Which White Paper Format is the Most Effective with Today’s Social Media User?

When you read a white paper, do you find a single column or two-column format more effective in understanding the details behind a solution advantage message? Perhaps even three?

One question that many white paper marketers have always asked is the relationship between content design and message comprehension. Does the number of columns in a white paper enhance its readability or is it merely used as a ‘look and feel’ guide to provide greater credibility to what would otherwise be mediocre content?

Today most white paper formats typically fall into either a one or a two-column design.

One of the reasons two-column designs are frequently chosen for a white paper format is its similarity with newsletters, newspapers and magazines. Most magazines and newspapers use either a two and three column format, and for many companies, this familiar format extends to the area of white papers.

One possible reason behind this decision is to give a white paper an “air of authority” that is frequently associated with credible, news-oriented periodicals. The thinking with this approach is that if a document looks like something fresh out of a copy of Scientific American or The Economist, then the information in the paper will be perceived as more believable, generating a greater number of business leads.

But by a greater number of columns there is a downside, specifically with what I call the “short attention reader”.

As Social Media savvy users grow accustomed to short, hyperlinked messages, their patience to read lengthy, text-heavy content such as white papers makes the delivery of complex solution messages more difficult for B2B marketers.

Multi-column white papers that require a reader to maintain their attention span from top to bottom, and page to page in a multi-column white paper, breaks the concentration of a short attention, social media-savvy reader.

This is even more challenging when graphics are added to a multi-column format. For example, when you place a graphic (such as a chart or graph) in the middle of a two- column page, the image breaks up the natural flow of the multi-column white paper. As a result, the short attention readers’ cadence is disrupted, since the reader will want to stop reading and analyze the graphic in greater detail. This forces that reader to start the reading process all over again, something that few will do. Most will simply go somewhere else.

For all-text content, I rarely use two columns (unless the client specifically asks for it) because I don’t want to introduce any additional element that distracts reader attention from the primary content and key solution advantage messages in the white paper. It’s difficult enough to keep the “short attention span” reader focused, so why introduce anything that works against the limited time and attention they can devote to the reading process?

If you plan on adding one or more graphic elements (which is an important component to ensure solution message delivery), change your page design to a single column format that better accommodates your short attention reader.

So in my humble opinion, if you want to engage today’s busy reader, save the multi-column design for your newsletters. Use a single-column design when you have important B2B solution advantage messages to deliver in a white paper.

Your short attention, Social Media-savvy user will thank you for it.

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About the Author: Jonathan Kantor is a 15-year white paper marketing veteran. He’s the author of the widely acclaimed book, Crafting White Paper 2.0, and the founder of The White Paper Company and the White Paper Pundit blog.

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