Here’s an interesting dichotomy: Killing time is the killer app for mobile devices. But mobile users are in a hurry and “get visibly angry” at verbose sites that waste their time.

Why?

“Even relaxation is purposeful behavior,” according to usability expert Jakob Nielsen. “In information foraging theory, users seek to maximize their cost/benefit ratio. That is, people want more thrills and less interaction overhead.”

Sadly, interaction costs are inherently greater in mobile — all that swiping and scrolling and trying to remember what you can’t see on the screen adds up.

“Tolerance of padding on mobiles is a lot lower,” counsels the BBC in its writing news for mobile screens guidelines. “So people are even quicker to drop out. You have to get their attention instantly; grab them from the first sentence. It’s too easy to click away.”

So how do you give mobile readers more thrills and less interaction overhead? Cut the blah-blah. Readers won’t put up with filler on their phones.

Cut the blah-blah.

Nielsen once saw this electronic sign in an airport hotel lobby:

Really?! you might ask. This flight monitor will actually … monitor flights?

“Because the monitor’s meaning is obvious to anyone who has ever been on an airplane, the sign adds nothing,” Nielsen says. “Worse, it wastes people’s time as they ponder the cycling text, assuming that it will eventually say something important.”

After all, Nielsen points out, the sign could just say:

Avoid information pollution.

Call it information pollution — “excessive word count and worthless details” that make it hard for people to get good information.

Information pollution not only wastes time, it steals audience attention.

“Each little piece of useless chatter is relatively innocent, and only robs us of a few seconds,” Nielsen says. “The cumulative effect, however, is much worse: we assume that most communication is equally useless and tune it out, thus missing important information that’s sometimes embedded in the mess.”

So cut the fluff.

“In particular, ditch the blah-blah verbiage,” Nielsen says. “When writing for mobile users, heed this maxim: If in doubt, leave it out.”

Filler = bad.

Nielsen also sees this kind of “useless chatter” at the tops of many web pages.

“The worst kind of blah-blah has no function; it’s pure filler — platitudes, such as, ‘Welcome to our site, we hope you will find our new and improved design helpful,’” he says.

“Kill the welcome mat and cut to the chase.”

Filler of all kinds irritates mobile readers. Consider this response from one participant in Nielsen’s mobile usability studies:

She felt duped because she didn’t get enough payoff from her investment of time and effort.

Cut to the chase.

“Let’s clean up our information environment,” Nielsen says. “Are you saying something that benefits your customers, or simply spewing word count? If users don’t need it, don’t write it. Stop polluting now.”

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How long is too long for the mobile screen?

“Only the biggest/most complex stories should go above 600 words,” counsels the BBC in its guide to writing news for the mobile screen. “But it is worth remembering that even a 500-word story looks long on mobile.”

“Even a 500-word story looks long on mobile.”

— BBC

That’s because the small screen makes columns narrower, so the story carries on for screen after screen after screen.

That doesn’t mean that people won’t read a longer piece on their phones.

“I might read a 24,000-word article that really interests me” on my phone.

— BBC mobile editor Nathalie Malinarich

“I might read a 24,000-word article that really interests me,” says BBC mobile editor Nathalie Malinarich, who reads most of her news on her phone.

1. Divide and conquer. Defer secondary content to secondary mobile screens.
2. Show what’s below the fold. Add a menu to let readers know what they can’t see on the first screen.
3. Excise the blah-blah text. Readers have no patience for filler on the phone.
4. Be concise and precise. When in doubt, leave it out.

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Web visitors spend 74% of their time on the first two screens, just 26% on all remaining screens, according to the Nielsen Norman Group

So don’t blow your top.

To reach mobile web visitors up top, communicate the gist of the message in the first four elements of the web page:

1. Headline

Tell the story, don’t tell about the story. “Hallmark doubles profit-sharing contribution,” for instance, not “Benefits changes announced.”

And don’t even get me started on label headlines: “Benefits changes” is not a headline.

Before:

Preventing and declaring conflicts of interest

This buries the topic behind 25 characters worth of –inging words. Plus, it’s unclear: Who’s preventing? Who’s declaring?

After:

Conflicts of interest: How do you handle?

This moves the topic to the top and clarifies who’s responsible.

2. Deck.

Deliver a secondary angle for news stories and a summary for benefits and feature stories. Don’t drop this essential element: 95% of web page visitors look at the deck.

Before: The writer dropped the deck, missing 25% of her chance to get the word out within the top four elements of the story.

After:

Conduct all your business ethically with our new policy

The new deck adds the benefit to the readers and introduces the new policy.

3. Lead

Show, don’t tell. Leads that illustrate the point with concrete material like stories bring the point to life for readers. And they draw 300% more readers and 520% more reading, according to a split test by Alex Turnbull and the Groove HQ.

Before:

I think I’d read 520% more of this if it were 15% more colorful.

After:

Just a light touch of detail makes this piece more engaging, puts the reader in the story and brings the message to life.

4. Nut graph

Put the story into a nutshell in the second paragraph. Don’t drop the deck: 95% of web page visitors read the deck, so it’s a key element for communicating to skimmers and other nonreaders in a hurry.

