"Longer time-on-page and deeper scrolls mean the page is working." [BUSTED]

"Longer time-on-page and deeper scrolls mean the page is working." [BUSTED]

A pricing page celebrated rising scroll-depth and dwell time after a redesign. Conversions had quietly dropped 9%.

Why it spread: engagement metrics are easy to track and feel like progress.

The boring truth: people scrolled more and stayed longer because the new layout confused them - they were hunting for the price, not savoring the copy. High dwell time on a decision page often means friction, not delight. Engagement and conversion can move in opposite directions.

The nuance the engagement-metric advice skipped: on a content page, deep scroll is the goal. On a decision page, the best outcome is a fast, confident click. The fix here was making the price impossible to miss; dwell time fell and conversions recovered. Pick the metric that matches the page's actual job.