How many page flips, finger taps, or mouse clicks does it take for your customers to find a product?

A poor user experience across any of your channels can send customers to a competitor — fast. In fact, a recent study by Microsoft Corp. found that our attention span has shrunk to a mere eight seconds. If you’re wondering, that’s shorter than a goldfish, which has the ability to focus for a full nine.

However, unlike a goldfish, humans have a lot of choices to juggle in a very short time-frame. And when you think of all of the potential distractions and pitfalls, eight seconds doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room to make a conversion. That’s why it’s so important to make sure your products are easy to find and easy to buy.

Start with your catalog. Here are four steps to simplify your reader experience:

  • Reduce clutter. Make sure product descriptions are easy to locate in relation to the pictures, and don’t be afraid of a little white space.
  • Write clear copy. Sometimes it pays to be poetic — but your product descriptions likely aren’t the place for enlightening prose. Keep your descriptions concise and to the point, highlighting the product’s most important features.
  • Prioritize proofreading. It’s easy to gloss over mistakes in both syntax and layout when you’ve looked at something several times. An editor provides a valuable second set of eyes to ensure your end product is free of errors, as well as functional and appealing for customers.
  • Make purchasing a seamless transition. Buying something from the pages of your catalog should never be complicated. Not only should you offer the ability to buy a product through the catalog, online, and by phone, but you should also have clear instructions on how to do each in several places. The less searching your customers have to do, the better!

Make the shopping experience so seamless, so straightforward, and so simple that you take the choice out of shopping with you!

For help making your catalog more intuitive and easier to navigate, get in touch with The Dingley Press. Our print quality, innovative finishing options, and interactive features will help you create a distinctive catalog that your customers will love.