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🧩 The Problem with Measuring Attention
Digital analytics loves neat conversions. But what about experiences that don’t revolve around a purchase?
If someone spends 5 minutes on a blog, is it because:
- They’re absorbed in the content?
- They’re confused and re-reading?
- They opened the tab and walked away?
If a user skips sections, do they already know the content, or are they just not finding value?
When there’s no checkout button, what do we track?
How do we interpret engagement when the signal isn't revenue?
🔬 Measuring the Quality of Attention
Instead of asking “how long did they stay?”, we should ask:
“Where did they focus?”
“What did they ignore?”
“What were they doing before and after that moment?”
Imagine tracking:
- Which sections of a blog get re-read or hovered over
- Where users highlight or copy text
- Who watches a video more than once
- Scroll behaviour matched with repeat visits
- Form fills after reading FAQs vs. skipping them
All of these signals tell us something deeper than “time on page.”
📦 Example: Product Review Readers
Let’s say a user spends a long time reading negative reviews on a product page.
What do you assume?
- Are they sceptical but engaged?
- Are they risk-averse and need extra reassurance?
- Are they experienced buyers filtering for edge cases?
This cohort might seem hesitant, but could also be:
- High-intent users doing due diligence
- Data-driven decision makers
- Or users who need specific, trust-building content like guarantees, support articles, or real photos
👉 This is attention with meaning—and it’s measurable if you ask the right questions.
🔎 Can We Track Trust, Clarity & Utility?
Yes—but not in the traditional analytics dashboards. You need:
- Behavioural analytics
- Scroll depth, rage clicks, copy/paste tracking, element visibility
- Micro-conversions
- FAQ opens, product comparisons, live chat triggers, save/share actions
- Session recordings or heatmaps
- Watch where people hesitate, hover, repeat scroll
- Segmentation by content interaction
- Compare users who engage with buying guides vs. those who bounce after the hero banner
Think less about “conversion rates” and more about signal density around meaningful actions.
💬 Final Thought
We should stop chasing maximum attention and start valuing meaningful attention.
The goal isn’t to hold people hostage on our site—it’s to give them clarity, earn their trust, and make every second feel useful.
Because in the end, people don’t remember how long they stayed.
They remember how your brand made them feel.
