How and Why Interactive Content Increases Customer Engagement

by Devin Morrissey, Guest Contributor

If you think back to your days in grade school, the lessons you still remember are most likely the ones that required your participation. For example, think about the large colored sheet that most of us raised and lowered in gym class when we were learning basic motor skills as young children — almost everyone remembers hiding beneath that cloth as it waved around your entire class. We are most likely to engage with and remember activities that ask us to participate rather than passively take in information.

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How and why interactive content engages your customers.

The more you’re able to engage with your customers, the more likely they’ll stay on your site and explore your brand. By giving them an activity to do on your site, you’re giving them a reason to click through to other things. That’s more than most advertisements or blog posts can do.

This is why it’s so crucial that your company create interactive content for your customers. Things like quizzes and surveys have the potential to not only entertain your audience but keep them coming back. In fact, this type of content is so important to your campaign that marketing experts list it as the top skill a modern marketer should have.

If you’re still feeling skeptical, look at Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed quizzes are so popular with readers that they’ll actively go to their website to take them for no reason other than they enjoy doing it. Here are a few things to understand about how and why interactive content engages your customers:

Here’s How It Works
In order to understand how interactive content actually pulls in your customers, let’s dig in further to the Buzzfeed example. If you’ve ever taken a Buzzfeed quiz, then you may already be familiar with how they work. They are generally linked to some kind of pop culture or wildly popular media moment with a few simple questions and lots of vibrant and pleasing images.

It’s worth noting that your interactive content should find the center of the Venn diagram between the trending moment and your product or business. You want the quiz or survey to increase audience awareness and spark interest in your services. These points of connection don’t have to be all serious or complicated either.

For example, maybe a travel agency would make a quiz to find out what kind of tropical vacation someone should take. One question may ask, “do you like sandy beaches or windy waves?” and then would include a pleasing photo of each option. The end result image may also be of a stunning tropical beach that adds up to everything the customer dreamed of when they clicked the quiz link.

People are interested in taking quizzes because it’s personal. People are very excited about anything they can personalize for themselves or that they feel gives them some piece of their identity — much like a quiz that asks “which popular TV character are you?” This not only advertises the show in question, but gives each customer a personal connection to it almost immediately.

Second, the images used in quizzes are fun to look at and offer a visual component to the personalization that customers are seeking. Images are what initially makes a customer click on any link online, but with multiple images presented in a quiz, customers will have a reason to stay on the page. Offering a unique image at the end of the quiz as a part of the result can also feel like a reward or a surprise for the customer.

Here’s Why It Works
Essentially, interactive content works to engage customers on a deeper level. They are thinking about their own personalities and characteristics, or their own dreams and desires, in direct connection to the quiz questions you’re asking. This gives them an emotional connection to your site and to your product if you’re smart in how you write the quizzes.

This emotional connection will tap into something deeper than simply a product exchange. A solid emotional connection between customer and brand is the first step to building trust as a company. If a customer trusts your company, they’ll return to you for more and more needs over the years.

One of the goals of content marketing is to create posts and quizzes that will help your customer. You want them to become familiar with your product, yes, but you also want to be a source of information for them when they have questions about your area of expertise. Quizzes are a great way to give customers content they enjoy that will keep them returning to your website.

By utilizing smart internal linking and suggesting related content at the end of each post, you can direct customers to explore more of your site after they’ve finished a quiz. This means there’s the potential for customers to come to your website for a quiz, but stay for blog posts or articles about your product. It also means customers may keep coming back to your site because they enjoy the quizzes and then are interested in other information as well.

Ideally, It Will Work to Improve Sales
One of the most cost-effective marketing strategies you can employ is content marketing, and as you’ve just read, interactive content is one of the most effective forms of this skill. This means interactive content can be highly beneficial for your marketing budget. You’ll be paying a low cost for a technique that can help to boost your sales.

People are most likely to spend money with a brand they feel connected to, as we’ve discussed earlier in this article, but also with a brand they feel benefits them. A quiz is a simple and enjoyable way for a customer to feel entertained and like they’ve gained something from their interaction. This is why quizzes can be really effective when incorporated in your marketing strategy.

It may seem silly to spend time and energy on quizzes that seem like games to your customers. It’s important that you remember, however, that what you’re really doing is giving them noteworthy and interactive information that relates to your company. You’ll be giving them an enjoyable experience with your brand.

In some cases, a quiz may be the first enjoyable experience a customer has with your company, so when they return they’ll remember that joy and feel a bond. Tapping into emotion is a huge way to ensure lifelong customers. Customers who are with your brand for life will spend money with your company and tell their friends, referring even more customers to you as you grow together.
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Author bio:

Devin prides himself on being a jack of all trades; his career trajectory is more a zigzag than an obvious trend, just the way he likes it. He pops up across the Pacific Northwest, though never in one place for long. You can follow him more reliably on Twitter. 

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