In recent times, 70% of a customer’s journey takes place online. And as technology advances, the number can only rise. To that effect, you need a responsive and interactive website to give your users the best experience and keep them coming back.
What’s an interactive website? In short, it’s the difference between talking to your customers and starting a conversation with them. Interactive websites communicate with users by allowing them to perform certain engaging yet straightforward actions while on the page.
Let’s explore some ways you can create an interactive website or make your existing website more interactive.
How to Make Interactive Websites
Having a responsive and interactive website is a way of telling your users, “You are our No. 1 priority,” says Alex Savy, the Founder of Comfynorth.ca.
Here are some ways you can do this…
Publish User-Generated Contents (UGCs)
This is a great way to let your audience know you’re listening to them. UGCs keep your customers happy and make them feel valued. Some ways to publish UGCs include encouraging comments on your blog and publishing articles based on those comments.
Other ways you can pull this off include: Publishing testimonials of past customers
- Showcasing social media posts and images from happy customers/clients.
- Inviting readers to write guest posts
- Creating a small discussion forum
Each of these can potentially help you build a cult of followers and repeat customers who will not only buy from you but evangelize you to their network, and boy does that feel good.
Encourage Social Media Interaction
There’s no denying the power of social media in digital marketing, so providing one-click access from your website to social media is always a win. Provide buttons where website visitors can click to like and share your posts on social media platforms.
Provide buttons to enable them to follow you on social media platforms. It’s a game of numbers on social media these days. Having many followers is usually perceived as credible, so drive traffic from your website to your social media pages and vice-versa.
You can use simple WordPress plugins to incorporate these handy buttons.
Add Quizzes and Surveys
The benefits of having quizzes and surveys on your website are numerous.
First, you get to reduce your website’s bounce rate since users will take out a minute or two to fill out your survey form. If, after filling the form, you ask them to provide an email where you can send the results, that’s an easy way to grow your email list. The third, and probably the most beneficial, reason to use quizzes and surveys is to give you an insight into your audience’s needs. You can then use this to publish UGCs, create better offers and meet their needs while making more money.
WordPress plugins like WPForms can get this up and running in no time.
Offer Freebies
Everyone loves free stuff. Simply running a giveaway on your website can endear you to the hearts of your readers.
No, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get this done. You can compile a valuable resource and offer it in exchange for emails.
Make it Faster
Not only do slow websites make visitors get irritated and leave your website, it makes Google punish your website.
While adding all the cool features to your website, make sure it’s a fast and responsive website. And doesn’t leave a sour taste in the mouth of users.
Offer Freebies
Everyone loves free stuff. Merely running a giveaway on your website can endear you to the hearts of your readers.
No, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get this done. You can compile a valuable resource and offer it in exchange for emails.
Make it Faster
Not only do slow websites make visitors get irritated and leave your website, but it also makes Google punish your website.
While adding all the cool features to your website, make sure it’s a fast and responsive website And doesn’t leave a sour taste in the mouth of users.
Add Useful and Interactive Tools
Games and useful tools can shoot on-page time and conversions through the roof. The style should be congruent with your website, though:
For instance, a tax calculator will be handy on a finance and investment website. A ‘Love Calculator’ can thrill users on a dating website. Just get creative with it.
Some websites use some opt-in gamification to keep users engaged. This is usually in the form of a discount wheel, which customers can spin to get great deals. However, they only get to see their deals when they provide their emails. You can easily create and customize one with OptinMonster.
Invite Conversations
You may think this is self-explanatory, but if you look around, you’ll find a ton of websites without a ‘Contact Us’ page. Owners of such websites may either:
Feel it’s unnecessary or never gave it a thought in the first place.
This offense makes them lose several leads and interactions, and users usually leave as fast as they came.
Don’t be afraid to talk to your websites’ visitors. Publish your contact details and let them know you’re a real human.
Another way to invite conversation is by writing engaging CTAs at the end of your blog posts. CTAs that encourage them to leave their thoughts, comments, and questions.
You can all’s include chat widgets. Here, you can always be on-hand to answer questions. Nothing beats this. A Chatbot can also help answer predictable questions.
Source: Shortstack
Benefits of Interactive Websites
Let’s look at some of the benefits of an interactive website.
- Interactive websites keep users engaged. An engaged user is more likely to take out their credit card, punch all sixteen digits and buy whatever you’re selling.
- Interactive website design can create some uniqueness for your brand that can keep your visitors coming back.
- Interactive websites make visitors happy, and happy visitors are more likely to refer your website to their network.
- It helps you earn natural and equal quality SEO backlinks.
- Interactive websites keep users for longer. This increases on-page time, slash bounce rate, and boosts your SEO. Yeah, the Google algorithm will sense that you’ve got good content since people spend longer on your website. As a reward, they’ll help you rank higher in search.
- Interactive websites help you build an email list. According to HubSpot, emails have a 3800% ROI. It’s way more profitable than any other digital marketing channel. You should build an email list.
- Encourages social sharing, which can help boost social following and increase online authority.
Final Words
In summary, an interactive website will beat a static one all day, every day. The benefits are innumerable. Too much to be overlooked. Business owners who wish to make success should go after making their websites as interactive as possible.
Get hold of these tips and make the most of them. You’ll be further ahead.
What are your thoughts about interactive websites? Have you got any questions? Do well to leave them in the comment section.
