with the original page. But they remembered 34% more of the content on the revised page. But they:

• Understood 12% better
• Remembered 34% more of the piece
• Enjoyed the experience significantly better

Pass The Skim Test.

In another study, Nielsen Norman Group researchers rewrote a New York Times article about Nobel Prize winners. They made the piece significantly more scannable with:

• Subheads
• Bulleted lists
• Highlighted key words

As a result, audience members:

• Spent 3% more time reading the article.
• Understood it 12% better.
• Enjoyed it 7% more.

Not a bad return on a few bullets and bold-faced words!

How can you reach people who skim through your text?

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