While traditional texts and videos remain vital for content marketing, interactive content has also become quite popular. It is two times more engaging than static content, and 73% of marketers claim it boosts retention when used in combination with traditional ways of reaching consumers.     

This blog post examines various interactive formats, such as quizzes, polls, and infographics, and discusses the array of benefits they offer. So, get ready to tap into the power of interactiveness and elevate your digital marketing strategy to new heights.

Quizzes

Quizzes are quite popular, and for a good reason. Generating an average click-through rate of 35-55%, they can fit any brand or topic and encourage people to engage actively. These are some of the most common types of quizzes:

• Personality quizzes allow people to discover something about themselves based on their answers to a series of questions. This can help them identify with a brand’s products or services.
• Trivia quizzes test people's knowledge on a particular topic and can be used to educate them about what a company offers.
• Opinion quizzes ask users to share their thoughts about something and can be a great way to motivate them to create content.

Using quizzes can have a significant impact on engagement, lead generation, and sharing. For instance, according to BuzzSumo, an average quiz is shared 107 times on Facebook. Here are a few tips for creating them:

• Keep it relevant to your brand or product in some way. This will help ensure those who engage with the quiz are interested in your business’ products.
• Make it fun, enjoyable, and entertaining. Consider incorporating humor or pop culture references so your quiz is more engaging.
• Display shareable results at the end of your quiz so people can post them on social media.
• Ensure the mobile-friendliness of your quiz since more than half of all internet traffic originates from mobile devices.
  

Polls

Polls attract attention and motivate people to think. They ask a question or series of questions to gather opinions or insights, create discussions, and boost engagement. Polls can:

• Engage your audience, which can help build a loyal following and increase brand awareness.
• Help with market research by gathering valuable insights into your audience's preferences, opinions, and behavior. This information can be used to ensure that what you’re creating resonates with your target audience.
• Be a source of ideas. By asking your audience what topics they are interested in, you can gain insights into the types of blog posts, videos, and podcasts that are most likely to be successful.
• Be a source of data for new articles, videos, etc., and, as a result, can make you a thought leader.

Types of Polls

• Single-question polls, where one can choose answers in a single select or multi select way.
• Multi-question polls that often require users to input their own responses.
• Ratings, where participants evaluate a product, service, or concept on a scale, such as from 1 to 5 or from "poor" to "excellent."
• Rankings that involve ordering a list of items according to preference or importance, allowing the poll organizer to identify trends and preferences among respondents.
• Yes/No polls require users to provide a simple "yes" or "no" response to a question, making it easy to gauge public opinion on a specific issue.
• Open-ended ones invite people to write their own answers rather than selecting from predetermined options. This type helps gather qualitative feedback and insights.
• Image-based polls use images as answer options, allowing participants to visually compare and select their preferences.
• In head-to-head polls, one has to choose between two competing products, services, or ideas.

Interactive Infographics

Interactive infographics are graphical representations of information. As any other kind of visual content, they are a great asset for marketers. For example, according to Semrush, articles with at least one image get a twofold traffic boost.

And it’s no wonder. Half of our brain interprets visual information. With 150 million light-sensitive cells in our retinas, 30% of our cortex processes visuals, while only 8% is allocated to touch and a mere 3% to hearing. Our eyes possess a vast number of nerve fibers, far exceeding those in our ears. 

Additionally, at least 65% of individuals are "visual learners," and some research suggests that this figure could be as much as 80%.

All in all, visuals play a crucial role in our communication process. Typically, we retain merely 10% of the information we receive after three days. However, when this information is accompanied by a relevant image, our memory significantly improves, allowing us to recall 65% of the details after the same period. 

With all this scientific data available, it’s almost a crime to not use infographics and other formats of visuals.

Other Types of Interactive Content

These formats are also useful:

• Videos that allow users to click on different elements within them or choose what will be shown.
• eBooks that people need to interact with them to reveal additional information or animations.
• Assessments help people evaluate their knowledge or skills on a particular topic. They can be used to generate leads or provide personalized recommendations based on a person’s responses.
• On maps, one can explore information in a more visual way by zooming in and out, clicking on different locations, or interacting with other elements to reveal additional information.
• Timelines allow for exploring historical or chronological data in a more engaging way. Users can click on different points in the timeline to reveal additional information or animations.

Best Practices for Creating Interactive Content

All this variety leads to an important question: “So, how to create this type of content to ensure its efficiency?” Here are some key considerations for that.

• Ensuring great user experience should be your priority when creating interactive content. Make sure it is easy to navigate, visually appealing, and provides value to the user.
• Mobile-friendliness: With more and more people accessing blogs, videos, and everything else on mobile devices, it's crucial to ensure that whatever you post is mobile-friendly and responsive to different screen sizes.
• Shareability can significantly increase reach and impact. Add social sharing buttons and encourage users to share on social media what you create.

Measuring Content Success

When it comes to measuring the success and ROI of your interactive content marketing efforts, consider the following strategies:

• Set clear goals and metrics for success before creating your quizzes, surveys, polls, etc. This will enable you to measure their progress and effectiveness.
• Track engagement metrics such as page views, clicks, shares, and more. This data can help you identify what resonates with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Monitor the number of leads generated and their quality to determine the ROI of your efforts if lead generation is a primary goal of your quizzes, surveys, etc.

Real-World Examples and Case Studies

If you have any doubts that interactiveness can be successful, here are a few examples of how brands used it to their advantage.

Buzzfeed's "Which State Do You Actually Belong In?" quiz has generated over 41 million page views.

A styling consultancy for men, Masculine Style introduced a quiz named "Learn Your Archetype" that generated 33,000 new leads and 134,000 website visits.

Thrive Business Solutions (a business consultancy) developed a calculator enabling its clients to instantly create accounting quotes instantly, resulting in a 23% conversion rate.

The College Matchmaker quiz by Forbes was released in 2015 and received around 144,000 completions within a few weeks (today, it has millions of completions).

Interactive content has the potential to significantly boost audience engagement and create meaningful connections with your target market. It can help generate leads, increase brand awareness, and provide valuable insights.

We encourage you to start tapping into the benefits of quizzes, polls, interactive infographics, and so much more today. If you're in need of fresh ideas for them, Intentful's AI can help. It can generate many ideas within seconds, saving time for your creative team. Contact us if you want that, have any questions, wish to book a workshop, or need any other kind of text — AI content can save your time and money and boost your traffic.