Interactive Website Features: 25 Ways to Boost Engagement

One of the many tactics of building a successful online presence is to integrate interactive website features, prompting user engagement. Not everyone knows that websites with the highest levels of user engagement are the ones with higher search engine results. In this post, we’ve outlined the scientific rationale behind integrating interactive elements into your website, and described several ways execute to it.

The importance of interactive website features

This vital area of website development integrates search engine optimization (SEO), as well as UX (user experience) design. Essentially, the longer a person spends on a website, the more important and useful the search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) deems it to be, and then the website owner is rewarded by getting placed higher to the top for relevant searches, placing their site in convenient reach of prospective customers. If users enjoy interacting with your website, they’ll spend more time on it.

Traditional SEO, or website optimization, revolves around textual content—page copy, keywords, meta tags, etc.—but the act of integrating interactive website features is often left to the website developer, who may or may not understand SEO and website accessibility. Not all web companies focus on the whole picture, but fortunately, Fairwind Creative’s team offers a complete package with your users in mind!

So, if you want more people to find your website, you need to give people a good reason to visit it, stay longer, and come back. Pretty pictures don’t do it. One paragraph on your homepage about your service offerings won’t nearly cut it. How about giving your visitors a quote request form to fill out? Give them a newsletter signup box! Give them a chat bot to interact with! Give them something to do. (But not all of these things at the same time, or else the user will feel overwhelmed and leave.) It’s a delicate balance, and if used wisely, interactive website features enhance user engagement and contribute to a more dynamic and interactive website experience. They encourage interaction with website content, ultimately contributing to the success of the website.

25 interactive website features

Here are 25 examples of interactive website features that allow the public to actively engage with your website. We’ve provided some details on a few of these below.

1. Calendars: Users can view, schedule, and interact with events.
2. Forms, surveys, and polls: Gathering user feedback and opinions. More information below
3. Interactive forms: Engaging forms with input validation and feedback.
4. User accounts and profiles: Personalized experiences with account-specific content.
5. Comment sections: Allowing users to share thoughts and opinions on content.
6. Chat boxes / live chat: Real-time communication with customer support or other users. More information below
7. Image and video uploads: Users can contribute their own media content.
8. Product reviews and ratings: User-generated feedback on products or services.
9. Search bar with autocomplete: Enhances the search experience with suggestions.
10. Sortable tables: Users can organize and view data based on preferences.
11. Interactive maps: Exploration and interaction with maps directly on the site. More information below
12. E-commerce wishlist: Allows users to save and track desired items.
13. Progress trackers: Visual representation of completion status for processes.
14. Hover and tooltips: Additional information or previews when users hover over elements.
15. Gamified elements: Incorporating game-like features to encourage user participation.
16. Quizzes and assessments: Interactive quizzes for knowledge or personality assessments.
17. Sliders/carousels: Users can navigate through featured content. More information below
18. Virtual tours: Exploration of spaces or products through interactive tours.
19. Interactive infographics: Users can explore and interact with data visually.
20. Collapsible content sections: Expandable areas for in-depth information without overwhelming the page.
21. Downloadable resources: Users can download documents, guides, or resources.
22. Event registration and RSVPs: Users can register for events and confirm attendance.
23. Social media integration: Share, like, and follow buttons for seamless interaction. More information below
24. Push notifications: Alerts users about updates or relevant information.
25. Interactive animations: Engaging animations that respond to user actions or interactions.

The science behind interactive website features

There’s also a bit of chemistry to it; when one of your website users completes a tasks and sees a positive reaction, this triggers the release of the hormone dopamine in their brain, causing them to experience a natural high (no matter how small). Social media users experience this same effect when their friends “like” something that they posted to their timeline. (Unfortunately, this can become extremely addictive, particularly for young people, and it has actually caused changes in our society – more on that another day.) Did the photo above make you laugh? Endorphins, baby! Many software programs display congratulatory messages, often colourful and animated, after a user completes a task. Ah, psychoinformatics! This emerging interdisciplinary field uses principles from computer science for the acquisition, organization, and synthesis of data collected from psychology to reveal information about psychological traits such as personality and mood. It’s a fascinating area of study, and in our digital world, it’s important to be aware of.

