The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

NextStage has done a fair amount of research in eye-motion and eye-tracking studies. One of the things we tell our clients is something I've never seen in other such studies; Big deal. You know where the eye went. Do you know what the mind saw? Do you know what was remembered? Do you know which information is the triggering information for the action you want the site visitor to take?

People are rarely accurate when they tell you where their eyes started scanning a page. People are more often accurate when you ask "Where did you stop your initial scan of a page and start paying attention to the page?"

But ask them for specific information regarding saccades and they're always accurate. Find out where they're eyes stopped moving for a wee bit of time then, later, ask them something like "Do you remember the color of ...?" and they'll get it right. Ask them "Was there a man and a woman or two men or two women in the picture at ...?" and they'll not only tell you the correct answer, they'll accurately fill in some extra blanks you didn't ask. Ask them an intentionally errored question -- ask them something like "What was the color of the blouse the second woman was wearing in ...?" when there was a woman and a man and they'll tell you they either can't remember or that your question is incorrect.

So don't put your branding elements -- those things you want remembered -- where the eye tracks to, put them where the eye saccades. People will remember them every time.

Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.

Links for this post:

• Directing Your Customer's Gaze
• Pavlov's Eyes: Get Users to Respond
• Shared Traits of Great Web Design
• Usability Studies 101: Follow the Eye
• Usability Studies 101: MIPs are Next
• Use of Eye Images as Navigation and Action Cues on WebSites