Top 7 interactive content you should use as a marketer
Tired of seeing boring static content? With QR codes and other interactive content, you can let your consumers get involved and you can give them instant results.
As marketers are constantly looking for the next great idea, exploring different trends is a must-have. That is why we have seen how the online world is saturated with different types of interactive content.
A consumer report also found that 90% of consumers want more visual and interactive content. Why is this so?
Interactive content is more engaging, highly immersive, and encourages consumers to consume information faster.
It also gives people a reason to stay on your page while still bring them into your sales funnel.
What is interactive content?
According to Harvard Business Review, the term interactive has two features of communication:
“The term interactive, as we interpret it, points to two features of communication: the ability to address an individual and the ability to gather and remember the response of that individual. Those two features make possible a third: the ability to address the individual once more in a way that takes into account his or her unique response.”
Thus, interactive contents are content that requires active engagement from your audience.
It is not the typical static content where the users don’t have to do anything but consume the information. Interactive content is more immersive and entices consumers to take an action.
It is predominantly used by marketers to generate more conversions and get more traffic than other content.
Benefits of interactive content
Here are some of the key benefits you will get when you use interactive content:
Deepens engagement with your brand
As consumers want to experience new things, using interactive content will deepen customer engagement with your brand.
According to a survey conducted by the Content Marketing Institute, it states that 87% of marketers agree that interactive content, of any format, captures the reader’s attention better than static content.
Drives customer satisfaction
Making use of interactive content in conveying a message to your audience also leads to customer satisfaction.
Take for example how QR codes are used to simplify the process of redirecting mobile users to a website. They don’t have to manually type the web URL as they only need to scan the QR code to access a website.
Can be used in every funnel stage
Interactive content can be integrated with every funnel stage.
By adding a little ingenuity in your design tools and visual components, interactive content can be instrumental in addressing your consumer pain points, in guiding through a complex purchase process, or even increase your sales!
Types of interactive content and interactive content tools to use
1. Interactive Infographics
Interactive infographics highlight specific data that viewers can interact with. Unlike static infographics, it adds moving features to make the visual content more dynamic.
Whether you have tons of data or a data set or you just want to have effective storytelling, you can use interactive infographics. It is easier to internalize when your consumers have a more personal reading experience of your interactive infographics.
Brand using interactive infographics
The National Geographic released an interactive infographic about planned buildings or skylines in the U.S. You can scroll through the city and click on landmarks to see more information.
Tools to use
You can use Ceros, Visme, and Displayr to create clickable interactive infographics.
2. Interactive Videos
Interactive videos allow your viewer to interact with the video content itself using different tools. They can click, drag, scroll, hover, and complete other digital actions to interact with the content.
There are a lot of ways to make your video interactive. You can add quizzes, gamified content, clickable menus, and interactive storylines where your viewers can choose their video journey.
You can also give them control over viewing perspective. Thus, unlike the traditional linear videos, your viewers take part in the storytelling process.
Brand using interactive video
Honda, a Japanese automobile manufacturer created an interactive video campaign “The Other Side,” where viewers can experience dual realities for one Honda driver.
A viewer will see an alternate reality every time one holds down the letter “R” (a reference to the Honda Model featured, the Civic Type R).
There are frequent prompts that pop up on the screen to “press and hold the R to see the other side” throughout the video. The interactive video entices viewers to wonder if they’re a carpool-parent or the getaway-driver type. In this Honda video, viewers can be both.
As a result, there is an increase in dwell time when the video is launched. Viewers spent an average time of more than three minutes with the video, which is particularly high for the automotive industry. Website traffic for the Honda Civic doubled during the campaign.
Tools to use
You can use software like Wirewax, HapYak, and Rapt.
3. QR codes
QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that stores information like website, word file, video, sound file, and so on. Its usage spike during the pandemic as it offers a contactless and low-cost mobile solution for marketers and other industries.
It also becomes a great way to turn static media into an interactive experience. QR codes on posters, billboards, and flyers allow users to immediately visit your website, buy your products, or follow your social media pages by scanning the code.
You can also include it in your product packaging, swing tags, and even display it in your store’s window. The QR code, when scanned can lead your users to a promo video, exclusive content, or a free download that sparks interest in the product or the brand.
Brand using QR codes
Levi’s, one of the world’s biggest apparel brands kicked off a QR code campaign in China to build brand awareness among young people.
The clothing company did not produce any single advertisements for the campaign. The ad, ‘We are Original” lets their target consumers make their advertising.
As a result, the campaign caught the attention of the young audience and generated 2.6 million Levi’s advertisements in just two weeks! A whopping 2.9 million customer engagements (views, tweets, reviews, and shares) were made.
