Interactive content for your lead generation in 2021.
Do not miss the trend

There's no denying that content marketing is still one of the most powerful strategies B2B and B2C marketers use to get more traffic and conversions. When we talk about content marketing, we can't really leave out interactive content. 88% of marketers say that interactive content sets them apart from their competitors. This makes interactive content an integral part of content marketing, making lead generation through content marketing a great opportunity.

Demand Metric estimates that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing techniques while bringing in at least three times as many leads.

In this article, we'll show you what interactive content is and how you can create content that is engaging and acts as a lead magnet for your business.

What is interactive content?

Imagine you go to a bakery to buy cookies, and there's no salesperson to help you. Instead, you get to read a 20-page book about the store and its 100 products. You would decide to leave, right?

Now imagine you enter the same store, still without a salesperson, but you can play a quiz that asks you a few questions and suggests the right products according to your preferences. You also get instructions on how to complete the purchase. I think you would like that.

Statistics show that 80% of shoppers are more likely to buy from a company that offers personalized experiences.

That's the charm of interactive content!

Interactive content is any type of content - such as quizzes, calculators, surveys, etc. - that encourages the prospect's active participation, rather than passive consumption of your company's message. This ensures customer engagement while providing valuable value.

Why does interactive content help generate leads?

You may be wondering: sure, interactive experiences can be engaging, but how would that get me the leads I'm looking for?

If a prospect made it to the bottom of your form or calculator, he or she is probably eager to see the results and would be happy to share their name and email address in return. That's because of the added value and satisfaction that interactive content provides.

Interactive content is fun and enhances the customer experience!

Consumers and businesses are bombarded with online content every day. This leads to reduced attention spans and limited time for specific content.

Therefore, your content needs to attract and hold the attention of prospects. This is where interactive experiences like quizzes or calculators play a revolutionary role. 81% of marketers believe that interactive content attracts readers' attention because it's FUN! It lets the customer use the creative side of their brain, and that makes them even more likely to try it, and more likely you'll get the lead.

For example, take a look at this quiz. Wouldn't you try it just for fun?

Interactive content generates value

Today's consumers are looking for content that adds value and keeps them engaged. Interactive content does just that.

When browsing a video company's website, what would appeal to you most: a simple contact form at the bottom of the page, a newsletter sign-up after a long blog, or an interactive calculator that offers insights into the cost of your next video campaign? The latter, of course. It's valuable to prospects while enabling lead generation for the company.

Interactive content gives customers reasons to choose your product and makes the lead generation process easy. Best of all, it's not sales-heavy at all!

Interactive content increases the engagement

When we create content, our main goal is to get the audience to take action. However, audiences will only engage if your content grabs attention and provides valuable value.

Interactive content marketing aims to be audience-friendly and increase engagement. For example, check out this funnel, which provokes interaction with a targeted question.

In fact, users will not only take the quiz, but also give you the contact details and who knows, they might even click on the product CTAs. Interactive content has been proven to generate twice as much conversion as static content. That means more leads and more sales, and who wouldn't want that for their lead generation marketing?

Interactive content informs

93% of marketers already believe that interactive content is more effective than static content in educating potential buyers about a product or service. Consider a 20-page ebook compared to a 2-minute quiz for learning real estate basics. We believe there is no competition here!

And if you give your target audience the knowledge they're looking for, they'll be happy to give you the contact information. Everyone loves a good barter. So lead generation through interactive content becomes a very simple business.

Interactive content can be used flexibly

A very important aspect of content marketing for lead generation is to make your content available on every platform. If you want your audience to deliver leads, interactive content should be present where your audience is.

Unlike traditional forms, interactive content can be embedded on various platforms like social media, blogs, websites, ads, and basically anywhere you want. Via an iFrame, the interactive content adapts responsively to any size.

Which interactive content is best for your lead generation strategy?

The marketing funnel can be made effective by optimizing lead generation through interactive content. Each stage of the customer journey must be personalized for the prospect. So look at what interactive content type is perfect for your lead generation strategies for each stage of the funnel:

1. Awareness phase

This is the stage where you need to tell your prospects about you and your business. They are actually looking for someone to help them understand their problems. If you get the opportunity to tell them how you can help your prospects, it can bring you both brand awareness and leads.

For this stage, you can use these interactive content types to generate leads:

1. quizzes & personality assessments.

2. interactive blogs

3. interactive ebooks

4. giveaways and contests

5. interactive emails/newsletters

2. Consideration phase

Now that you've helped your prospect understand their problem, you can offer a solution. Show your prospect how you can help, not why you could help. Also, this is the stage where your competitors are also in the scenario. So play smart here by offering the maximum value through your content.

