The history of eCommerce has been marked by constant innovations — so much that, today, it is necessary to bet on interactive eCommerce to compete in this dynamic world market.
Fortunately, this is a valuable step that you can take immediately and effectively by incorporating different formats of interactive content on your page and into your strategic management.
Before we delve into these issues that will allow you to modernize and optimize your online store while improving the user experience, we will explain the specific benefits you will get from it.
In this article, you will learn:
Why it is Convenient for your eCommerce to be more Interactive
Interactive marketing is synonymous with reach, engagement, and optimization for eCommerce.
So you can better grasp the idea, here is a brief but accurate list of specific advantages you will gain by making your eCommerce interactive. Check it out!
Generates qualified business opportunities
Qualified business opportunities should be one of your business goals. After all, they have a better chance of success.
By sharing interactive and educational content, you can qualify users, attracting those who are a good fit with your products or services (which means they will be more likely to make a favorable purchasing decision) and subsequently be loyal to your brand.
For example, detailing everything about your products through interactive elements will allow visitors to add items that really appeal to them to the cart, thus reducing that annoying rate of incomplete purchase processes.
Collects information of interest
Interactive content is content that stimulates responses and user participation in general.
So, if you use it, the user will provide data and information about their likes, preferences, questions, and other aspects as they interact with your page.
You can use all this information to optimize processes within your company and promote the growth of your business.
Increases the average time spent on your website
An interactive eCommerce is closely linked to a better user experience.
For this reason, online stores that take this step encourage users to spend more time on their pages.
Logically, the more time a user or customer spends on your website, the better. This means they will be much more likely to make purchases.
An interactive website invites the visitor to come in and explore it to the fullest. If you have your articles or services published, that is even better.
Builds your audience
An interactive eCommerce can build an audience by offering exciting content that stands out and provides an enjoyable experience for those who visit its website.
Of course, each member of the audience you’ll create will be people who, sooner or later, may make a purchase and become regular customers. This is the advantage of interactivity in the eCommerce world.
The benefits we have mentioned indicate that moving to interactive eCommerce will provide better business opportunities, loyalty and retention possibilities, and greater penetration in your market segment.
7 Strategies to Create an Interactive eCommerce
There are several types of interactive content that will optimize your eCommerce and enable all the advantages mentioned.
In the following sections, we will show you 7 strategies you can use to build an interactive eCommerce. Keep on reading to find out!
1. Create infographics to show the details of your products or services
Good eCommerce goes beyond photos and brief descriptions of products or services.
To build trust and encourage favorable purchasing decisions, you need to show what your business can offer in detail, including reliable data and concrete, accurate information.
For this, you can use interactive infographics to make the interaction with the website more enjoyable and interesting. This content format will allow you to present precisely:
- The advantages of your products or services.
- What they offer.
- How they are used.
- What results they can deliver, among other things.
A very interesting example of how interactive infographics can positively influence buying decisions is what Veracode did to educate web developers about the importance of data security in applications.
And guess what: this is precisely the problem their products set out to solve!
2. Show your competitive advantages using calculators
An interactive calculator can be a game-changer in the user experience — it will definitely motivate them to make the purchase decision.
Through this content, you will be able to show the value of your products, your return on investment, and other competitive advantages, which are highly persuasive and of great benefit for business purposes.
In addition, these calculators add functional value to online stores by helping users determine data of interest and measure metrics from that.
So, by simply adding them, you will start building an interactive eCommerce with valuable business processes that allow users and customers to see how important they are to the brand, while tangibly showing the powers of your products or services.
3. Create stylish educational and conversion landing pages
Sometimes, paradoxically, in order to sell, you have to let go of the obsession to sell.
Promoting good experiences and building healthy and solid relationships with customers and users is usually more profitable because it helps create qualified business opportunities with a high probability of success.
In the case of landing pages, this principle applies perfectly.
Instead of using these websites to invite them to make purchases immediately, turn them into interactive ones and feed them with valuable information and content, captivating the user and strategically managing business processes.
This is what Sears did with its Ion software. It created an interactive landing page that conveys relevant information about products and services with various elements on which the user can click to learn more.
4. Promote interactive ebooks to educate and strategically manage the user
In Content Marketing, ebooks are highly valued materials due to their ability to educate the user by delving deeper into topics of their interest.
Therefore, applying them will allow you to strategically manage people, encouraging them to advance in the buyer’s journey until they reach the final stage, where they are highly likely to complete the purchase.