Tools to use
To create your QR code campaign for more immersive content, you can use QRTiger.
QRTiger is one of the trusted QR code generator software that allows you to create up to 3 dynamic QR codes (an editable and trackable type of QR code) for free.
QRTiger’s dynamic QR code tracking system also enables you to track QR code scans, allowing for better insight into your marketing campaigns and unlocking important data, such as the number of scans, the location where people have scanned the QR code, and more.
Related: 7 Benefits of QR Codes in business and marketing
4. Interactive white papers
White papers, which typically are data-heavy and sometimes technical, hence very boring to look at. Fret not; you can create an easy-to-navigate and interactive version of your long-form content. It’s no longer a static collection of pages but rather it provides a sensory experience for the reader.
White papers play a key role in buyer decision-making, so making them more interesting and engaging will only raise their value.
However, make sure that your white paper should still be well-researched and include data — you’re just making it more digestible.
Brand using interactive white paper
Dun & Bradstreet, a commercial data and analytics company, makes a smart format for a data-heavy topic about correlating data to propel acceleration. When they released a preview of their white paper titled, “The Data-Inspired Art of Sales Acceleration“, it features a motion on the page, as it describes the highlights inside.
When a user scrolls through, each section has its colors and other added interactive moments.
Tools to use
When you craft the content of your white papers, you can use visual design tools to create a new experience for readers.
Once the user downloads the white paper, the interaction doesn’t stop. You can include interactive navigation, quizzes, assessments, calculators, and videos.
5. Interactive product lookbook
A product lookbook simply means a collection of images pieced together to showcase a product line or array of different items and ideas online. However, marketers are making products lookbooks more interactive using design tools.
The typical purpose for a highly visual and interactive lookbook is to drive your consumers to the website and products into the shopping cart.
You can include interactive product images, shoppable videos, and shopping quiz to engage your audience and convert sales!
Brand using interactive product lookbook
Mignon Faget, a leading jewelry brand, displays their jewelry pieces with different outfits in a more explorative and non-linear approach of look book for their customer shopping journey.
Customers will see a preview of their jewelry sets when worn in different outfits. Then they can hover over tagged products, see more details with a click (using the integrated quick-view) and add products right to their bags without having to leave the page.
The team behind the brand reduces the number of pages and click when navigating the page by integrating vertical scroll. Thus, customers can see multiple products at once and have a more seamless shopping experience.
Tools to use
To create your interactive lookbook, you can use Dot, FlipHTML5, or Yumpu.
6. Quizzes and polls
People love quizzes and polls. These interactive contents share the same purpose: to engage your audience by testing knowledge or opinions on a relevant topic.
They can also generate a report so they can share it with those of their peers.
Tools you can use
You can use tools such as Apester, Outgrow.co, and Engageform to create quizzes and polls for your audience.
7. Calculators and configurators
Calculators and configurators help customers estimate and compare costs of product features and evaluate the advantages of purchase options they might consider.
Calconic reports that calculators have conversion rates of 40–50%.
It is predominantly used by e-commerce companies and automotive brands.
Tools you can use
You can build calculators or configurators using tools like uCalc and Calconic
Tips on how to effectively use interactive content
Have a compelling reason to use interactivity
Interactive content should help you positively build your brand. It should offer an advantage both to your company and your audience. So make sure it is relatable, engaging, and distinctive. If not, you are wasting your time and money.
Your chosen format should match its intended function
What are you trying to achieve when you use specific interactive content? Is it for brand awareness, engagement, or lead generation?
So think wisely if you select an appropriate format based on how well it suits your goals and message.
Get inspiration from your existing content and reinvent
You don’t have to create your interactive content from scratch. You can reinvent your top-performing blog posts into an interactive video. Repurposing is key to solidify your interactive content.
Make use of interactivity helpers and software
There are lots of software you can use to make your interactive content more efficient and cost-effective. For example, in our list, we have included software for creating QR codes, quizzes, lookbooks, and so on.
Measure the impact of your interactive content
Use tools to measure the performance of your interactive content. You can use Google Analytics to know the bounce rates, time spent on a page, traffic sources, and conversion rates.
Other tools we included have their data tracking system such as the QRTiger which provides QR code tracking data such as real-time data of QR code scans, devices used by scanners, and map charts for a wider QR code scan view.
Related: How to set-up QR code tracking in real-time
Engage and drive sales: Interactive content is worth the hype
As human attention span continues to decline, brands are using interactive content to capture consumers’ attention and engage them.
Consumers also love interactive content as proven by the discussed advantages in this blog.
That being said, engage with your audience now using interactive content such as QR codes, quizzes, and interactive videos.
Take advantage of available technologies now and use QRTiger to gain more traction in your marketing efforts!