Before:

I’m sure this is all true, but it doesn’t define the story and move it forward. I’d consider this background rather than a nut graph.

After:

Here, we make the story snappier and get that policy link up among the first four elements.

Now test it.

Now email those first four elements to yourself and test them on your smartphone.

Can you get the gist of the story from the first four elements? If so, congratulations! You pass the 1-2-3-4 test.

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

It’s not easy to reach readers on mobile devices. The small screen size, touchscreen and more add up to a lot of usability issues.

Here, according to Raluca Budiu and Jakob Nielsen, authors of User Experience for Mobile Applications and Websites, are 5 obstacles to look out for when writing for the mobile web:

1. Screen size

Smartphones have touchscreens that are about 3.5-x-6.5-inches large, according to Budiu and Nielsen’s definition. That’s a tiny window through which your visitors see your web pages, blog posts, news releases and social media status updates.

That means that the content displayed above the fold on a 30-inch monitor requires five screens on a smartphone. As a result, mobile web visitors must:

• Work harder to get the same amount of information
• Remember information that isn’t visible on the small screen

That adds up to a lot of cognitive overload. As a result, reading on a mobile device cuts comprehension in half, according to research by R.I. Singh and colleagues from the University of Alberta.

Small screen size also means that every pixel of mobile screen real estate is as valuable as Central Park-facing real estate.

“Whenever you include a new design element or a new piece of content on the mobile screen, something else gets pushed out (or below the fold),” write Budiu and Nielsen. “Think hard of the opportunity cost of each new element: What does it mean for the users if you leave out element B in order to include element A? Is element A more important than element B?”

2. Portable and interruptible

Because every mobile phone is designed to fit in a pocket or a purse, people use them anywhere and everywhere.

But communication on the go is difficult, 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 up the date of your webinar in the grocery line — when it’s their turn to step up to the cash register.

The result of these interruptions: Attention spans on mobile devices are half as long as on desktops, according to a Mobile HCI study (PDF):

• Average desktop session duration: 150 seconds
• Average mobile session duration: 72 seconds

“Because attention is fragmented, strive to show users what they need as soon as possible),” write Budiu and Nielsen. “Flooding them with details and asking them to parse walls of text for relevant facts is not interruption friendly. The gist should always come before the minutiae. A simple task is easier to finish quickly. It’s also easier to resume than one with many steps and alternatives.”

3. Single window

Most mobile visitors can see only a single window on their phones. They can’t split screens or work with two apps at once.

Imagine your visitors trying to pick up information from one app to paste into your online form in another app. Or going back and forth between web pages to get the context they need to follow your line of thought. Or taking notes with a pen and paper so they can get something from Screen A to Screen B.

Don’t make that happen.

4. Touchscreen

Two words: fat fingers.

“Not only is the screen smaller than a laptop or desktop screen),” write Budiu and Nielsen, “but design elements need to be larger than those on a regular monitor.”

5. Variable connectivity

I don’t have to tell you that — even in the era of fast cellular networks and ubiquitous Wi-Fi — coverage is not universally good.

In an environment where connectivity issues are a given, “every new page load translates into a significant waiting time when the network does not cooperate,” write Budiu and Nielsen.

• Mind the load time: Think light page designs that contain as much information as possible.
• Reduce the number page loads: Put full stories and sets of instructions on single pages. And, you know those Top 25 stories that are essentially images and captions, strung along 25 different web pages? Stop that.

How to reach readers on mobile sites

All of these obstacles can add up to a difficult mobile experience. In fact, Budiu and Nielsen have seen a 294% increase in mobile usability guidelines, from 85 to 335, since the first iPhone was released in June 2007.

To overcome these obstacles to getting the word out via mobile devices:

• Get To the Point Faster: Put the hot stuff up top for mobile.
• Chunk It Up: Prioritize page content and defer secondary and tertiary material.
• Design for Mobile: Create large, spaced out links and other touch targets for fat fingers. Minimize page size and the number of page loads.
• Cut Through the Clutter for Mobile: Make every piece you write easier to read and understand.
• Lift Ideas Off the Mobile Screen: Give the gist of your story to skimmers and scanners through microcontent.

That’s essential. Because mobile usability is harder to achieve than desktop or laptop usability.

“What’s slightly annoying” on a desktop, write Budiu and Nielsen, “is overwhelming” on a smartphone.

How can you provide a good mobile user experience through your visitor’s 3.5-by-6.5-inch window onto your world?

___

Sources: Raluca Budiu and Jakob Nielsen; User Experience for Mobile Applications and Websites: Design Guidelines for Improving the Usability of Mobile Sites and Apps; 3rd edition; Nielsen Norman Group; 2015

R.I. Singh, M. Sumeeth, and J. Miller: “Evaluating the Readability of Privacy Policies in Mobile Environments,” International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 55–78.

M. Bohmer, B. Hecht, J. Schoning, A. Kruger, G. Bauer; “Falling asleep with Angry Birds, Facebook and Kindle — A large scale study on mobile application usage,” Mobile HCI 2011

Jakob Nielsen, “Mobile Content Is Twice as Difficult,” Alertbox, Feb. 28, 2011

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