Cognitive load is the total amount of mental effort being used out of the capacity of short term memory. Without going too deep: the more things on a visitor’s mind, the less they retain, and the shorter their attention span. As outlined above, there are many things that can be done on your website to decrease the amount of extraneous load on your site.
The Learning Myth
Your visitors are smart, and they will figure out how to use your website; this is not in question. However, only if they are committed. What many website builders (whether in a technical role or not) fail to consider is whether users are committed enough to put up with learning their system in order to achieve their goals.
Work with your visitor’s attention span, not against it. Look for ways to make sure the only thing on your visitors mind is your message.
Look for ways to push information from your visitors’ short term memory into long lasting impressions.
In an extreme example, we see hackers spending hundreds of hours finding a way to use a system in a way which was certainly not designed to make easy, in order to achieve their goals. However, I’m willing to bet your visitors are not so motivated to buy your product or service.
The focus is wrong. While your visitors could figure out your site; they likely lack that motivation. There is a tipping point at which they will have exhausted their available short term memory.
With the limited mental resources an average visitor is going to give you, it is critical for your success that those resources be focused on absorbing the site content itself. Everything your visitor has to actually “think” about decreases their available energy for success. Connect with your visitors in such a way that it is so obvious and intuitive that they don’t expend energy just by being on your site.