Eye Tracking of Digital Catalogs: Here’s What You Need to Know

Republica made a very interesting study about the visual effect of digital catalogs. It's in Danish, so here are the takeaways in English.

As stated in the book, The Tipping Point, people can’t focus on two things at once. That’s why we move our eyes when we read. We simply can’t read a sentence on a page if we stare straight ahead at the center of the page. Try for yourself.

So it makes a lot of sense that we want digital catalogs to be optimized for how your eyes work. Based on this, here are the main guidelines for the optimal digital catalog:

• The most effective digital catalogs balance between emotional and rational "triggers".
• The optimal layout has one dominating visual element. Visual decoding starts here. If missing, you risk not having any decoding at all.
• If you have more than 7 products on screen, you start to cannabalize. People don't spend more time if there are more products. The most effective: 4-5 clear elements.
• The optimal layout shortens the natural travel time for your eyes. Confusion is avoided and optimal decoding is ensured. Here's an example of an Incito page: