The Effectiveness of Odd Numbers of Bullet Items

Posted by Peter Cohan on October 16, 2009

1 comments | 1902 reads

A colleague commented that people appear to better absorb and remember lists when they are in groups of odd numbers (as opposed to even numbers). This includes bulleted PowerPoint slides, verbalized lists, and lists developed on whiteboards and other media.

I’ve noted, personally, that there appears to be a “power of three” effect – that people remember lists of three items very well. Conversely, we certainly know that a list of 10 words is very tough to remember…!

As a self-test, it would be interesting to read and compare/contrast your own marketing literature’s bulleted lists of features/benefits with that of your competition or related third parties…

Does anyone have feedback, comments or data regarding the effectiveness of remembering odd-numbered lists vs. even?

For more tips and articles on demonstration effectiveness skills and methods, email me at PCohan@SecondDerivative.com or visit our website at www.SecondDerivative.com. For demo tips, best practices, tools and techniques, join the DemoGurus Community Website at www.DemoGurus.com or explore our blog at http://greatdemo.blogspot.com/.

Peter Cohan

Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative, focused on helping software organizations improve the success rates of their demos. In 24, he enabled and began moderating DemoGurus®, a community web exchange on software demonstrations. He is the author of the book Great Demo! - how to prepare and deliver surprisingly compelling software demonstrations.

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Steve Bent - unrivalled

October 16, 2009

The Effectiveness of Odd Numbers of Bullet Items

I think there may be something in this. It is more visually appealing and therefore more likely to stick.

When presenting food on a plate one recommends odd numbers, not even to (in terms of layout)

However I have to say that there is something more obvious in the example used. Hands up if it's easier to remember 3 things or 10 things....?!!

Whether or not 5 things are in some way easier to remember than 4 would be interesting to know though...

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