It’s All About Interaction

Interactive content is any kind of content that is on a website that is clickable and interactive. It requires active engagement, like filling in an online quiz or questionnaire, meaning that the viewer becomes part of a dynamic two-way experience and he or she is not just merely a passive viewer of the website content in question.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 81% of marketers say that interactive content grabs peoples’ attention more than static content. With this impressive statistic highlighting the popularity of interactive content, it is no wonder that it is increasingly becoming the content of choice for today’s web designers, who are creating the latest interactive user experience (UX) website designs.

In fact, 66% of marketers agree that overall audience engagement goes up when interactive content is implemented on a website. Therefore, many marketers and web designers are keen to include this type of dynamic content within their clients’ websites, in order to engage their clients’ customers and ensure a good return on investment for money spent on the website design.

What Website Users Want

Interactive content is also becoming an element of a website that the public has begun to expect. After all, it looks good and is often clever, fun and innovative. It asks back and is keen to get the user involved or glean their opinion. It is clear from the number of websites that now contain interactive content how it is fast becoming the norm. Audiences are known to find interactive content more engaging than static content, and are keen to stay longer on a website that has interactive elements.

So, what is so great about interactive content? Having areas of a web page that can be engaged with often makes a user’s experience more enjoyable. Everything from landing pages, infographics, blogs and case studies to quizzes, presentations, sales decks and eBooks can be seen as interactive if they have clickable and information gathering elements within them. So, as we can see, marketers are using interactive content across every part of the marketing funnel, from blogs to eBooks.

It could be said that the more interactive elements there are on a website the better, as they enhance the user experience greatly. Interactive content is also good for website navigation because by clicking on interactive elements users are taken through to other pages within a site. These pages may also contain interactive content that takes website users even further around the site and engage them further, or lead them back to the homepage.

Calls to action don’t all have to lead to other interactive pages within a website, however. They can also allow the user to click through to external links and informative articles off the website, which is great for SEO and credibility purposes. Linking a website to a number of other informative websites is good for backlinks, as well as giving the website in question prowess. It provides a feeling of established status to the original site if it is linked to relevant pages of other well-known websites.

Feeling Animated

Interactive content can be made even more attention-grabbing by using animated calls-to-action. When CTAs leading to interactive content are animated, to catch a user’s eye, they are simply easier to notice than static ones. When comparing the number of clicks on CTAs, it is far higher when they are animated, simply because they are more noticeable and appealing to the website user.

Animated elements of a website also add to the fun and overall interactive feel of the site. Perhaps users are more likely to engage with interactive quizzes and polls if they are led to open them by animated CTA buttons. By clicking on these buttons, users have shown their willingness to engage and be active participants in gleaning and giving back information via an interactive element. It really is a two-way street with interactive content!

If you would like to find out more about interactive content and dynamic website design, contact us today.

Kate Fox is a Copywriter at Mulberry Marketing Communications. An award-winning full-service B2B communications agency based in London, Chicago and Melbourne. She has extensive experience creating written work that finds interesting ways to make B2B content, personal.