These are the types of interactive content you can use for the lead generation process in the consideration phase:

1. videos

2. webinars

3. calculators

4. referral quizzes

5. infographics

3. Decision phase

Your prospect is about to make his decision. What he needs from you now is trust. Convince him of your performance in a subtle way. Convince him why your service is better than your competitors.

These are the interactive content types you can use:

1. ROI/cost/savings calculators.

2. case study blogs

3. competitor comparison quizzes

This way, you quickly get the most out of iteractive content for your lead generation.

Creating high-quality, engaging content will generate more awareness and bring more visitors to your website. However, it will be fruitless if you don't convert your visitors into potential buyers. Depending on the platforms you use and the type of content you offer, there are different strategies that can be employed to attract those valuable leads.

So what types of content can you offer that won't go unnoticed? Let's discuss together some brilliant ways you can use interactive content to attract leads!

Product configurators

Interactive calculators are one of the most relevant forms of content, as they provide users with an estimate based on their input. It generates very valuable data that in return convinces users to share their contact details. Moreover, with an interactive calculator, you facilitate the customer journey and gain their trust.

Take a look at this kitchen configurator, for example. It gives the prospect an accurate estimate of how much they'll save on a new kitchen. It's fun, intuitive and generates leads. So it meets all the criteria!

Quizzes

We would totally cave if we saw a quiz about "Which Avenger Are You?". These Buzzfeed-style quizzes are super fun, and who wouldn't take one?

Statistics prove that 96 percent of Buzzfeed users finish a quiz after starting one. Indeed, outcome quizzes are fun and that makes users want to take them. And that means 3 things: leads, leads, and leads.

The best thing about interactive quizzes is that they are totally customizable. So you can use them to benefit the customer and promote your services at the same time. For example, check out this fitness quiz. Over several questions, the fitness level of the prospective customer is queried. On the results page, they get an evaluation of their fitness level. At the same time, an upsell opportunity for a fitness course is offered.

Valuations

As much as your prospects like personalized results, they also love challenges. Assessments or graded quizzes basically test your prospect's knowledge of.... well, anything, giving points based on their answers and allowing participants to know where they stand compared to other participants.

And since most people like to know if they're experts, they'll be happy to provide their contact information as well. Easy leads!

The above assessment tests your knowledge, provides insights, and (hear, hear) collects LEADS! Assessments can be a great tool to indirectly introduce your products to prospects without being sales-heavy.

Surveys

Your audience would love to tell you their preferences as much as you would like to know them. This is where surveys come in. Surveys are used to learn more about your customers. And if you care about understanding your audience's likes and dislikes, they won't mind giving you their contact information.

E-commerce recommendations

Ecommerce quizzes provide instant gratification and deliver personalized results to your prospects. Searching for products online is a hectic task and product recommendation quizzes make the task much easier. If you make the task easy for your audience, they will gladly become a lead.

They also have amazing sharing and viral potential, which also makes them ideal content material for social media channels.

Promotional gifts and contests

Free stuff? Here we come!!! Giveaways and contests are considered a great lead generation marketing technique. You reward your customers, and they will gladly share their contact information in return.

In fact, these interactive content types generate more leads because they can be shared a lot on social media. Wouldn't you want to tell your friends about the chance to win a free gift basket?

This giveaway is a perfect example of how you can reward your potential customers and increase engagement (and therefore leads :p).

Videos

Interactive videos are the new thing! These videos give you hotspots or clickable areas that perform an action when you click on them. Not only do they increase engagement, but they also accelerate leads. 35% of marketers using interactive videos saw an increase in conversions, and 25% saw an increase in sales.

Tinder recently organized a Swipe Night event. This was a series of 3 interactive videos where users made choices for characters that were then visible on their profiles. This attracted new users to your platform, and yes, that's more leads!

Webinars

Interactive webinars are one way through which you can proactively interact with your customers. You can include elements like giveaways, surveys, polls, and quizzes to make the session interactive.

This increases engagement and helps you increase lead generation through interactive content. Interactive webinars are a great way to deliver educational content to potential customers and can act as a powerful lead magnet for your business.

Conclusion

The content strategy you choose to generate leads depends on the channels you currently use and your target audience. An interactive sweepstakes or quiz might be more appropriate for B2C. A webinar or sales presentation would be more appropriate for a B2B case.

Experimenting and combining different strategies will help you find the ideal strategy for your business. The best part is that you will automatically generate leads through your content.

However, you need to keep the information request in a lead generation form to a minimum. The more questions you ask, the more likely it is that the customer will abandon the form. Also, if you design your quiz cleverly, the prospect's answers can help you better segment and rank your acquired leads. And don't forget to nurture your leads once they've provided their contact information; a simple thank you email with their results can be the first step. Make sure your content is specifically focused on your prospects, engaging, and not too pushy. The results will then speak for themselves. Have fun with your acquisition!