How interactive digital tools create huge value for businesses

Have you ever wondered how your business can drive sales up. Interactive digital tools is a powerful peice of technology that can fuel your success!

What is an interactive digital tool?

An interactive tool is a digital experience that helps customers to make a decision. You can find them on websites, mobile apps, or even a VR experience. And, what’s so brilliant about them is that the tool can be personalised to each user, giving a business a greater chance of converting them to become a customer.

When are interactive digital tools used?

Interactive digital tools can be used in many different scenarios, however, it can be very powerful in specific use cases.

Complex

If the product or service is particularly complex then an interactive tool can be used to dissolve the complexity. This can be done by educating the customers and moving them through the sales funnel.

High Value

When a product or service is of high value it can be difficult to sell it if the trust of the brand is low. By offering an interactive tool you can support the buying decision with information on the return of investment (ROI).

Configurable

A visual representation of a product is great, it is made better when you can configure what the outcome will be. Think of Tesla and its interactive tool which allows you to customise a car before you purchase it. For example, you can configure the number of seats you need or the material of the interior or the colour of the exterior, etc.

Examples of interactive tools

Trussle

Trussle, amongst other similar apps, has taken the confusion out of finance. It does this by a simple interactive tool that does the calculations for you. It has a clean, clear, and consistent user interface. Although it does not directly sell products using the tool, it provides a useful piece of content that can cross-sell.

Maybelline

Although technically complex, the company Maybelline uses a simple chatbot integration on their website to aid customers to purchase using questions and selfies. The idea is that the company can colour match the customer’s skin tone with a product they are more likely to purchase there and then on the site.

National Grid

This tool was used as part of an awareness campaign for government grants. This was a good example of how an interactive tool can make something complex more understandable. The idea was to help navigate the user through a funding request in which the user has the ability to be emailed the results.

Why are interactive tools such a valuable asset for a business?

There are two key pieces of data to show you the power of interactive tools. 

Firstly, according to the Content Marketing Institute and Ion Interactive, 66% of marketers have reported greater audience engagement after using interactive content.

Secondly, 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalised experiences. 

Combined, these two statistics show that not only does audience engagement increase after interactive tools are used, but users are vastly more likely to make a purchase doing so.

This is why we know interactive tools are a powerful asset to have as a business, as we have seen many successes from tools that we have developed!

Why now is the best time to build an interactive tool

You may have started to think about companies that have interactive tools. As technology develops, businesses will adopt even more interactive tools. Meaning that now is the best time to start using them to your advantage, and create one for yourself before your competition has already done it!

At Hiyield, we have helped many of our clients create interactive tools with great success. In this insight, we’re going to break down why they are so powerful!

Three tips for building an interactive tool

1. Define and plan your outcomes

Firstly, define and plan the desired outcomes. It could be related to a product purchase, a newsletter, a sign-up form, or a redirect to another part of your website. Whatever the vision is, defining the outcomes gives you a goal in which you are able to focus the design process on.

2. User experience (UX) and design

Our in-house UX and design team will claim that this should be the main consideration, and they are right to say so.  The design should be clean, clear, and consistent within the tool. Don’t use acronyms or internal business language. The design of the tool should be simple to follow and engaging, which are key components of interactive tools.

3. Technology

Experience has taught us that you should start small and iterate with user feedback. Many simple tools can be built in front end technologies, such as HTML, CSS & Javascript meaning they can be integrated into your existing website. You don’t need to integrate the tool into your existing website. A subdomain can be used so it can be technologically independent of your main website, allowing it to be more complex.

How we can help

Often you find that people are in need of an interactive tool, however, they do not possess the capability to create one. 

That is where we come in. 

We have an experienced team of front and back end developers, designers, user experience specialists, and project managers who have developed interactive tools in the past. 

If you think that you are in need of an interactive tool please book an initial discovery session using the button below. Take the first step into maximising your business and you will see results.