We all know that it’s hard to gain consumers´ attention, thanks to all the (social) media and advertising messages they receive on any given day. But how then can you grab their attention and make them curious? This post is going to cover some tips and tricks for maintaining user retention.
Respect the 3 second attention span
It seems that nowadays our attention spans are shorter than that a goldfish. You need to trigger your viewer within 3 seconds, otherwise they’re gone. If you manage it within 3 seconds, then you´re still not there yet.
Because if the following 6 seconds are boring, they´ll still leave. Pretty tricky then, if you´re looking for a bit of engagement with your audience. The key is to make every second engaging for your audience.
Bite-sized content
The increase in the number of stimuli that are fired off at us, has resulted in an enormous transience in engagement.
We check various channels super-fast, looking for something funny, handy or endearing. Snackable content has become the norm. How do you make sure that your snack looks the most appealing and tastes the best?
Include cliffhangers
We recognise the phenomenon of the cliffhanger from TV series. To make sure that you´re going to watch the next episode or the next season the makers end on a cliffhanger. You also get them at the beginning of talk shows, in the form of an announcement of what is coming up in the next hour.
The cliffhanger is put into action just before the ad-break to make sure viewers come back afterwards. What can you, as a web-video maker, learn from this?
Well, to get the viewer interested and keep them that way, you need a cliffhanger once every so often. A cliffhanger of this sort can take many different forms, but today we´ll be concentrating on the written or spoken varieties.
That’s when, as an audience member, you read or hear something that inclines you to keep watching. So rig up a series of cliffhangers to hold the attention from beginning to end.
Stimulate curiosity
When developing verbal cliffhangers you utilise an age-old human characteristic: curiosity. We naturally want to belong to a like-minded group of people, and to do so it’s important that we stay up to date with what’s going on.
It doesn´t feel good then, if we find ourselves saddled with a question to which we have no answer; with a subject that we don´t understand; or with a news alert about which we just don’t get the fine details.
Herein lies the power of the verbal cliffhanger. Every time you use one you unveil a little bit more, knowing that your viewers still really want to see and hear the rest.
Use short sentences
A few simple tips that you can use straight away in your next web-video script? Use short sentences.
In video or audio your audience definitely can’t reread something. Ask questions which help make your story relatable for your viewers and which make them want to know your answer. And knit your story tidily together with bridging words like ´but´, ´because´, and ´so´.
Have a listen to these two examples.
Before:
Companies want to be successful, there are constant developments and it rarely goes steadily. Some things go well, others can be improved on. Every year, since 2007, we searched for the best company management in The Netherlands. You can take part if you have an annual turnover of 25 million or more. We analyse the whole business: I.T., management, strategy, finance – for free. Your management team answer a number of questions and we use the answers to make a report. One of our coaches will come by to go through the report with you and, together, we take a look at what is going well, what can be improved on, and provide advice on how you can reach your goals.
After:
This is what you want for your company: success! Do you want to know how you can achieve it? We all know that as a business you are in constant development. And that rarely goes smoothly. But how do you find out exactly what is working and discover what can be improved on?
This is why we organise a treasure hunt through The Netherlands to find the best managed company in the country. How does it work? Well, you can sign up when your business´ turnover has climbed to 25 million a year or more. To start with we make a full analysis of your whole company – and we do that for free. From I.T. to management; strategy to finance; we turn over every stone.
To make this happen we ask your managers a number of questions. The result? A thorough analysis and a full report which you can use to swiftly accelerate further growth!
By the way, you´re hearing voice over actor Greg in this clip.
Hold on tight
In addition to the short sentences, questions and connecting words then, you build in a number of verbal cliffhangers.
Those are sentences like:
‘There is one big problem, namely…’
We want to know what that problem is.
‘If I may name an example…’
Yes, please do, because then I understand it better.
‘What´s the one thing we all find important?’
You want to know if you find it important too.
‘And what do we see happen?’
Have you been paying enough attention to notice it too?
‘But how does that actually happen?’
If you know the cause then that already solves half the problem.
‘There is only one logical conclusion’
Oh yeah? Which one´s that?
By using verbal cliffhangers then you can pull people into your story and hold their attention until the end. That’s what you´re aiming for too, right? Do you know other useful cliffhangers? Let us know by posting them in the comments!
Want to learn more on scriptwriting? Download our ebook with tips on writing captivating voice over scripts. Start reading, enjoy writing, celebrate your success!
