Web Users Judge Sites in the Blink of an Eye

by on 15 January, 2006 - 20:51

by: Karl Long

An interesting article from nature.com that proposes that web users can form an opinion about websites within the first 50 milliseconds, that’s like watching 1 frame of a tv show.news @ nature.com - Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye - Potential readers can make snap decisions in just 50 milliseconds.

Apparently that first impression can color the rest of the customer experience as well, basicallly people like to be right, so they will overlook minor problems if they originally think the site is good. It’s an interesting concept, sometimes known as the halo effect.

I had written a while ago about the “hierarchy of customer experience”, that was kind of like maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and the very first step in the hierarchy is “trust”, and “visual” cues are the number one factor in establishing trust, does this “look” trustworthy, does this “look” like a company that will deliver.

Original Post: http://blog.experiencecurve.com/archives/web-users-judge-sites-in-the-blink-of-an-eye