Moreover, interactive ebooks optimize the experience and can be even more specific when answering questions and doubts.
They also focus on the answer the reader is looking for, which can change during the interaction.
These ebooks include sections, questions, and different windows in which the person can navigate according to their interest.
5. Use virtual simulators for the user to test the product
Undoubtedly, eCommerce has grown a lot, but although it is on top of the world and is highly valued, like any modern element, it still needs to overcome objections from some users.
One of the classic objections to eCommerce is that, because it is developed virtually and remotely, the user cannot try the products and services like in a store.
Fortunately, if you build an interactive eCommerce and include virtual simulators, they will no longer have this argument against you.
The best fashion stores, for example, offer interactive fitting rooms on their web pages, so people can see how they will look with certain clothes.
Also, software companies provide interactive demonstrations of their platforms and tools so that a person can explore their functionality without the need for in-person demonstrations.
6. Use surveys to understand customer or user maturity
Surveys are an important element of Big Data in eCommerce.
Thanks to them, you can get information from your users, which you have to analyze to make concrete and coherent decisions.
In particular, an interactive quiz will show the level of maturity of the user or customer about your product or topics of interest for your brand.
This way, you will be able to adjust and orient your commercial and sales processes to people’s real needs and knowledge levels, optimizing resources and generating a higher volume of business opportunities.
7. Create interactive videos to captivate and collect data
Interactive videos entertain, captivate, educate, and, if they are interactive, they allow for the collection of data of interest to the user.
As the name suggests, audiovisual content stimulates feedback (this is why people click or point to items of interest), which will help you understand their behavior and preferences.
Likewise, this format is ideal for exposing products in real situations and contexts, generating reliability and improving the experience.
For example, as we will show later, a famous Italian shoe brand uses these audiovisuals to reflect the use and characteristics of its shoes in different places and climates, allowing the user to recreate real-life situations.
4 Examples of Interactivity in eCommerce
Several eCommerce pages and platforms have achieved the desired optimization, expanding their reach and engagement, thanks in part to the migration to interactivity.
Here are some very good examples:
1. Nike
In 2015, Nike launched a collection of sports tops called Nike Pro Bra, with the tagline “perfect fit.”
To ensure user satisfaction and improve the experience, the brand incorporated the 360 Fit System interactive simulator on its website, which allowed users to virtually measure their tops and thus find the ideal size.
In addition, it included video tutorials that explained how to use the modern simulator since it was a very new tool on the market at that time.
2. Ikea
Ikea is a multinational company that produces and sells furniture, mattresses, and various household items.
Due to its broad focus on the retail market, the Swedish company concerned itself with captivating the final consumer through its eCommerce, mainly with the help of interactive elements.
Among its added values are interactive videos with images of its products in real-life situations, including links to the purchase pages.
3. Geox
Interactive video has become popular in eCommerce, and this one is a good example of a successful case.
Geox, an Italian brand of resistant and highly comfortable shoes, offers interactive audiovisual content in which the user can change the weather and place to see how their shoes adapt to different environments and situations.
This presents itself as an interactive and user-friendly eCommerce that conveys trust to users.
4. New Chapter
This is definitely a brand that seeks to provide a comprehensive interactive experience to its website visitors.
New Chapter, a vitamin and natural supplement brand from the P&G group, uses interactive questionnaires on its website to identify users’ main questions about its products and then answers them.
In addition, it offers packages of educational materials and many other elements that add value to the user.
Wrap Up
If you have read this far, you already know that interactivity is an eCommerce trend you should consider.
Building an interactive eCommerce is a necessary step to adapt to modernity and compete in a market marked by constant innovation.
Moreover, it is a profitable and cost-effective modernization route that is affordable, even for small and medium-sized businesses, since you can produce much of the content yourself with the help of specialized software and tools.
You should definitely migrate to interactivity before employing more costly innovation practices such as drone deliveries — something that companies like the giant Amazon are already doing.
Was this information helpful to you? Do you feel encouraged to add an interactive touch to your eCommerce and want to learn more about the topic?
Discover Ion, a powerful tool within our Content Cloud suite, designed to transform your banners into captivating interactive experiences. Unlock the full potential of interactive advertising by visiting our website now and exploring the capabilities of Ion and other innovative tools available in Content Cloud.
Start creating interactive content with Ion and increase your marketing results!
Start creating interactive content with Ion and increase your marketing results!
