User blindness phenomenon: 50% of traffic is wasted!

Although our eyes perceive everything, only a small portion actually enters our consciousness. Most of the time, this selection process occurs automatically, and the brain automatically identifies what information is needed and what is not needed based on the situation. This is the principle of "user blindness". So how can we reduce users’ “blindness” to key information?

• Scenario 1: Why is no one participating in the promotion?
• Scenario 2: Why did the new user acquisition activity fail to attract new users?
• Scenario 3: Why is the advertisement ineffective?

We are all familiar with these problems and we often encounter them in our work.

So recall, what are your analytical habits when you encounter this type of problem?

The majority of poor results are due to poor activity, poor copywriting , or the product itself.

Do you agree with this statement?

If this is what you think, then it is very necessary to read today's article. Because you ignored the "user blindness phenomenon".

1. The blindness rate is as high as 50%.

What is “user blindness”?

Let me give you an example so you can understand.

Imagine this:

You are having a meal and chatting with your friends. You are so engrossed in the conversation that before you know it, the waiter has brought all the dishes.

At this point, can you answer these questions - How many times did the waiter come? When did you come? Who were the people who served you the food?

If you can't answer, it means you have a kind of "blindness phenomenon". Although you see it, you don't pay attention to it. It can also be understood as "turning a blind eye".

There is a very famous experiment in psychology that proves the existence of this phenomenon.

In 1999, Simons and Chabris conducted a simple experiment in which subjects watched a short video of less than a minute. In the video, there are two teams, black and white, passing the ball to each other. The only task of the subjects is to count how many times the white team passed the ball (the black team does not need to be counted).

However, this mission is actually a cover, and the experiment has another mystery:

In the middle of the video, a man dressed as a gorilla walks into the group, beats his chest in front of the camera, stays there for a few seconds, and then leaves.

Logically speaking, it is impossible not to see such a conspicuous gorilla.

But in fact, when asked after the test, almost half of the subjects did not spot the gorilla. Measurements from an eye-tracking device that tracked the subjects’ gaze movements showed that most of those who claimed they had not seen the gorilla had also fixed their gazes on it—they “saw” the gorilla but were not able to really “see” it.

When the subjects were asked to watch the video again, one person even strongly suspected that the two videos were different and that there was no way there could be a gorilla in the first video.

This is the famous "gorilla" experiment. Experiments have shown that even very obvious information may be missed by us.

This experiment was repeated several times, and each time almost half of the people failed to notice the gorilla. In other words, the probability of "user blindness" occurring is about 50%. If this probability also applies to the product, it means that half of the users, even if they see the activity, do not really "see" it. What a terrible waste.

2. Can it be avoided? cannot!

“User blindness” is unavoidable. This is a common trait among humans; it’s how our brains have worked since our ancestors. When people focus their attention on a certain area or object, they ignore things they don't need to see, even if they are eye-catching.

Because attention is a very limited resource , it is impossible for people to pay attention to all external information at the same time. The brain will always selectively pay attention to certain information and filter out most other information. Moreover, the information that is filtered out is not only ignored by the attention, but may even be inhibited from being remembered.

In psychology, this is called "selective attention" .

Although our eyes perceive everything, only a small portion actually enters our consciousness. Most of the time, this selection process happens automatically, with the brain automatically identifying what information is needed and what is not needed depending on the situation. This is the principle of "user blindness phenomenon".

However, since it is unavoidable, is it necessary to continue reading this article?

Next, here’s some practical tips on how to reduce users’ “blindness” to key information.

3. Master the brain’s loopholes

We just learned that most of the time, attention is allocated automatically by the brain.

Its allocation rule is: Is it needed?

There is a loophole here - the information that the brain thinks it needs may not be really needed.

What information does the brain consider necessary?

There are 4 types. These four types of information can help humans survive in the long process of human evolution. Therefore, the brain is very sensitive to this information and forms the four principles of attention.

(1) Opportunities

This type of information suggests to the brain the possibility of benefit. Includes: information with profit clues, information related to goals, and information that is consistent with expectations.

(2) Threat

Any information that is perceived as threatening will naturally attract attention. Includes: dangerous information, information with clues to loss, and information that causes doubt.

But it is worth noting that this type of information must be true, not false clickbait , otherwise users will deliberately reduce their attention in the future.

(3) Breaking the rules

Rules and regularity both help humans to be stable, and therefore make us wary if the rules are broken. Includes: information that has changed, information that is not as expected, information that is unpredictable, information that causes confusion, and strange information (rare, novel).

(4) Emphasis

If the information is emphasized, it will attract our attention. Includes: information with contrasting differences, repeated information, high-profile information, information with enhanced design (bold, large, prominently placed, etc.), language enhancement, and body language enhancement.

The above are the four principles of attention.

Can be used alone or in combination. By using these elements to package key information, users can be guided to pay attention to them, thereby reducing the "user blindness" on key information.

4. Summary

Talent belongs to a few, but routines belong to everyone - Master Kangxi

Finally, let’s summarize all the content of today:

(1) What is “user blindness”?

Although I saw it, I didn’t really see it because I didn’t pay attention. It can also be understood as "turning a blind eye".

(2) Why does “user blindness” occur?

Because attention is a very limited resource, it is impossible for people to pay attention to all external information at the same time. The brain will always selectively pay attention to certain information and filter out most other information. In psychology, this is called "selective attention".

(3) How to reduce users’ “blindness” to key information?

The brain automatically allocates attention to these four types of information: opportunities, threats, breaking the rules, and emphasis.

Packaging key information into one of these four types can guide users to pay attention to them, thereby reducing "user blindness" on key information.

(4) Apply what you have learned: What can you do?

Whether it is operations , marketing , product design, or other fields, do not ignore the "user blindness phenomenon".

There are three reasons:

1. The frequency of occurrence is very high.
2. Ignoring it will result in huge waste.
3. According to the 80/20 rule, 20% of the work can bring 20% ​​of the benefits, and reducing "user blindness" belongs to this 20% of the work.

Author: Kangxi Shiye , authorized to be published by Qinggua Media.

Source : Kangxi Shiye