What Goes On The Right? - Digital Psychology #12

Similar in concept to placing navigation on the left, placing supplemental content on the right helps your visitors find it at the right time. Visitors follow an “F” shape when browsing content pages (see image on the right).

Since we read left to right, every pan carries momentum to the right sidebar. This breaks down when the brain ignores the extraneous content (see section on “ad blindness”). However, when the sidebar utilizes engaging and related textual content, the eye will include it in it’s line of fixations.

Right Side Trumps Left Side on Content Pages

Reserve the right side for supplemental and supporting content that reinforces your content in a more emotional way.

As you can see in the eye tracking heat map study done by the Nielson Norman Group, the right sidebar actually receives more fixations than the left sidebar. Once users arrive on a page that provides the information they seek, they focus in on that content. Note also that the fixations pattern is more scanning for information than actually reading.

What Belongs on the Right Side?

Putting supplemental content that actually aids the primary content is a critical component of this device, for 2 reasons:

  • Content that appears unrelated weakens both the information scent of the current page and the general strength of the sidebar as well.
  • Supplemental information that provides additional info actually strengthens the visitor’s confidence on the current page, even if they never visit that piece of content.

So, your goal should be either to support the current page, or to show that additional information is available. Supporting content, especially that connects with the right side of a visitor’s brain (so more creative and emotional content) will aid in emotionally solidifying the information at hand. It is ok to place links to content that builds trust from the more analytical left side of a visitor’s brain as well. However, while additional left brain content on the left can be helpful, content for the right brain placed on the left can actually impede a visitor’s ability to take in the content.

Good examples of supplemental content for the right sidebar include:

  • Images, whether more technical or relational, they stimulate the right side of the brain.
  • Related content, especially if it goes deeper into the subject area.
  • Author images or bios, especially when establishing their authority to speak on the subject.
  • Trust badges, especially on eCommerce sites. Highlighting security, free shipping, or guarantees is best done on the right side.
  • Next steps in the process. This must be used  more carefully, but add to cart buttons, next buttons, and other types of forms can be used on the right. Our inclination to read left to right has trained us that the next step is on the right.
Keep Supplemental Content Integrated

Many sites make the mistake of visually segmenting the right sidebar. This prevents the “F” shape reading from panning to the content on the right. Instead it is blocked as extraneous information, as the brain continues it’s fixations on the main content. Keeping the content on the same (or very similar) colored background, and not too distant help highlight it’s relation to the content at hand.