The Five-Second Test

You’ve probably heard of the five-second test. You show someone an image of your home page for five seconds, and then you ask them what the site is about. This is based on a number of tests that tell us that visitors make a quick assessment of whether the site will provide the information that they seek, and they move on if that assessment is negative.

Today’s Thinking

There’s data today that indicates we may not have five seconds to get across that idea! It may be more like two seconds. So when you do the five-second test, try some tests using just two seconds and see if visitors get any idea what your site is about. And at the same time ask them if they liked the appearance of the site; if they like it they get a favorable first impression of you, and if they don’t like it you are starting out from behind.