Other critical reason to build interactive features into your website is accessibility. In America alone, about 7.5 million people with visual disabilities use the internet. Interactive website features as small as a hover effect (or mouse-over effect) on links and buttons are extremely important. when the colour or style of a linked object changes, this makes it clear that the element does something. Also, any images that are inserted into the pages of a website need to have alt titles (or alt tags); these allow visually impaired people using screen readers to hear what others see—if sighted people see a photo of a brown dog sitting on a porch, the screen reader would speak “brown dog sitting on porch” or whichever description the website’s content editor typed in. Hover states and Alt Tags are basic requirements for SEO (search engine optimization), and search engines place accessibility-enhanced sites closer to the top of search results. (Fairwind will be covering this topic is more detail in coming months.)

Hover state examples compliments of Pinterest.

 

Forms, surveys, and polls

Ah, the ever-enticing feedback form—a digital confessional where users generously bestow their thoughts and grievances upon unsuspecting websites. With unparalleled eloquence, they elucidate their desires and dissatisfactions, ensuring website owners receive a delightful bouquet of opinions. The joys of constructive criticism!

Website forms, surveys, and polls offer numerous benefits for both businesses and users. Forms allow users to input information or make selections, while polls and surveys gather feedback. These types of interactive website features facilitate communication and data collection, enabling businesses to gather valuable information about their audience, preferences, and behaviors. This data can be used to tailor products, services, and marketing strategies to better meet customer needs and improve overall satisfaction.

Moreover, these interactive features enhance user engagement by providing opportunities for participation and feedback. Users feel valued when their opinions are solicited, fostering a sense of connection and loyalty to the brand or website. Additionally, forms, surveys, and polls can help streamline processes such as registration, feedback collection, and data gathering, improving efficiency and reducing manual effort for both users and businesses. Overall, these interactive elements serve as powerful tools for understanding audience preferences, increasing engagement, and optimizing user experience, ultimately contributing to the success and growth of businesses online.

Chatbots

Integrating a chatbot into your website is a strategic decision, worth contemplation for its potential benefits. Chatbots offer instant support, automating responses to common queries and enhancing user experience with real-time communication, even outside regular business hours. This optimizes costs associated with visitor support and reduces unnecessary customer service calls. They can handle repetitive queries with lightning speed, freeing humans up to focus on more complex issues—like figuring out why the coffee machine won’t brew anything but decaf. However, chatbots aren’t perfect; they can sometimes misunderstand requests, leading to hilariously bizarre responses that make you wonder if they’ve been hitting the decaf too.

Pros

• • 24/7 availability: Your customers can get info and help anytime.
  • Automation: Easily handles repetitive transactional questions like “Where is my order?” or “What is your return policy?”
  • Creates capacity: Free up your humans for the stuff only they can do.
  • Budget-friendly: Cheaper than hiring more support agents.

Cons

• • Need for expertise: Some questions need a human’s care.
  • Lack of warmth: Automated responses can miss that personal touch resulting in increased frustration from users that don’t want to talk to a bot.
  • Data privacy and security concerns: especially when leveraging user data for a personalized experience.

There are different types of chatbots to consider, each with its pros and cons. Understanding your specific needs (like help with high traffic, multilingual support, or platform integration) will help you tailor your chatbot to fit your business.

Rule-based chatbots

These chatbots allow users to follow pre-determined flows, ideal for an interactive FAQ experience with straightforward questions and answers. A rule-based chatbot is a great solution if you’re looking to ease the number of transactional questions in your support inbox. While not as “warm” as a human interaction, you maintain control over brand voice and language used in interactions. This option is easy to implement and cost-effective, but can be rigid in navigation, potentially causing frustration for the person interacting with it—it’s only as robust as you build it out to be! Luckily, most options on the market have built in functionality that provides options to connect with a person via email, social media, or a live-chat feature.

AI-powered chatbots

AI-powered chatbots use Natural Language Processing (NLP) for dynamic understanding and responses to a wider variety of requests. This option can be less restrictive than a predetermined flow as an AI-powered chatbot can understand language nuances, however, maintaining a consistent brand voice and tone requires careful calibration. One great aspect of these chatbots is that they can learn and improve over time, so after an initial investment in training for relevance and tone, it can handle a wider variety of requests in real time. The higher level of complexity offered results in this option being more expensive, both from a cost and time perspective.

In summary, each type of chatbot offers distinctive features. Whether opting for the straightforward rule-based model or the sophisticated AI-powered version, the choice ultimately needs to align with your business needs. Both options have the potential to be a transformative element of your site, enhancing user satisfaction and saving your team some time.

 

Interactive maps

Interactive maps not only engage users but also provide a dynamic platform for exploration and discovery within your website’s ecosystem. By integrating interactive maps, users can seamlessly navigate locations, obtain directions, and uncover points of interest without leaving your site, thereby enhancing user experience and potentially increasing dwell time—a factor that positively influences search engine rankings. Businesses across various industries leverage interactive maps for diverse purposes, including showcasing store locations, facilitating travel planning on tourism websites, aiding property searches on real estate platforms, and much more.

