Publisher’s Single Copy Sales Services Blog

Eye tracking technology is a wonderful thing. Employed as part of web usability studies, the findings point to best practices remarkably similar to those we have long used on our newsstand covers.

Newsstand people have long told publishers that the most important features and benefits on the cover needed to be put on the top left. The reason given? That is the small section of the cover that can reliably be seen regardless of how the magazines are fanned or stacked.

Now eye tracking tells us that this is the area on a page–on a website, at any rate–that the eye goes first, the area that the rapidly moving eye is most likely to see information. The place to put your page identification, your chief benefit, your action point–whatever it is that the user should see first.

Who knew that the newsstand would lead the way in the world of the web? I’m going to christen the new world “Newsstand 2.0″ (I’m convinced no one got to THAT one before me, however many 2.0s there are in this cyber world of ours…remember this, posterity!). And I’ll continue to weigh in on it in coming posts.