Re: Measurement & tracking method: eyetracking shows contributing factors to an ad's visibility

From: Greg Edwards <gedwards1_at_eyetools.com>
Date: Tue 05 Oct 2004 06:49:07 -0500

Peter,

> I would like to know what you think about the the idea that eye
> movements do not tell much about what a person is seeing, but actually
> only shows what a person is focusing on. (which is a completely
> different thing.)

We actually represent both aspects of vision in our analysis tool.

However, it's worth mentioning that visual acuity drops off so quickly as
you get away from the "fixation point" (where your eye is currently looking)
that you're down to 30% or less acuity just a couple cm away from where
you're looking, not to mention the fact that your brain blocks out things
like the line of text right above and below the one you're reading right now
despite the fact that technically they are in focus to some degree within
your eye.

Because of this, attention tends to follow the fixation. Or, more
appropriately, the fixation tends to follow the attention (in general).

So, people use their (blurry) peripheral vision to instantly get the
overview of the structure of the page.

Given that this is an advertisement list, the question is, do you want
people to actually SEE (meaning, with high acuity and clarity) your message.
That's where the structure of the page either helps or hinders you.

If your page is too cluttered, then nothing wins and people will miss a lot.
If it's too sparse, then you're giving up the opportunity to promote more
things, so it's a delicate balance.

In relation to advertisements, we've found that if you make them easy to
segment out visually -- i.e., you make them separate by white space, or a
vertical or horizontal bar, or other means -- then you make it easier for
people to not fixate directly on them.

Interesting, if you make them flash and do other obnoxious things, then you
also make it easier for them to ignore them, though it requires more
conscious effort.

-Greg

Greg Edwards
Chief Technical Officer
Eyetools, Inc.
gedwards1_at_eyetools.com






Received on Tue Oct 05 2004 - 06:49:07 CDT