8 ways to reduce cognitive load: Part 2
More ways to reduce bounce rate and make it easier for users to process information at your site.
In the previous part of the article I described 5 major design techniques that help to reduce cognitive load. This notion refers to the total amount of mental effort that is required from a user to complete a task. Increase of this phenomena above the level that is acceptable for user can cause serious usability issues such as:
- rise of bounce rate
- shallow visit depth
- lower conversion than expected
to name a few. Why is it so? When the amount of information that users have to process is too high, they just stop the action as our mind tends to keep the amount of mental effort on balanced level.
Yet, even if a service or product requires complex activity from a user, there are ways to make the design help people go through the process smooth and clear.
5. Design mindful of how users read online
When people read on paper, eye movement create a Z-shaped path from left to right and diagonally down or right to left for Arabic or Japanese speakers.
Do we read in a zig-zag pattern online to? Unfortunatelly, no. According to famous eye-tracking research by Norman Nielsen Group, this rule does not apply to online reading. As pictured below, the way users eyes move while reading online creates a F-pattern: horizontal moves on the top headlines and fast vertical scanning of the body text and subheadlines.
How the awareness about this pattern can be used by designers to help users consume the content? First, reducing number of columns will be definitely of help (it is suggested by the practitioners such as Andrew Coyle or Nick Babich to limit the number of columns to only one). Second, spliting the body text with horizontal lines such as bold labels above inputs makes it easier to scan the text and therefore — to understand by users what they have to do to succeed.
6. Reduce visual clutter
Are there any doubts what is the main CTA on this site?
And just for the comparison…
7. Reduce number of tasks user has to perform
Ryanair website is a great example of how to proritize features on the home page in order to make it more intuitive for users. Regardless of the complexity of the travel business, not all of the services are given top priority. In fact, only one seems as the key action that user has to perform — the flight search. Moreover, the search itself needs a user to fill only one input form as the first step. That level of simplicity makes it clear for user what she or he is supposed to do and provides him or her with direct information what kind of input is needed to complete the main action on the site (enter destination).
8. Reduce amount of information user has to keep in mind
The screens above come from the website PKP Intercity, which is Polish national train operator. You might have noticed that the date and hour of the train departure is displayed twice on the first picture, which might seem to be a design mistake if we agree on the minimalistic paradigm. The least, the better? Maybe, but just as we scroll the reason for the repetition of ticket details reveals. Below the fold when the actual purchase of a ticket is performed, if it was not for the repeated, user would not see what is the ticket he or she is trying to buy.
Not having to remember the status of the system (in this case — what is the chosen hour of travel and type of ticket), reduces cognitive load as this piece of information does not need to be stored by user in the working memory and the focus of a user do not have to be split.
Reading list
For those who want to learn more, here comes the link to the publications on this topic:
Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning, John Sweller
8 ways to reduce cognitive load: Part 1
Cognitive Load Theory and the Format of Instruction, John Sweller and Paul Chandler
