As we get ready to launch the new marketing blog and learning center for the RightMessage website, I’ve been reading a lot of books on customer on-boarding and building better user experiences.

One of those books is Steve Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think!” He writes:

When we’re creating sites, we act as though people are going to pore over each page, reading our finely crafted text, figuring out how we’ve organized things, and weighing their options for deciding which link to click.

What they actually do most of the time (if we’re lucky) is glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing they’re looking for. There are usually large parts of the page that they don’t even look at.

We’re thinking ‘great literature’ (or at least ‘product brochure’), while the user’s reality is much closer to ‘billboard going by at 60 miles an hour.’

This just reinforces a truth about how most site visitors read webpages – they don’t read, they scan.

So as I sit and write articles for the blog and educational learning center, I can’t help but constantly ask myself: is this helpful? 

Is this article helpful to my ideal customer?

Is it teaching them something new?

Am I using words and language that they’ll understand? That addresses their needs and wants?

If you were to audit your own product/service website right now … how much of your marketing is relevant and useful towards the customer you’re trying to attract?

The 5-Second Test

The 5-second test is a usability test wherein a user is given a webpage to preview for 5 seconds and then they’re asked to write down everything they remember about the page.

• WHO is it written for?
• WHAT is the product or service that’s being sold?
• Is the CALL-TO-ACTION clear?

By analyzing a user’s first impressions you’re quickly able to determine whether the content contained on the page is useful and clear, or whether you’ve got some more copywriting (and improving to do).

Would your website pass the 5-second test?

Take a look at your sales page (and opt-in landing pages). Would they pass the 5-second test?