How To Get Users Back On Your Website When They’ve Switched Tabs

So you’ve invested in copywriters, photographers and a super slick website. Your content rocks and your website is a goal-conversion machine. Like a cross between Leo Messi and Ronaldo.

But as good as your website is, it can’t always block out distractions.

The way that people use websites varies, but outlined here is a typical approach that might sound familiar.

• 1 – Web visitor (let’s call him Barry) is researching a product/service and visits your website.
• 2 – He reads and engages with your content (yay, go you!)
• 3 – Wait a minute, Claire (Barry’s crush) has just sent him a WhatsApp message saying that Barry has to check out a YouTube video.
• 4 – Barry clicks the link which opens a new tab and watches a dog using a skateboard.

• 5 – Barry has left your website. But the tab is still open and there’s a slim chance he may return. But we all know that most people end up going down a YouTube rabbit hole. Watching one video after the next.

So, Now How Can We Get Barry’s Attention?

We could serenade him at the top of our voices with Pato Banton’s ‘Baby Come Back’ (replacing Baby with Barry – genius I know), but sadly there’s no chance he’ll hear us.

But we can do some begging in an attention-grabbing way, by implementing either or both of the following.

1. Animated Favicon

Most favicons (the small 1:1 ratio image that sits in the browser tab bar) are static. In a world of noise, very rarely do you come across animated favicons. As I write this I am looking to reintroduce one on Impact’s website, but below is an example of a favicon that Impact used back in 2012. The functionality still works.

The question is, now that Barry has realised that he’s been watching YouTube for an hour and finally returns to his other tabs (like many of us, Barry has multiple open at once) which one will draw his eye first in the example below?

Will this simple flutter of movement be enough to attract Barry’s attention and remind him where he left off?

2. Dynamic Page Titles

The page title (the snippet you see on the tab in your browser) is pretty generic on most websites, and usually, your SEO agency will be in control of this. However, as a way to attract Barry’s attention you could implement dynamic page titles.

See below the page title on Ibiza Global Radio when you are viewing their page. This is more than likely the page title their SEO team wants them to utilise.

However, when you switch tabs, like magic the page title changes. Displaying messaging to encourage you to come back.

Will this be enough to bring Barry back? Maybe. We hope that he returns to your website, buys something for Claire, she is overjoyed, they get married and they live happily ever after.

What’s To Swipe & Deploy?

So this one is pretty obvious. Speak to your agency or dev team and see if you can introduce either an animated favicon or dynamic page titles. Or even both!

Ultimately we cannot avoid people getting distracted, it’s human nature, but these tactics can help to try and win back their attention.

That’s a wrap for Swipe & Deploy #2. Join me next week when I’ll share another insight or piece of inspiration from around the web.