Visitors like “new”

We know that visitors tend to click in order on section pages, but you can focus attention and hence click-throughs by adding a descriptive New label to an individual item.

The item with the **New **label has by far the highest click-through rate when looking at a site overlay report, even though it is further down the list. The effect is at least 10x more clicks than you would expect for that position.

One thing you might want to try is using another descriptor like Special, but I have a feeling that we are wired to seek out all things new. I mean, who doesn’t want the latest stuff?

Of course, you should only use such a descriptive label if it is appropriate to do so. It should also be used sparingly; if all items are labeled in this way the effect would be canceled out.

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