Retention Myth: People remember 50% of what they see and hear and only 10% of what they read.

I received an email this morning that made the startling claim that “People remember 50% of what they see and hear and only 10% of what they read.”

Interestingly I read this quote (and for that matter, saw it too) in an email about online video. I’m sure that you have read, seen and heard variations of this so-called research too.

Before you rush off to turn everything that you’ve ever published into a video – as the email implied that I should – you should know that this research is a myth and the quote itself is rubbish.

Graphics like the one above are extremely widespread and they are usually constructed to suit the purpose of the person presenting them.

There are a couple of things that give these graphs away:

• Percentages are being used to generalise people
• The results are always a factor of 10%

So I did some research to find the source of this information, and I found this post from learning consultant Dr Will Thalheimer that shows that there is in fact no valid research that shows that any mode of learning is superior to another.

A comment on the blog cites the following quote regarding the real story of retention:

Each of the methods identified by the pyramid resulted in retention, with none being consistently superior to the others and all being effective in certain contexts.

Lalley, J., & Miller, R. (2007). The learning pyramid: Does it point in teachers in the right direction? Education, 128(1), Page 64

In other words, as soon as you hear someone say, “people remember blah blah blah,” know that you’re hearing rubbish.

The two keys to retention

The reality is that there are no real statistics on reading vs hearing vs seeing vs doing and there can’t be.

There are two keys that dictate retention:

1. Student
2. Subject

For example, taking a guitar lesson (subject) from a book is pretty tough. There are so many things about learning guitar that just can’t be communicated in written words. The lesson is unlikely to be retained if you (student) don’t play guitar.

However, if Dr Will Thalheimer presented his debunking of the retention styles myth by video, it would be hard to comprehend. That’s because video is real time, and that makes it harder to digest at your own pace.

Also, if you are a motivational speaker, a transcript of your last speech probably isn’t going persuade people to hire you.

How to increase retention (and conversion rates)

So if you want people to retain your message, consider the student and the subject. That will determine the mode of delivery that you choose.

What ever mode you choose, ensure that the content you deliver is of a high standard, targeted to your audience. This applies to your blog, copy writing, online video, pictures and every form on content on your website.

Related posts:

1. Online Video Production and Corporate Video for websites
2. Using online video to increase conversion rates