What makes a website interactive?

No matter what your mother told you, people will judge books by their covers. The same goes for websites, too. You might attract lots of visitors to your website – but if those visitors are leaving without engaging? You’re missing out on potential sales. However, interactive websites could be the key to standing out online. In fact, interactive websites – AKA interactive web experiences – can help convert more of your visitors into customers.

Let’s dive in.

What is an interactive website?

Strictly speaking, an interactive website is any website that reacts to something you do. You click a text link on a webpage, for instance, and a new page loads.

That said, you have to feature more than just text links to stand out in 2021. Technology has raised the bar, meaning organisations – and their websites – have to work much harder to own their customers’ attention span.

Why having an interactive website is important

Every moment counts. Studies show that it takes 50 milliseconds before someone forms an opinion on your website. After that, you have less than 15 seconds to captivate that person before they drop off and leave. There’s no room for error.

When you tell compelling stories, you’re engaging. When you make your website a joy to browse, you’re captivating. Combining great stories and a worthy website means you’re likely to retain audience interest and create a positive experience. Ultimately, great experiences move the needle to motivate customers towards their end goal (like making an enquiry or purchasing a product).

Let’s understand 4 innovative ways to make your website interactive and turn your best digital asset into a total click magnet.

1. Dynamic movement

Any good story, any piece of great music, has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The ebb and flow connecting ideas is what tells the story and makes it interesting for the audience. Without those three sections, there’s little context and even less to latch on to.

Some websites can help tell content stories through dynamic movement. Take the example of this Apple AirPods page:

As you scroll down the page, the story unfurls. Elements move and ideas develop with every scroll of the cursor. The further down you go, the more you know – and the more engaged the visitor is.

Not everybody has Apple’s budget, but good interactivity doesn’t require bottomless pockets. Like this page for EpocCam by Elgato:

It’s more simple, but its interactivity follows the same principle:

• Your story begins
• Graphics and copy change and introduce new themes
• The story moves forward with every scroll
• Clear calls to action at the end

2. Embedded 3D product models

Since phones became smarter and coding more clever, our everyday devices can now render fully 3D objects inside a web browser. That means, instead of describing your products, you can embed 3D product models and graphics inside your website.

Suddenly, the reams of pages you’d normally write to describe complex concepts could give way to a clickable, expandable, 3D illustration.

Take Coats, industrial thread supplier to global businesses. Instead of describing what their products can do, Coats is able to show audiences with an interactive 3D product model.

The 3D model invites website visitors to peel back the layers and discover classy Coats innovation. It’s a top interactive webpage that’s helped audiences understand the products and – crucially – converted prospects to customers.

3. Gamification

Here’s where storytelling turns into becoming part of the story. Beyond a cool page-turning mechanic, gamification incentivises visitors to interact with your website.

Gamification works because humans are motivated by rewards for investing their effort into something. Embedding a quiz into your page with a reward can be a great opportunity to educate visitors and change behaviours.

By sprinkling in leaderboards, new games and a reward system (like coupons or virtual badges), you can encourage your visitors to rise to the challenge. Whether you’re talking to other businesses or consumers, it’s an effective tactic.

Importantly, gamification is an incentive for visitors to return to the page. As the experience evolves with input, visitors can be both surprised and delighted – and more engaged than ever.

4. 360° discovery

You can take your audience to a brand new dimension. Traditional webpages restrict movement to two directions: up and down. However, digital destinations let you burst a website wide open and explore content in full 360°.

One example is B2B Marketing’s Ignite London experience. B2B Marketing took their audience around a virtual 3D convention hall. It highlighted benefits of the virtual event and encouraged visitors to book a ticket. Thanks to the experience, over 50% of those engaged viewers went on to book their spot.

The best part about 360° experiences? You can combine all the elements we’ve spoken about – dynamic movement, 3D product models, gamification features – and package them up into one 360° space.