Leveraging Human Psychology — Marketing to the Inattentive

When is the last time you had a conversation whose duration was longer than 10 minutes? When was the last time that this conversation occurred through a mode other than texting?

According to studies conducted by Microsoft, the attention span of the average person has dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds in the year 2013. In other words, the attention span of a human being is less than that of a goldfish. How embarrassing. Many speculate that the increase in the usage of technology is responsible for this shift. No matter the cause, this reality is the new normal and must be considered when drafting advertising campaigns that are effective. I list some below.

Advertising Strategies:

1. Be Compelling — If the path to a customer’s wallet isn’t through his head, then why not try his heart? An ad (of any kind) that evokes passion of any kind will draw and retain the attention of the consumer for a longer period of time.
2. A Headline that Stands Out — Stop drop and roll. Just say no. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Who doesn’t remember these one-liners? At a time when our attention spans are decreasing so rapidly, it is important to remember that we only have a certain amount of time to attract someone’s attention. A great way to do this is to literally headline your ad with a saying that grabs the attention of those reading it.
3. Videos — Video is king. Whether it’s a 5 second GIF on Twitter or a 30-second ad on TV, people are more apt to pay attention to a message shown in the form of a video than in the form of text.
4. The Vacuum that is Simplicity — A simple ad can often act as a sort of vacuum for one’s attention span — literally pulling you in closer to the product. Consider an ad with one image and one word. The view’s cognitive faculties naturally lead him to stop and draw out the concept connecting the image and the word. And there you have it — a potential consumer who has stopped and spent mental energy pondering your product. Sometimes in advertising, less is more.

Effectively Marketing to the Inattentive — A Case Study

If this Komono email campaign doesn’t get your attention, then I don’t know what will. It is crisp, structurally organized and leaves the viewer walking away with all the knowledge needed to purchase the product in a few seconds flat.

Remember my overarching argument — it’s not the product itself that is the barrier to purchase but rather the barriers in us. Now that Komono has your attention, you are forced to spend time looking at their beautiful products. And beautiful they are!