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.

Although it’s specifically written about website video advertising, this post from SiteProNews “How To Make Web-Advertising Worth Watching” contains some important points that relate to all web content.

“It has become an article of faith that the Web is all about content;

content is King on the Web as opposed to television where commercials are king.”

So when it comes to your web marketing, what is this king that we hail called Content? I think we can boil it all down to this:

“Useful Information”

Effectively dealing with the infinite choice of consumers on the web involves a mind-shift from old marketing where commercial messages are thrust on people. The messages that work best on the web are chosen by them. There’s a huge benefit to making this mindshift - it’s easy to create the content that your customers are looking for.

 On the web, “useful information” could be as simple as things like:

• A relevant picture
• A useful or entertaining video
• An informative well-written web page
• A blog
• A flash product demonstration
• An intelligent product description
• A customer review.

The beauty of “useful information” is that it:

• Is always at the heart of high conversion rates 
• Only takes time to create
• Can create reciprocity with your customers
• Gives your customers an experience with your brand
• Can directly generate sales.

Since we’ve just completed a new website for a video production company, we thought we’d publish our guide to using website video to enhance your online conversion rates. Read more >>

If you are looking to include an online video on your website, then Bitemark can help. Firstly, we can put you in touch with the video production experts at Digicast to help you to produce a video designed specifically for your website. Secondly, we can optimise the video for use in your website using the flash video player.

About the author: As the owner of a web marketing business, I’ve spent the last 7 years studying ways to boost the conversion rates of my clients’ websites. Today, our best websites convert up to 20% of visits into leads and 50% of leads to sales. The target for our clients is a minimum 5% conversion rate on visits to leads which is staggeringly more than the typical website at 0.1%.

Bitemark specialises in designing, building, writing, managing and marketing websites with high conversion rates.