This is an important topic to talk about particularly within the high-tech space. Unfortunately, some copywriters take ownership of the copy and don’t ever consider user-centric design methodogies or UCD as part of the copy writing equation. In all fairness, Webmasters should be on the hook for providing valuable metrics to copy writers to help put web site user’s browsing behavior in perspective.
One way to tell if your copy is too lengthy is to first get a general sense of how users interact with your copy. Start with the average length of time visitors spend on your top 5 pages and compare that with the average of the entire site. Based on the time, never mind click-through-rate, are users mulling over your great copy or are they scanning? I’m fairly confident in saying that their scanning like most of us despite the hard effort that’s gone into the copy creation.
The argument I’ve heard against tightening up copy has been two-fold: (1) “we’ve always done it that way.” (2) “Our readers are technically savvy and like to read.” That’s why it’s critical to dive into your analytics and see what your site visitors are actually doing. I’m also a huge advocate of online surveys. They’re cheap and effective and can really help to fill in the blanks on your site visitor’s behavior. Without web metrics, it can be an uphill battle to get anybody on board with removing ‘unnecessary’ text.
Also, validate your claims with third-party expertise. A list apart has some great articles and read Steve Krug’s book, Don’t Make Me Think for ideas on copy flow and web usability.
Another way of trimming copy fat while improving stickiness is to leverage typography, iconography, graphics, and Flash. For example, check out this product page on Progress Software’s site. I could write about the keyword stuffing going on with the boilerplate but will leave that for another post. For now, does anything stand out or compel you to read on? Easy and quick changes to typogoraphy, and the use of white space could really help create a visual hierarchy and help the reader’s eye flow through the page. Or better yet, a product line-up, Ajaxian style, with some user interaction. Check out this great Motorola microsite which brings to life products for targeted users using Flash video.
In ending, think about your users and test out different ways of breaking up the copy. As a a general rule of thumb, I consider anything over 2.5 pages to be too long and recommend breaking up into multiple pages and creating flow through good design and usability.
Let me know if your have your own ideas on page length.
- L
