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How Do People Read White Papers?

By Michael Stelzner

We (writers and businesses) spend an enormous effort to produce white papers.

The real question is how do people read them?

To my knowledge there has been no usability studies performed on white paper readership.

My question to you is this: How do you think readers read white papers?

Do they:

  • Skim them?
  • Read them with great interest?
  • Take notes on white papers?
  • Us them to line bird cages?

Let’s hear your thoughts and experience on this matter?

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 7:59 am and is filed under Marketing, Writing White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • I usually skim over white papers at first and go back only if something really catches my eye. I agree with Jonathan, it is the bulleted points, graphics, callouts and highlighted text that draws me back. If a white paper is too long, I usually end give up midway.
  • So the question is this: How do you convert someone from a skim reader to an active reader?

    You know you often intend to skim a document and find yourself drawn-in sometimes.

    What draws you in?
  • Good point about the graphics.
  • Business Executives skim white papers first. If they see something they like (graphic, bullets, summary points, callout) they will be drawn into the content and reader further.

    If it gets past this phase, they will pass the white paper along to another person within the organization that is part of the decision making process, along with their recommendation(s).
  • I usually skim white papers and highlight the important points.
  • I think they skim them. That's why I always aim for a strong headline, lede and headings.
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