Most people have heard about the fold, that imaginary line on a webpage that represents what you can see without scrolling, and know that it’s important to conversion and overall user experience. But is its importance the same from site to site? As screen resolution and monitor size continues to change, will companies have to adjust the fold? And finally, how can you encourage users to scroll if you are unable to condense information?
Key takeaway: People will scroll, but their willingness depends largely on the content the page and the user experience your site provides. If paging makes it more difficult for a user to digest information, then scrolling can be preferable. However, don’t think the fold is a myth. Creating long pages can be problematic for most users who have a short attention span and will most likely scan your information. Content above the fold will continue to be instrumental when it comes to engaging your user and increasing your bottom-line.
Where is the fold?
Well, that depends on your resolution and browser; on-screen real estate can vary widely based on the combination of two. While the most popular screen resolution in the US for years was 1024×768, the W3C’s most recent figures[1] show that 85% of people now use a higher resolution. However many high resolution screens still have only a pixel height of 800 or 900 pixels. The mix will vary site by site so be sure to review your analytics to find the most popular resolution for your audience.
When does it make sense to break away from the fold and provide a longer page? When users are trying to digest a large amount of information quickly on one topic or product type.
Example: ClickTale research[2] analyzed TMZ.com’s homepage, which is often over 15,000 pixels long, and found that the most popular link was at the very bottom of the page – the link that takes users to the next page.
Why would this be the case? Because users were highly engaged and scrolled the whole page and then clicked to the next page because it is the only way to continue reading. But let’s not overlook one important fact about this site: its short stories about one topic – celebrity gossip. Would it be the same if the stories were longer articles? What if the stories were a mixture of politics and finance as well as celebrity gossip? Let’s look at another example before we make our decision.
Example: Let’s say you are booking a rafting trip through a website. The site itself is about one topic, rafting, but there are many questions you want answered before booking your trip. How much does it cost? How do I get there? What should I bring? etc. Now, the company could put all that information on one long page, but you would have to scroll through the page finding the information you are interested in, and that takes more time. Instead, it would be much easier for the topics to be navigation so you could quickly jump to the information you are looking for.
So, when does it NOT make sense to have a long page that requires lots of vertical scroll? When it causes users to work harder to find and digest the information they are looking for.
The question of page length boils down to the fundamental point of usability: making the information digestion process easier for the user. If you’re not considering how the user digests information on your site, then you could be causing a negative user experience which will ultimately affect your bottom-line.
While it’s important to recognize that a longer page is better in some circumstances, be aware that even long pages for appropriate topics will see a difference in interaction between above and below the fold. Last year, Jakob Nielsen proved this with a usability study[3] focused on scrolling and attention. He found that while users on these types of sites did look at content below the fold, engagement was fairly superficial:
- Users spent 80.3% of their attention above the fold and 19.7% below the fold.
Note: Eye tracking was done with a resolution of 1,024 × 768 pixels.
This displays a user behavior that we have known for a long time: users start strong, but their motivation/attention span quickly deteriorates online. In turn, organizations should utilize this knowledge and continue to put the most important goals, information and tasks above the fold.
Finally, how can you encourage engagement if you’ve decided that scrolling makes sense? The simple answer is to leave a clue. Users will scroll down pages if they know there is something there. Headlines, subheadings, etc. that are slightly above the fold provide a good cue to let users know there is more below. If you have a clean cutoff or whitespace at the bottom of the fold, you risk users thinking there is nothing below and moving on to a different page or a different site.
Still unsure how the fold affects your site and site pages? A great way to discover which layout works best for users is by testing it! For more information on usability and testing, contact ROI Labs and we can discuss how to increase your bottom-line through a better user experience.
