You may have heard that social scientists recently added a new item on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

The classic model of what drives human nature looked like this back in the day:

• Self actualization: the feeling of doing what you were put on this planet to do
• Esteem: feeling good about yourself and what you do
• Social needs: having love, a tribe, companionship
• Safety and security: not being afraid of getting eaten by a tiger
• Physiological needs: food and shelter

Our modern world has revealed another, even more basic human need …

… Wi-Fi.

No kidding! And where’s juice? A charger? These are things we need to live through the day!

Mobile has become central to our readers’ daily life. And that’s a problem. Because it’s a lot harder to reach readers on a phone screen than it is to reach them on a laptop or desktop.

When your web visitors are reading on mobile, they:

1. Devote less attention to your message

Readers pay less attention to your page when they’re on their phone screens than their laptops or desktops. That’s because mobile web visitors are likely to get interrupted at any moment.

• They’re cooling their heels with your blog post at the doctor’s office — when their name is called.
• They’re looking at your Facebook status updates in line at the grocery — when it’s their turn to step up to the cash register.
• They’re researching the date of your webinar on the streetcar when they notice it’s their stop. Not only do they forget the date, but they also forget the fact that you’re having a webinar in the first place.

As a result of all of those interruptions, readers also …

2. Spend less time with your message

People spend an average of 150 seconds on a web page visit on their desktops, but only 72 seconds on their phones, according to Mobile HCI.

Which means that attention spans on mobile devices are half as long as on desktops.

Plus, the average time people spend on a page is going down:

• Average time on screen 2004: 150 seconds
• 2012: 75 seconds
• 2023: 47 seconds

Which means attention spans are down 69% in 19 years.

3. Read more slowly

People read 20% to 30% slower online, according to a survey of nearly 30 years of research by Andrew Dillon, Ph.D., of the University of Texas.

Reading on mobile takes even longer, writes Kate Meyer, a user experience specialist for Nielsen Norman Group. People spend about 30 milliseconds more per word when reading on a phone than when reading on a laptop or desktop computer.

Let’s do the math: If readers spend less time and read more slowly, they’re absorbing less of your message.

4. Understand less of your message

Mobile web visitors also comprehend less of your message.

Web pages are 48% harder to understand on an iPhone than on the big screen, according to research by R.I. Singh and colleagues from the University of Alberta. In the study, web visitors understood:

• 39% of what they read on a desktop screen
• Just 19% of what they read on mobile screens

5. Remember less of your message

Short-term memory is bad and getting worse. (I looked up a short-term-memory loss joke for this spot this morning, but I can’t remember what it was.)

Problem is, we can only remember what we can see. With a 3-by-9-inch screen, we can’t see very much. In fact, content displayed above the fold on a 30-inch monitor requires five screens on a smartphone, according to the authors of User Experience for Mobile Applications and Websites.

Reading your web page on a smartphone is like reading War and Peace through a keyhole.

6. Are less likely to act on your message

When the IRS improved its web pages about tax law changes, employee call center accuracy increased by 10%, reports TJ Larkin of Larkin Communications Consulting.

When the bureau printed the exact same web pages and left them in employees’ cubicles, accuracy increased by 42%.

The best way to move readers to act?

Overcome the obstacles of reading on the small screen.

So how do you reach readers online, even when they’re reading on mobile devices? Get to the point faster, organize better, make it easier to read and more skimmable.

The post What are the problems with reading on mobile devices? appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Make mine to go.

More than half of your audience members now receive your emails, visit your web pages and engage with your social media channels via their mobile devices, not their laptops.

That makes it time for a mobile makeover. Here’s how Walter Doerschuk of Grabowski & Co. rewrote his message for the small screen at my most recent Write for Mobile Master Class:

Headline and deck

Focus on the front. In the original, the keyword — depression — doesn’t show up until 16 words in:

That makes it hard for Google (and humans!) to figure out what this story’s about.

In his after, Walter puts the keyword right where it belongs: at the front of the headline:

Intro

You can see the difference at a glance. The original spends 63 words establishing the background on depression before getting to the point: Here are some strategies for coping.

We all sometimes face day-to-day struggles. But sometimes, they turn serious.

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

• Loss of concentration or energy.
• Lack of motivation.
• Little or no sleep.
• Feeling worthless.

If so, you are not alone.

These are all symptoms of depression. It’s a global problem, affecting one out of every 10 people and costing employers $210.5 billion each year.

It’s your time to start 2018 off on the right foot.

In his rewrite, Walter draws readers in by focusing on their favorite subjects — themselves. Note that the list of symptoms is much more interesting when they’re my symptoms instead of just symptoms:

Then a couple of sentences of background information. I like the one in 10 stat more than the “costs employers billions” message. I’d use the latter when communicating to employers instead of individuals.

If so, you are not alone. Millions like you around the world face the same struggles. Depression affects one out of every 10 people, and it’s costing employers $44 billion each year.

And look how much higher the point of the piece — the coping strategies — are:

Body

The bold-faced lead-ins work well in Walter’s original body:

Look at that subhead! It grabs attention, lets people know where to look for the strategies, and even changes the way people look at your web page.

Also, check out that link. Links, being blue and underlined, are among the most visual words on a page. For scanners, it’s the difference between learning Find these new strategies to tackle depression and learning here. (However, I’d find a way to avoid repeating so closely the message in the subhead.)

Ask yourself: Which of those links are you more likely to click on? Find these new strategies to tackle depression? Or here?

I like numbering the tips, but I would put that number in the subheads, too.

Notice that the second list is 31 words shorter than the first.

Next steps

Skim the original section. You get “do” out of it:

For more resources, check here: University of Michigan Depression Tool Kit.

Skim the second. You get “How to get help: Talk, Consult, Call”:

How to get help
If you still struggle, there are more ways to find assistance.

• Talk with your co-workers, family and friends for advice or even just a listening ear.
• Consult with your company’s employee assistance program for additional resources.
• Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) with an immediate crisis.

I’d bold-face a bit more:

• Talk with your co-workers, family and friends …
• Consult with your company’s employee assistance program … Call the National Suicide Prevention Line …

Notice that the second list is parallel and imperative, just like Aunt Ann (and other readers) want it to be.

I like the way Walter wrapped the resource into the body of the second piece.

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