Learn from this agency head how to harness short attention spans so conversions skyrocket.

More outlets are leveraging targeting technologies for a reason, because more than ever, today's consumer brings significant influence over marketing strategies: the choices he or she makes on where to spend time online are increasingly likely to determine the success or failure of a campaign.

From the consumers' perspective, we all know that media saturation has led them to feel bombarded; multitasking between devices, receiving tons of messages, yet having the same amount of time and energy with which to consume them. BIGresearch, a market intelligence firm providing analysis of consumer behavior in areas of retail, financial services, automotive and media, found in its ninth annual Simultaneous Media Usage Study this year that 67.9 percent of consumers surveyed use other media while watching television, while 70.7 percent use other media while going online.

Consumers now decide instantly -- based on the design of a page alone -- whether or not to consider your message. Individual elements on their own will not do the job; a compelling visual is not enough, clever copy may cause more harm than good, relevant benefits and incentives may never be read, and a strong call-to-action can fall flat. Rather, these elements need to be measured and combined into a design that resonates instantly with the consumer, similar to the way a great pastry chef combines just the right amount and type of ingredients to bake the perfect, mouth-watering cake: It's a skill and an art.

So, what does it take to get this overloaded consumer to click through? How do you break through the noise and prompt the user to take action?

Meaningful design: reducing anxiety and friction
The web has matured to the point at which consumers come to a site with a set of expectations, and in designing a campaign that requires a response, those expectations must be met. Good design creates a compelling, accessible user experience that leverages professional design and elements of behavioral psychology to ease the burden of the consumer, making it inviting for him or her to move from Point A to Point B.

In doing so, it's critical to strike a balance between too much information and too little, and to order the elements on the page properly to create the desired user experience, ultimately reducing two key impediments to conversion: anxiety and friction.

Consumers don't arrive at your site trusting you; they're going to be skeptical. One of the goals of good promotional design is to reduce the anxiety the user feels when he or she comes to the page by communicating credibility and familiarity. The more comfortable a consumer feels looking at the page, the more likely he or she is to provide information or make a purchase.

What communicates familiarity and credibility? A toll-free number, for example (knowing there's a real person on the other end of the website, even if they never call). Accreditations, like those offered by VeriSign, are another way to build trust with the consumer. Customer testimonials, "learn more" pages so they feel in control, consistency of design elements if being driven to the site from another piece of creative; these are all visual cues that this is a legitimate site, which ultimately reduces anxiety. These types of concepts are particularly important in reaching consumers who may not be familiar with your brand.

Reducing the visual "friction" consumers feel when they come to the site raises the chances that your message will get through. But in order for your message to be delivered, the page must meet certain expectations. For this reason layout is important: you expect login upper right corner, expect navigation down left or across top, expect logo to be upper left and clickable to home page, expect store locator to be at the bottom, expect search somewhere up top, upper right, et cetera.

While this is not news, what is news is that your layout is more important than ever. Due to the speed of online behavior, people don't have the luxury to decide to come back and read something later. You must think critically about how elements are designed in a way to create the eye path you want the consumer to follow, and this eye path must not only be visually appealing but also inviting. Too much clutter or visual roadblocks will cause visitors to pause, or worse, abandon the experience; not enough information or a scattered design may leave them feeling unfulfilled.

Bottom line on design
While there are elements of promotional design that are formulaic in nature, there is no cookie-cutter approach to designing a promotion that controls and guides the consumer's eye through the experience. Each audience is different; consumers receive and process information differently. Every pitch is equally as different, requiring information to be rolled out in such a way that it's understandable to its specific target audience.

The trick is to make it as clear and simple as possible for the audience the promotion is trying to reach.

Brooks Bell is the founder and president of Brooks Bell Interactive. Read full bio.