Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

A follow-up eyetracking study was released by MarketingSherpa in concurrence with last year’s Email Benchmark Research, capturing how users view successive email newsletters. (See Image Below)  This information is very valuable for advertisers as they face the ongoing challenge of maintaining the effectiveness of their online ads every time a user views one of their messages.  According to the study, the audience’s attention to the content remains steady; however, there is great dissimilarity in the manner in which the ad space is viewed. 

Among users viewing the first newsletter, almost 80% scan some of the ad in the left-hand column.  Then, by the second issue, this percentage is cut in half, and then halved again in the third viewing.  This trend clearly demonstrates “banner blindness,” where users either consciously or unconsciously fail to identify information located in banners.  With the help of this eyetracking research, advertisers can combat banner blindness by implementing several tactics, a few of which are listed below.

1.      Vary the page’s template to encourage the user to make a full-page scan

2.      Change ad size or design so the audience’s eye is drawn to the modification

3.      Rotate ads frequently to eliminate the same position for long periods of time