- 93% of marketers see interactive content as an effective marketing tactic.
- Polls and quizzes tend to get the most engagement.
- Gamifying your homepage is a great way to get consumers to stay on your website.
- Interactive emails are great for building engagement and retaining customers.
- Free quotes can help you generate new leads by encouraging new visitors to interact with your brand.
Do you want to step up your marketing strategy and grow your business? If so, you're not alone. Business owners and marketers across every industry are constantly looking for new ways to boost their website traffic, conversion rates and lead engagement.
As it turns out, one of the best ways to grow your business is by using interactive content. A staggering 93% of marketers say that interactive content is an effective marketing strategy. Due to the rise in competition, consumers are now paying attention to brands that encourage their feedback and engagement. More often than not, consumers expect brands to listen to their needs and adjust their strategies accordingly. If a brand isn't willing to interact with consumers, there is a risk that the company could lose out on future sales and new customers.
For a piece of content to be considered interactive, consumers must have the option to participate in a way that will enhance their experience. It doesn't matter if you're using email, social media or your website – this foundational rule is the focal point of interactive content.
We are going to take a look at five tips to keep in mind if you're thinking about making this type of content. Our strategies will touch on each of the major marketing channels, which will give you plenty of opportunities to grow your brand.
1. Gamify your homepage.
Let's start by talking about what is likely your most visited page, your homepage. If you look at your site analytics, you'll probably notice that there's a vast difference between the number of people who land on your homepage and those who end up subscribing and converting into customers.
Your first priority should be to engage these people. If you let a majority of your audience go without trying to keep them on your site, you're going to see a gradual dip in your traffic and sales.
Gamifying your homepage is an excellent way to encourage users to stick around after they navigate to your website. Spin-to-win wheels and online contests are a great way to get people to interact with your brand from the moment they find your business.
Spin-to-win wheels are similar to the type that appear on the popular game show Wheel of Fortune, only virtual. When someone hits your homepage, they will see a wheel with the option to click and stop the wheel. Include some generous prizes such as order discounts, gifts, free shipping and even a copy of your lead magnet. The lead magnet option is especially effective at building your email list, while discounts on products and shipping encourage sales.
2. Leverage the power of quizzes and social media.
A recent poll revealed that 58.8% of marketers see social media as a pillar of their marketing strategy. In your pursuit of building a stellar social media campaign, you should consider the type of content you're sharing with your subscribers. Quizzes and polls are considered by many to be the most popular type of interactive content on social media.
For example, Buzzfeed regularly publishes quizzes on its site and social media that quickly get hundreds of thousands of views. One of its most popular quiz-style articles racked up a mind-blowing 22 million views. Now, you're probably not going to make one quiz and see your website explode overnight. But when you consider that there are well over 3 billion people across all social media platforms, there's no doubt that posting quizzes and polls that are relevant and meaningful to your audience will help you grow your business.
If you want to see faster results, try sharing your posts on popular groups in your niche. Facebook is notorious for its large, highly engaged communities, making it an ideal starting point for business owners who want to start sharing their interactive content.
3. Send interactive emails.
Email marketing is another vital strategy for growing and maintaining your customer base. There are plenty of reasons users might join your email lists, such as access to promotions, newsletters and blog content.
Including interactive emails in your mix of regularly scheduled content could encourage otherwise stagnant subscribers to engage with your business. Generally, interactive emails are used to learn more about your target audience while improving your website and product line.
Let's say you wanted to segment your lead list so that you can send personalized content and offers. You might consider sending over a simple interactive questionnaire that uses conditional logic to ask consumers what they think about products, services, or industry as a whole. The questions will change depending on their previous responses, which creates an engaging email experience.
This process encourages engagement and can help you create segmented lists for future interactive content. Not only can interactive, personalized emails land you six times more conversions, but it's also a great way to re-engage stagnant subscribers.
4. Offer a free quote.
Free quotes are another great way to get consumers to stick around and engage with your brand. You've probably encountered this tactic after visiting a website featuring a law firm, plumbing service, or any other traditional service-based website. Interested consumers can fill out some information about their situation and send their request off to your team.
E-commerce storefront and SaaS business owners are starting to use this tactic to reach their target audiences. For example, many email marketing firms encourage visitors to contact them for an estimate on the condition of their email list and actionable advice for improvement.
Similarly, online stores that sell physical products can offer free quotes that teach customers more about various items based on their needs. Not only will you get the opportunity to engage with your target audience, but you'll also gain some valuable data for building and refining your customer personas.
You can use this strategy to get people who are on the fence to contact your business. If they think there's no way to talk to a representative without buying a product first, they are likely to leave and never come back.
However, if you can encourage them to contact you for a free – emphasis on the free – quote, they are more likely to interact with you first. As a result, you'll start to build new leads from a percentage of these consumers.
Back to you
When it comes to interactive content, there's no debate. Most people agree that engaging content that encourages users to reach out to your brand is here to stay. As technology grows and we get more tools at our disposal, it's safe to say that most business owners and marketers will use personalized interactive content to increase conversions and engagement.
If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you should consider creating interactive content for your brand now. There are countless possibilities across all of the major marketing channels. Depending on your industry, some of the tactics we mentioned may work better for you than others. Experimenting with different types of content and segmented leads is the best way to build rapport with your existing subscribers while growing your business with new customers and leads.