In the digital age, static content is out of date. Your sales materials, presentations, content marketing infographics, and customer-facing documents are only useful if you can get your audience to engage with them.
Adding interactive content to your digital marketing and interactive media makes the experience more engaging, more like playing a game than doing homework. But like any game, it has to be set up properly to let the fun really flow. Here are four tips for learning how to create immersive and engaging interactive content, like banners, quizzes, and games.
Nobody wants to have to figure out how to interact with something. Really, you don’t want them to have to think at all. The best design is the least intrusive.
Think hard about how a person will actually engage with what you are putting in front of them. Your visitors shouldn’t have to consciously think about what they’re doing when they’re using your interface.
One trick is to not put too much in front of people at all. There are few things that will make people close a page faster than being overwhelmed. If you start adding too many elements, it can get disorganized and unusable. Keep it simple.
You should also keep it clean. You don’t need to have chaotic design elements just for the sake of standing out. Keep the design intuitive, based on other well-known experience patterns.
Every trail needs signposts.
Once your interface is intuitive, you’ll want to ensure people know it’s interactive. When you’re engineering a high-performing interactive content platform, signifiers tell visitors that there’s more to do on that page than just stare at it. Some common signifiers are buttons, hovering boxes, or different textures.
Consistency is crucial. For example, if you add bubbles that pop up over images with additional information, once a person sees them once or twice, they will expect pop-up bubbles for all the images. That means you’d better have them!
If you nail your interactive experience signifiers, you can win visitors over without having to lift a finger.
People don’t always click the button they intend to, especially on touchscreen devices. That means you need to provide an easy way to undo and correct actions. If that process is not intuitive and quick, a reader might just abandon ship.
Don’t punish people for their curiosity, just because they tapped the wrong option. You want them to engage with all you have to offer, and not to get stuck because they can’t figure out how to get back to where they started.
Correctional options you should consider using include back arrows, undo buttons, and confirmation buttons.
Designers can work relentlessly for weeks or months, but if your site doesn’t function, their work will come to naught. If the back end of the site isn’t functioning properly, the design won’t matter.
One important step is to bring in outside testers. A team can overlook problems because it’s too close to the project. Outside testers should gauge the usability of your page or microapp. Finding errors in the test period is ideal so you can fix them before anything goes live.
How do you make content interactive? Tiled is a good place to start. With interactive tools that can be customized to your needs, Tiled turns a one-dimensional website into a traffic-driving machine or levels up your email blasts to promote engagement.
Tiled can be used to create engaging content for job candidates, customers, prospective clients, and employees. For all of your website and microapp needs, use Tiled to help your business succeed.
