Infinite Scrolling

Soup.io is a tumbleblog; a blog-type platform for people who don’t have time to blog, but have a lot to share. If you go and check it out, you’ll find yourself scrolling and scrolling and scrolling down the page, finding more and more information, images, and videos. This site is one that uses infinite scroll.  This is a great feature for Soup because you can digest the bite-sized bits and pieces without breaking stride. Is infinite scroll something that would benefit your site? Or will it annoy users?

There are no concrete numbers on conversion rates for infinite scroll sites, and testing is really the way to determine if it is leading to more conversions. Try it if:

• You have content that may be confusing if layered on different pages. Does the user have to skip around to find all the pieces?
• If you are concerned about page speed. One loads quicker than many.
• You want to offer faster, easier browsing. For instance, instead of having to navigate to a new page for more information, you can simply scroll down, and hit “More results,” or a similar button. Again, the page has preloaded the information, so it is speedier.
• You have a lot of products for sale. Shoppers tend to want to view as many results as possible, and they no longer have to remember what page their favorite product was on.

Infinite scroll may not be for you if:

• Your content lends itself to more focused searching. Browsers, like shoppers, want to look around. People with a mission want to go to the specific results they need. Infinite scrolling doesn’t allow you to skip over certain results.
• Your visitors tend to need to ask questions about particular subjects, products, or topics. With infinite scroll, you cannot attach a specific link to your query because it’s all the same page.

Will it work for you? If you try it, remember to test it.