Moreover, interactive maps offer a visual and intuitive way for users to interact with geographic data, fostering a deeper connection to the information presented. They can be customized to include additional layers such as demographic data, historical landmarks, or business listings, providing valuable context and enhancing user engagement. By incorporating interactive maps into your website, you not only provide practical utility to your users but also establish your brand as innovative and user-focused, ultimately contributing to a more immersive and enriching online experience.

 

Sliders and carousels

Pros

Website sliders and carousels can offer some benefits for some website owners, enhancing the visual appeal and functionality of a website. Firstly, they provide a space-efficient way to showcase multiple pieces of content or images within a confined area, optimizing page real estate. This allows websites to display a variety of information or promotions without overwhelming users with cluttered layouts. Additionally, sliders and carousels can increase user engagement by capturing attention through dynamic motion and interactive elements, encouraging users to interact with the content. Moreover

Cons

However, beneath their glossy surface lies a carousel of potential pitfalls. Firstly, they can slow down page load times, frustrating users who are impatiently waiting for the next slide to appear. Additionally, they can distract users from the main content or message of the page, leading to confusion or disorientation. Moreover, sliders and carousels often suffer from low engagement rates, as users tend to overlook or ignore the rotating content, like a forgotten toy at the bottom of a toy chest. Furthermore, they can impact accessibility for users with disabilities, particularly those using screen readers, who may struggle to navigate the rapidly changing content. Lastly, from a design perspective, sliders and carousels can clutter the layout of a website, detracting from its overall aesthetic appeal. It’s usually best to let them take a back seat and allow other design elements to shine.

A good question to ask yourself when contemplating adding a slider or carousel to your website is, “Will it improve usability?” Don’t just add a slider for the sake of following trends you’ve seen on many other websites (a trend which was popular over a decade ago). If you’re an artist or photographer, a slider might be useful. Just remember the damage they can cause.

 

Social media integration

Integrating social media features, eh? It’s like adding a dash of maple syrup to your website – sweetening the deal for users. With interactive website features like share buttons, comment sections, and embedded feeds, users can interact with website content, spreading it like gossip at a Tim Hortons.

A few examples of website social media integration:

• Share buttons: These allow users to easily share website content, such as articles, blog posts, or product pages, on their social media profiles. Examples include the Facebook Share button, Twitter Retweet button, and LinkedIn Share button.
• Comment sections: Integrating comment sections powered by social media accounts enables users to leave comments on website content using their social media profiles. Examples include Disqus and Facebook Comments.
• Embedded feeds: Websites can display social media feeds directly on their pages, showcasing recent posts or updates from their social media accounts. This allows visitors to stay connected with the website’s social media activity without leaving the site. Examples include embedding Twitter timelines or Instagram feeds.
• Login with social media: Websites can offer the option for users to log in or sign up using their social media accounts, making the registration process quicker and more convenient. Examples include “Login with Facebook” or “Sign up with Google” buttons.
• Social media widgets: These widgets display social media profiles or follow buttons on the website, encouraging visitors to connect with the brand across various social media platforms. Examples include Facebook Like boxes, Twitter follow buttons, and Instagram profile links.

These examples demonstrate how websites can leverage social media integration to enhance user engagement and extend their online presence across different platforms.

 

Always leave’em wanting more

You can time certain website features—like pop-up windows and chat bot dialogue boxes—to appear a few seconds after someone has been on a web page, or once they have scrolled a specific percentage of the page length—once they’ve reached a point where they are building trust and interest, and are likely already committed to learning more. This way, they will be more inclined to see these features as useful tools. If, instead, they are met with blinking, scrolling, flashing features the moment they open your site, there’s a very high chance they will leave immediately (according to global statistics).

Utilize browser cookies for integrated software, to prevent repetition. If a user doesn’t like an element that pops up on the screen, or a nagging newsletter signup box they’re forced to close on every page they view—whether or not they opted to fill it out—then a browser cookie can store their decision to disable the element, and they should not have to be bothered by it again. This will help them stay focused on the content they really want, and prevent them from growing frustrated with their experience.

Reward your viewers after they’ve performed an action on your site—filled out a form, joined a newsletter, downloaded resources, created an account, purchased a product, etc. Be sure to display courteous “thank you” messages, and provide them with next steps, so they feel supported. This instills a sense of trust and keeps them coming back.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions about this article, or any of Fairwind’s services, reach out anytime!