Why doesn't anyone read on the internet?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2025 3:49 am
People only read 25% of your words
The fact that people don't read on the internet is nothing new. Jakob Nielsen first came up with this idea back in 1997. Based on his research, he concluded that on a page with 600 words (i.e. 1.5 standard pages), people only read a little over 25% of the words .
How many characters do people actually read?
We first look for evidence in the text that it actually provides us with the information and added value we need. If it does, we are willing to read. In practice, this means that we first scan the text with our eyes to see if it makes sense to read at all.
Get a customer in 9 seconds
Important messages belong above the fold. That is, in the space you facebook database see on the monitor when you open the page without having to scroll. The space above the fold is usually calculated up to 600px. There is still debate about whether users scroll or not.
In the 1990s, when Nielsen conducted the aforementioned research, users hardly scrolled at all. In 2010, Nielsen conducted another study on scrolling . The result: 80% of users are looking for essential information above the fold , but they scroll quite naturally. For example, 67% of users scrolled down our article about the Mergado service . Only 20% of users scroll to the footer . This is essential information, so we place conversion buttons and calls to action accordingly so that they are always in the user's sight. You can check how your users scroll for free using the Monkey tracker tool.
Tell the user what to do
However, you have to grab the attention of a user in 9 seconds , otherwise the user won't have time to scroll. So attractive and important content belongs at the top.
Make sure that users realize at first glance that they should scroll and that there is something waiting for them below the fold. A prominent arrow is enough , or a piece of another element can be visible. One of these pages draws attention to the content below the fold, the other does not. Which one will you scroll to next?
The fact that people don't read on the internet is nothing new. Jakob Nielsen first came up with this idea back in 1997. Based on his research, he concluded that on a page with 600 words (i.e. 1.5 standard pages), people only read a little over 25% of the words .
How many characters do people actually read?
We first look for evidence in the text that it actually provides us with the information and added value we need. If it does, we are willing to read. In practice, this means that we first scan the text with our eyes to see if it makes sense to read at all.
Get a customer in 9 seconds
Important messages belong above the fold. That is, in the space you facebook database see on the monitor when you open the page without having to scroll. The space above the fold is usually calculated up to 600px. There is still debate about whether users scroll or not.
In the 1990s, when Nielsen conducted the aforementioned research, users hardly scrolled at all. In 2010, Nielsen conducted another study on scrolling . The result: 80% of users are looking for essential information above the fold , but they scroll quite naturally. For example, 67% of users scrolled down our article about the Mergado service . Only 20% of users scroll to the footer . This is essential information, so we place conversion buttons and calls to action accordingly so that they are always in the user's sight. You can check how your users scroll for free using the Monkey tracker tool.
Tell the user what to do
However, you have to grab the attention of a user in 9 seconds , otherwise the user won't have time to scroll. So attractive and important content belongs at the top.
Make sure that users realize at first glance that they should scroll and that there is something waiting for them below the fold. A prominent arrow is enough , or a piece of another element can be visible. One of these pages draws attention to the content below the fold, the other does not. Which one will you scroll to next?