ANALYZE
The results
1006% longer read times when attention psychology is used
While we expected the psychologically-enhanced version of the content to outperform the traditional version, we weren’t expecting anything as striking as a 1006% improvement in time spent engaging with the piece.
While the traditional version was read by audiences for an average of 16 seconds – barely more than a skim – the enhanced version saw average read times explode to over 175 seconds on laptop and 135 seconds on mobile.
When asked questions about the content they had just read, readers of the enhanced version said they found the content friendlier, more compelling, and easier to stay engaged with – exactly what we would expect from the psychological research.
This represents a truly remarkable improvement and shows just how powerful psychology can be in improving content engagement and winning the battle for audience attention.
Moreover, the eye-tracking analysis confirmed that readers weren’t just spending longer in the piece, they were engaging more deeply with every aspect of the content.
In fact, Lumen Research’s analysis of the data found that readers of the enhanced version spent 8.15 times longer in a mode of “intense engagement” with the content, meaning that their eyes were actively engaged in studying the text, imagery, video, and diagrams contained in the content – proper, deep engagement with the materials.
Taken together, these two results make perfect sense. Using psychology to draw the reader in and place them in a state of “intense engagement” by applying the principles of intrinsic motivation, we ensure that they will want to continue reading the piece because, as self-determination theory states, we persist longer and perform better at such activities.
Outside of the explosive improvements in reader attention, the study demonstrated a number of other significant benefits of the enhanced version.
Through closed-questioning at the end of the study, audiences stated a 5x more positive perception of the Nielsen brand in the enhanced version versus the control. Or put another way, not only did the audience read and engage with the enhanced version for longer, this in turn, resulted in a more positive perception of the brand who produced the content in the first place. Again, this makes good common-sense – if a brand produces an item that provides you with real value and benefit, you are much more likely to see that brand in a positive light.
Additionally, audience feedback showed that they were 367% more likely to view the brand as “friendly” and 67% more likely to consider the content “scientific” when presented in the enhanced form.
No matter how you look at the data, the story is clear – psychological principles can be applied to content to bring about huge improvements in attention, engagement, brand sentiment, and more. While we were confident we would see some significant results, what we saw exceeded our wildest expectations and provided real food-for-thought for anyone who is serious about improving the way they engage with their audience.
And, as discussed previously, this should be anyone who is serious about growing their business and market share because if we don’t take advantage of this knowledge, our competitors certainly will.
So what should businesses do next with these results, and how can they be applied to improve the communications we all provide to our audiences every day?
