Conversion Rate Web Marketing Blog 

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.

From the author: As a web programmer I have been involved in developing several content management systems. I was hands on in developing our own content management suite called eComMetrix®.

What I know from working on hundreds of lead generation and eCommerce websites over 11 years is that there is something far more important when creating a website than the system that you use. It’s your conversion rates and it’s a measure of how effectively the content of your website engages your website visitors.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your website you need a team that includes seasoned marketers, web designers, web programmers, copywriters, editors, bloggers and search engine gurus. That’s why we created Bitemark™.

And yes, we can get your website to number one in Google too ;-)!

Contact us on 03 9012 6600 to find out how you could boost the conversion rates of your website.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am and is filed under Online video, Web Marketing, Website Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.