The main cognitive goal of the presented research is to determine the preferences of potential customers in relation to a simple advertising message presented in the form of digital versions of leaflets. In addition, from the methodical point of view, the possibilities and principles of using eye tracking research to measure the visual reaction to a simple advertising message are shown. A within-group experiment with two factors was used for this purpose. The presented subject matter is potentially important also for other marketing graphic layouts, such as websites, electronic documents, banners, advertisements or packaging. The experiment included four versions of marketing messages that differed in the layout orientation (vertical or horizontal) and a heading style – bolded or not bolded font types. Subjective evaluations of the studied graphical layouts were obtained by means of binary pairwise comparisons. The data collected were subjected both to qualitative assessment and to statistical formal analysis. The obtained hierarchy of preferences indicates a better perception of horizontally oriented leaflets with bold captions. The collected oculometric data presented in the form of heat maps show that the subjects pay the most attention to the upper part of the vertical leaflet and the left side of the horizontal layouts. Quantitative analyses confirmed these qualitative observations and allowed for the identification of detailed, statistically significant differences between the examined factors and their levels. The presented results increase the knowledge of shaping potential recipients’ preferences and allow for a better understanding of their visual activity while processing simple marketing messages.