Anna Talerico, ion interactive’s EVP and co-founder
Good marketers know that getting customers to do something is the first step to building a solid relationship, but the days of the basic, bottom-of-the-page call to action are probably a thing of the past. Consumers are inundated with options, and studies show that marketers usually have less than ten seconds to grab attention.
So what’s a web marketer to do?
Why not set your content apart by taking smalls steps towards making your website experience more interactive? In a world burdened by too much content, interactive content grabs attention and keeps people engaged, which often means better conversion rates.
Neil Patel puts it best over at The Daily Egg when he writes, “Conversion optimization is nothing more than getting users to complete a desired action. The easier, more enjoyable, or more persuasive your website makes it for them, the more conversions you’ll get.”
That’s why it’s so important to make sure audiences are interacting with your content, rather than simply passively reading (or ignoring it).
Lower Bounce Rates
One of the worst things that can happen to a brand focused on churning out great content is for customers to see that content but leave before they do anything with it. Adding interactive content can actually lower bounce rates.
According to Rocket Fuel, the industry-wide bounce rate is around 45%. However, adding interactive elements, such as making infographics and statistics sharable on social or adding quizzes to the bottom of content, can actually lower your bounce rates by half, according to Quicksprout.
Teach Audiences By Engaging
Audiences learn better by engaging and interacting with a brand through quizzes or calculators. Making the learning process fun is a great way to get audiences involved and show them how a product will work, rather than just telling them. Users are much less likely to leave the site without converting if they’re not only engaged, but can also see the utility of that engagement.
Even Facebook has realized it can increase audience engagement through interactive ads. Recently, the site launched Canvas ads, which enable brands like Wendy’s to not just show off their products in News Feeds, but actually create fun, full-screen experiences for mobile. For example, in one ad, Wendy’s allowed customers to scroll through GIFs of cheeseburger ingredients to build their own perfect burger.
The result? Customers actually wanted to interact with ads, and that interaction led to conversions. The company reported that audiences typically engaged for around 31 seconds, over three times the average.
Studies Show That Interactive=Conversions
And while engagement is great, it’s not everything. However, getting audiences to play with content in the form of interactive elements, quizzes, assessments, and calculators has been shown to generate higher conversions, with 70% of marketers rating it as effective at converting (versus only 35% of marketers saying the same about their static content).
Interactive Content Can Mean Improved SEO Results
One of the unsung benefits of interactive content, according to some SEOs, is conversion optimization. If the user experience becomes more fun and efficient through interactive elements — be they build-your-own burger tools or ROI calculators — audiences are not only more likely to convert, but also more likely to become customers rather than “traffic.”
So if you’re looking for content that pops — and better yet, converts — why not try out a few interactive elements and see how much more effective your website can be?
