Just checking your e-mail. In your mail a newsletter for a discount offer at the Beaver. All hiking shoes 25% discount, interesting. You click on it and go to the page with the overview of all discounted shoes. You consider that your hiking shoes will last for next season. But your sneakers, on the other hand, really need replacing. Would that store with Vans shoes still exist? Yes, Google Maps still shows the store. That's right, it's next to that cute bookstore! On the bookstore's website, you can find the book your mother was talking about the other day. It's her birthday in a few weeks, so buy it before you forget again. You go to the shopping basket. What about shipping costs? You find a link in the footer. The social media icons also attract your attention. You arrive at the bookstore's Facebook page. Meanwhile, you get notifications of new activity on Facebook. What was your initial goal behind your laptop again?

The world around us is full of distractions. The Internet is an extremely good example of this. Every Web page wants your attention. But which part of the Web page should get your attention? Each department within an organization maintains a piece of the Web page and has its own goals on it. Therefore, there are several possible answers to this question. Where something is a distraction on one page, it is an addition to another. In this article, I explain the ‘law of distraction. What does this ’law say? What exactly are distractions and when is a distraction really a distraction?

What is ‘the law of distraction’?

To understand what ‘the law of distraction’ means, it's good to think about what exactly is meant by a distraction. Anything that does not contribute to the goal of your Web page (conversions, for example) but demands visitors‘ attention can be considered a distraction. The ’law" surrounding this distraction means that anything that can potentially distract visitors on the page will actually distract people. We want to keep our focus but things, people or events take away our focus, usually without us realizing it. No matter how well we know what we want.

Especially when we are talking about online environments, there is plenty of optimization that can be done to ensure that visitors are not distracted. By reducing stimuli online, you help visitors keep their focus. This will not only have a positive effect on the purpose of the page, but also on the mental state (and thus the user experience) of the visitor.

When is a distraction a distraction?

To figure out exactly when a distraction is a distraction, you need to do enough preliminary research about the visitors on your website. After all, demand can be different for each website, page, device, visitor and product. Look at the data, such as exit rates and the path users take.

Do many users click on footer links at the end of your funnel? If so, they may still be looking for missing information. Do users leave the Web site entirely? Then they may be missing information or there may be no distractions on the current page, but there may be a link to motivate visitors. Set clear goals for each page in advance and coordinate with other online departments as well. Always remove distractions first in an experiment and then implement the positive results on the website. This way, you can find out, in a validated way, which distractions can be easily removed and which are better left in place. 

Ordering process & distractions

Removing distractions is often one of the first methods we perform within the CRO process. For many different clients, this leads to positive results. In experiments aimed at systematically increasing conversions, the back of the funnel is often the best place to start with this, such as an ordering process. Users have then already chosen a product and have a higher motivation to buy it. Elements in the footer such as social media icons and job information will often no longer add value at this stage of the purchase process. These distractions can cause people to click through to another page and thus not complete their purchase. Elements later in the funnel that focus on delivery time or trust in the brand may actually add something. By setting up different experiments regarding online distractions, you will find out which elements have value and on which pages they have the best results.

Orientation pages & diversions

It is also possible to remove distractions on the pages earlier in the funnel. What exactly the distractions are here, however, is more difficult to determine. Orientation pages are set up to share information with the customer. Where one customer is looking for contact information, another prefers to compare products. In addition, orientation pages are indexed by search engines and thus content also has a function for ‘Search Engine Optimization’ (SEO). 

The extra information links that have a distracting effect at the back of the funnel may have added value at the front of the funnel for this reason. Also, we are talking about a greater effect to be achieved on pages that are further away from the conversion moment. On orientation pages it is therefore less easy to experiment with removing (subtle) distractions. So how do you apply the ‘law of distraction’ at the front of the funnel? By using the purpose and data of the page to remove all possible distractions that do not match this and measure their effect. In doing so, keep in mind the existing content and the purpose of use on that particular page, and test elements back where possible. 

Closing

To get visitors“ attention focused on the right parts of the Web page, it is wise to remove distractions. By properly researching the current purpose and behavior on the page beforehand, you can set up experiments that address ”the law of distraction." By removing unnecessary items from the page, you ensure that the right parts of the page receive validated attention. In this way, you reduce the proportion of distractions. Need help setting up tests to reduce distractions? Get in touch with me!