Stopping the Skimming

Let’s face it. As humans we’re skimmers.

We skim over channels.

We skim over the pages of magazines.
And the bad news is that your customers skim over your sales pages.

And in most cases, you do nothing to stop them. Nothing to slow them down. Or keep their attention. And
this can be a costly error. Because the more time the customer spends on your page, the more likely they are
to buy something. The more the customer gets an idea of what they’re really buying, the more likely they are
to step right up and swipe their credit card.

And visuals are one of the more effective ways to slow down the readers (or in our case, customers).
Visuals slow down customers.
They get the customers interested.
They drive home the important points.
And they do so, in a matter of seconds.

And we know this to be true, because you actually looked at the visual before you read this text. And text,
wonderful as it is, can be missed. Text can get buried under a mountain of more text. But visuals stand out.
And stop the skimming. And that’s the biggest reason why they’re so darned important in the business of at-
traction and conversion.

Visuals slow down

the reader

Visuals combined with a

caption, get a message
across in a matter of
seconds.

They get the reader

interested while highlighting
important points

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Three Types of Visuals
If you’ve ever put up a web page, you’ll have used at least two of these three visual types. And yet, in this sec-
tion we’re going to look at why it’s important to use these visuals, and how to use them effectively. But first,
let’s start off with a simple understanding of the three types of visuals. They are:

1) Photos.
2) Graphics
3) Videos.

Photos: Photos come in a whole range. Photos can be images of clients, of owners, of staff or people who
are somehow connected to your story or sales page. Or they can be images of your product. Or they can be
objects that tell a story. Let’s look at each one separately.

A photo tells an instant story. Therefore using photos is pretty important. Photos when coupled with captions,
become even more effective in telling a story. Even if you don’t read a word on this page, what does it start
to reveal? Your response will be exactly like everyone else’s response. You’ll know somehow it’s a diamond-
based site. You’ll get the feeling that it’s a company that seems to have been around for a few generations at
the very least. You’ll also get the feeling of trust even though you can’t figure out why.

And guess what? You haven’t read a single word on the page. The photos and the visuals created the impres-
sion in your brain long before you had the time to read anything.

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 Again, don’t read a word on this page. Ok, so
you read the headline. But what’s the message
you get from simply looking at the photos?

And once you did read the photos and the cap-
tions, what message did you get?

No one has to explain the concepts to you.

Your brain is nicely wired to take in messages
by simply looking at a photo. If this page
was full of photos of teenagers vs. adults, it
wouldn’t matter how great the copy or the
headline; you’d still be cagey about buying the
product/service.

By simply using client photos you can reveal

the age group of clients; the dominant sex of
the people within the group. And when you use
captions along with the photos, you can send
across other messages.

For example: If all these clients had addresses

based in New Zealand, you’d automatically
assume that the product was more suitable
for New Zealand instead of anywhere else
(even though the product may be just as suit-
able anywhere on the planet). If all of them
had the title of say, ‘chiropractor’, then you’d
assume that the product was for chiropractors.
And you’d make up your mind in a mater of
seconds after seeing the visual and reading
the text.

This photo of an object gets your attention. When buying from a sales page, it’s a little
harder to feel and touch a product. Photos of the product from different angles help to get a
message and a feel across. There’s a reason why there’s a surfer on that laptop, you know.
It’s meant to make the laptop look cool. Do you think the laptop would look just as cool with
a blood-spattered murder victim?

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 There you are, reading a page about a marketing
program. And you see a delicious plate of salmon.
What do you do? Your curiosity is instantly
aroused. You want to see what the salmon is
all about, don’t you? In this particular example,
the salmon was used to explain the difference
between a dish that was ordered a la carte vs. a
buffet. And how a buffet appears to be more value
for money, but usually ends up just making you
feel sick and bloated.

A simple image can quickly defuse a client’s

objection; it can get across a story or a message.
It can create a certain brand. And it can do so in a
matter of seconds.

This is the page on which the visual appeared. Notice how your eye is instantly drawn to
the salmon, then to Jeff’s image on the top right, and then to John’s image at the bottom
right of the page.

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The usage of graphics
Photos are all very fine and cool.

But what if you have a service and don’t have a product shot? How do you go about describing a workshop or
a consulting sequence with photos? This can be easily achieved by using graphics. No matter how abstract
your service (or product) you can explain one heck of a lot by using well-placed graphics. And if you use
graphics, you can quickly explain the following:

1) Sequence of events.
2) Technical facts.
3) Contents of a service/product.
4) Create a mood or setting.

This is the sequence that a client would follow

on a course, for instance. How do you explain
what you’re going to cover in a course in a mat-
ter of seconds? Well you put it in a graphic. And
instantly the customer is able scan the graphic
and get a pretty good understanding of what
they’re about to buy into.

Most consulting and training concepts are

kinda abstract. It’s hard to explain what you’re
going to do when you’re rendering a service. Yet
a simple graphic clarifies the service in a matter
of seconds.

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