1. Using Controlled Processes
to Increase Website
Stickiness
Danielle Gatsos
Digital Psychology - MCDM
7/11/10

2. The Attention Economy & Website Stickiness
In today’s society we have grown into a culture
that craves the newest web content. I specifically
say web content because no other medium can
compete when it comes to the speed of the web.
Social media site users as well as bloggers are
especially drawn to the urgency of frequently
updated web content. It’s almost a race to see
who can share the latest news the first.
There are now a plethora of websites that
facilitate frequently updated user web content.
With a combination of blogs, videos, slideshows,
podcasts, photos, posts and articles the web is
growing drastically each day, and getting it’s
getting harder and harder to manage all that
content. This is what brings us to the theory of
Psychologist Herbert Simon, that the rapid growth
of information leads to a lower attention span.
Gaining and maintaining the attention of your
users is crucial to having a successful website.
This is what we refer to as the Attention Economy.
Basically the Attention Economy works under the
notion that the consumer is provided with a service
(media content) in exchange for his/her attention.
Typically the goal for this process is to be able to sell,
whether it’s sell your own content or ad space, the
user’s attention has value.
Stickiness is a term used to refer to the effectiveness
of the supplemented content. Relevancy is key in
maintaining high user retention rates. So how do you
provide relevant content? Be honest with your users,
get to know what they like, and keep it updated!

3. The Attention Economy & Website Stickiness
In order to increase checking, or the frequency in which users visit your site, there must be both known
and unknown variables involved.
LivingSocial.com has done a great job in the
Attention Economy by consistently providing new
local deals each day. Users know that they can
count on a new deal in a fixed interval (every 24
hours) but they don’t know what that deal is going
to be, so they are motivated to revisit the site
each day.
Allowing users to sign up is also an example of
the Attention Economy because the user is
paying for this content with his/her personal
contact information. The presumption is that by
sending the users updates directly to their email
they will be drawn to visit more frequently.

4. The Attention Economy & Website Stickiness
Essentially all of the principles surrounding the theory of an Attention Economy apply to the web environment.
According to the Attention Economy theory, a
user’s attention has worth, and it is transparent.
Encouraging users to utilize login via Facebook
not only makes them feel like it is part of their
personal community, it also allows them to
advertise what they like with their friends on
Facebook, likely increasing the overall click rate.
Website visits on Livingsocial.com are also
increased by utilizing fellow user suggestions.
Recent studies have shown that people put much
higher value on user generated content opposed
to advertisements.The fact that it is localized also
increases the relevancy to the user- another
important aspect of the Attention Economy.
The Attention Economy states that there is a
need to maintain a user’s attention efficiently in
an environment where there is a constant
overabundance of information. Livingsocial.com
does this effectively on their Seattle site by
keeping the focus on the deal and the signup,
and making everything else in the initial frame an
afterthought.

5. The Attention Economy & Website Stickiness
While Livingsocial.com’s Seattle site does a great job working under the Attention Economy Theory, I believe
there are still some updates that could make this site even stickier.
Livingsocial should set up Twitter updates, so
users can follow
1. Omit the lead catcher required email
submission on 1st page.
-Emails can decrease visits because they get the
information delivered directly to them, which
decreases the unknown variable.
-Asking for personal contact information prior to
site entry may also be deterring new users.

6. The Attention Economy & Website Stickiness
While Livingsocial.com’s Seattle site does a great job working under the Attention Economy Theory, I believe
there are still some updates that could make this site even stickier.
Livingsocial should set up Twitter updates, so
users can follow
1. Omit the lead catcher required email
submission on 1st page.
-Emails can decrease visits because they get the
information delivered directly to them, which
decreases the unknown variable.
-Asking for personal contact information prior to
site entry may also be deterring new users.