Research Note #03
What Is This?
When people have to work hard to understand a message, engagement drops. Clicks drop. Conversions drop. People leave. Not because they're rude. Because they're busy. Most visitors aren't carefully reading your website. They're scanning it, trying to work out whether they've landed in the right place.
Observation
This was one of the easiest patterns to spot in the research. People prefer things that are easy to understand. Revolutionary stuff, I know.
When people have to work hard to understand a message, engagement drops. Clicks drop. Conversions drop. People leave. Not because they're rude. Because they're busy.
Most visitors aren't carefully reading your website. They're scanning it, trying to work out whether they've landed in the right place. Which means your homepage has one job before anything else: help people understand what you do. As quickly as possible.
Evidence
A study analysing more than 30,000 real world headline experiments found that readers consistently preferred simpler writing over more complex writing.
Confusing: 'We engineer transformational business solutions through innovative technology frameworks.'
Clear: 'We build websites that generate more enquiries.'
Practical Takeaway
If people have to decode your message, you've already made their life harder. Write your headline for a complete stranger who's never heard of your business. If they can't explain what you do in one sentence, neither can your visitors.