For years, marketing has been built around the idea of a funnel: awareness at the top, consideration in the middle, decision at the bottom. It assumed people moved through stages in a mostly linear path, giving you more and more of their attention as they got closer to buying.
That is not how attention works anymore.
Today, your buyer is half-reading your email while standing in line, skimming a landing page with one eye on Slack, or watching your explainer video in the background while answering text messages. They don’t want to look up from the feeds and workflows that already own their day.
The question isn’t “How do we get more attention?” It’s “How do we design for half-attention—and still move people forward?”
From Linear Funnel to Attention Windows
Instead of clean stages, think in attention windows:
- Glance: 1–3 seconds of accidental exposure. A subject line, thumbnail, hero line, or social tile.
- Skim: 5–30 seconds of partial focus. A scroll, a quick scan of bullets, a short video.
- Focus: 30+ seconds of intentional attention. Reading, watching, or using something that actually requires thought.
Traditional funnels assume you start with focus and then “nurture” from there. In reality, most people start and stay in the glance or skim zones. Your campaigns have to earn the right to move them into focus.
Designing for the Glance
At the glance level, your job is not to educate. Your job is to hook.
- One sharp promise per asset. A hero line or ad should answer a single question: “Why should I care right now?”
- Visual clarity. Strong contrast, simple composition, and obvious hierarchy. If everything pops, nothing does.
- Context-aware hooks. The same message needs a different framing in a LinkedIn feed than in a Google search result.
You’re not trying to convert at the glance stage. You’re trying to win one more second.
Designing for the Skim
Skim-level attention is where most modern marketing either works or dies. People are curious enough to scroll, but not enough to commit.
Here, you:
- Structure for scanning. Meaningful subheads, short paragraphs, and logical chunks of information.
- Use “tiered” messaging. Start with outcomes, then add a thin layer of how it works, then show proof. Someone skimming can stop at any tier and still feel informed.
- Build micro-conversion points. A quick calculator, a two-question quiz, a short video chapter, a “see pricing range” reveal—small actions that don’t feel like a big ask.
Skimmers should walk away thinking, “I get what they do, and I might come back.”
Designing for Focus
Focused attention is rare and precious. If someone chooses to give you more than a minute, don’t waste it with fluff or repetition.
In the focus layer:
- Deliver real depth. Detailed case studies, hands-on demos, technical explainers, and honest comparisons.
- Respect expertise. Assume your reader is smart. Use clear language, but don’t oversimplify to the point of sounding generic.
- Make the next step feel like a continuation, not a leap. A CTA should feel like the logical “next chapter” for someone who just invested serious attention.
Building Campaigns Around Attention, Not Just Stages
The new “funnel” is really a set of layered experiences:
- Glance assets earn skims.
- Skim experiences earn focus.
- Focus experiences earn trust, advocacy, and revenue.
Designing campaigns this way forces alignment between creative, media, and UX. You’re no longer chasing generic awareness or vanity engagement. You’re deliberately building a path for real humans who don’t want to look up—until you give them a good reason.
