Understanding the Importance of Engagement
Feels Like it’s not about throwing content at people or making noise with your message. But far too many marketers are pretty much still missing the point. They mistake attention for engagement, and this misunderstanding can be costly.
You may get a few eyes on you, but if nothing sticks, nothing is more or less retained or remembered, so it makes little difference to them or you. To keep their focus you need to first capture it.
But that’s not enough; it’s only the first step. Sort of. The other crucial part is making sure they feel involved in some way - in other words, engaged. It means your audience feels a sense of belonging.
A connection. Perhaps even a little ownership. When you approach it this way, your communication becomes meaningful and memorable.
I suppose one thing we all struggle with is measuring engagement or understanding what it means for our specific situation. For some, engagement is supposedly when people interact with on-site elements; for others, it’s when someone fills out a form or makes a purchase. Sort of. There is no single rulebook or playbook to crack the code of engagement but there are tools to get there.
People have different attention spans and respond differently based on context and medium, which makes this even more complicated than it seems at first glance. But overall, when you think about engagement, think about it as making every interaction feel like a conversation rather than a speech you’re giving. Or making your audience feel heard, valued, and included in what you have to offer rather than left out on the sidelines.
Types of Interactive On-Site Elements
If you think interactive on-site elements are pretty much restricted to quizzes, forms or silly pop-ups - you’d be wrong. Implies That there are probably multiple ways to engage users with your website without going down the oft-beaten path of overused and somewhat ineffective routes. A lot of websites have way too many interactive elements and can quickly overwhelm visitors - it can be a nice touch to add some fun for the right kind of audience, but too many could cause your bounce rate to skyrocket.
Quizzes, polls and surveys are an easy way to get users to share more information about themselves. It can be an effective tool for marketers who want to use first-party data to understand their target audience better.
The trouble comes in knowing what kind of questions to ask people, so they don’t feel like you’re mining data with a pickaxe. The way I see it, another easy way is live chat boxes that can answer simple questions automatically or redirect users to humans when possible. Many people are tired of robots talking to them, so this can be a quick way to lower engagement and trust.
The way I see it, one way to get people to play around on your site is by adding hotspots. They’re incredibly versatile and work best when done subtly. The trick is not to make your website look like a fun video game unless that’s what your brand is about. It should help them find out more about something without much effort, add value for them if they care enough and allow you to sell them on additional services without feeling pushy.
We think videos work best for almost everyone. As attention spans get shorter than ever, short-form videos are the best way to attract someone’s attention and have them actually retain the information you’re sharing. Tools like 360-degree photos, image sliders or comparison images can work when you sell products that require details and feature descriptions that set you apart from competitors. Too many interactive elements kill the overall user experience, especially when there are too many triggers.
Knowing what goes well with your design aesthetics can take a little trial-and-error before you find out what works best for your business.
Designing User-Friendly Interactive Features
Lots of designers and developers add things to their websites thinking it’ll work for everyone. Often, they don’t consider who actually uses the website and what they’re looking to get from their experience there. You can’t go into a web design project without thinking about that because ultimately, that’s what will set you apart from your competitors with boring, complicated, confusing websites.
It’s a miss for everyone - the site owner and the end user. There’s so much you have to think about to make sure the features you create are engaging and easy to use. They can’t be too complicated because then they’re just impractical. Making small changes like using larger fonts, high-contrast colours, and keeping things short can make a big difference in how accessible features are on your website.
But at the same time, if your audience might not have any issues with those things, you could experiment with different options that might appeal to them more. Making things user-friendly is also important for another reason - most people browsing through your website won’t be giving you their undivided attention.
They’re either multi-tasking or just in an exploratory mood (which isn’t bad but it does mean their standards are higher). So the easier it is for them to have a little fun with one of your features, the more likely you are to keep them interested. Even though making user-friendly features seems like it should be simple, there’s still a lot of effort that goes on behind the scenes.
Sometimes it feels like you’ve thought everything through and executed the perfect plan but then something goes wrong at the last minute (like forgetting alt text on images or an interface error on mobile phones - which happens more often than you’d think). The thing is user-friendliness doesn’t end at launch so you need to keep checking in after your launch too to continue making it better.
Measuring Engagement Success
I think the temptation is to believe engagement can be measured in numbers and statistics. We like to have something to quantify to demonstrate impact and interest - more clicks, shares, likes, and comments. But the reality is that measuring engagement is far more complex than simply looking at metrics. Engagement is not simply one action or behaviour.
I think it helps to realise that a number on a page does not indicate the success of your engagement strategy. A comment on your content is not always going to be positive or appreciative. The context of the comment may be negative, add no value, or even damage your brand. Engagement metrics like video play rate, survey completions and click-throughs on links are usually what we look at to evaluate onsite engagement.
But these do not capture the overall sentiment of your audience about your brand. Authentic engagement is defined differently for every business because this type of engagement is led by the target audience and how they respond to the brand’s persona. I think there are few ways you can measure or rather understand if you are engaging with your audience.
You could monitor returning visitors for loyalty and retention, conversion rates to see if visitors are potentially inspired enough by your content to buy from you, time spent on site for interest in your content or bounce rates for value. It’s important to remember that these indicators of authentic engagement may be less in frequency but higher in value.
So while those numbers seem small, remember it’s less about how many people interacted with you but more about who did and what came out of it for your business.
Case Studies: Brands That Got It Right
I think it’s a common misstep to believe that interactive elements are almost never all about flash and shock value - the loudest pop-up, the boldest quiz, or a flashy style guide generator. But that sort of misses the point. Gimmicks work once, but what keeps people coming back is genuine connection.
Take The Iconic’s beauty shade finder, for example. It’s not revolutionary technology and they’ve never claimed it to be. But for so many makeup users who can’t take the risk of buying a full-size foundation without trying it on, it’s an absolute delight.
Then there are their ‘Shop the Look’ pages - simple but effective styling inspiration with curated collections that make browsing more enjoyable than exhausting. Even fast fashion brands are doing this well, like Princess Polly and Sabo Skirt who’ve invested in virtual try-ons and curating ‘trending’ sections through clever data analysis. These aren’t brand new ideas - but they’re being done so much better than before because of newer technology and a deeper understanding of buyer behaviour online.
More or less. It seems like there are always going to be new tools and ways to personalise content for buyers - whether through quizzes or virtual experiences. But at the end of the day, what brings them back is how you made them feel as they shopped on your site.
If you leave them feeling excited about buying something instead of overwhelmed by choice or tired from clicking through dozens of product pages, you’re already ahead of the pack.
Future Trends in On-Site Interactivity
The myth of endless digital time and attention is, I suppose, more persistent than a two-year-old’s tantrum. Some marketers assume that people have the patience to explore every website element or feature that comes their way. But the truth is, we live in a world that values instant gratification and zero friction.
If your on-site features need more than a tap or click to work, engagement will most likely plummet. Sort of. In the past, on-site interactivity focused on keeping users glued to pages and exploring menus. All that’s changed in 2024 - being forced to interact or stick around longer can come off as pushy and clingy now.
Sort of. Users expect full control over their experience with digital elements like quizzes and calculators designed for mobile-first interaction. It’s also important that some site features are AI-powered so visitors don’t have to repeat their preferences in multiple places or conversations.
Things get a tad trickier when you add privacy regulations into the mix - brands must collect consent before tailoring experiences using cookies or personal information. Sometimes people want brand features and games but don’t want any of their details tracked - it seems contradictory but users get what users want. And at this stage, interactivity is all about playfulness, clever UX writing, and creative interactions. And maybe a chatbot that can help customers solve problems for them without forcing them into awkward conversations with other humans.