Interactive Video: Benefits, Types, Steps To Create (+5 Tools)

Are you aware that businesses that focus on videos grow their revenue 49% faster than those that don’t. That is one reason why 86% of businesses use videos for marketing purposes. In a way, not including videos in your marketing campaign can harm your company’s revenue.

But does that mean you can create videos just for the sake of it? Actually, no! These days, more than the conventional linear videos, you have content that interacts with the viewers. Undoubtedly, interactive videos make customers engage better with the content. 

In short, interactive videos are the game changer in your video marketing strategy. They are quite effective in converting viewers into customers and eventually brand evangelists. 

So, let’s start with the basics before getting into the nitty gritty of creating interactive videos. 

What Is An Interactive Video?

As its name suggests, an interactive video is one that lets viewers actively interact with the video content and perform actions by clicking, dragging, scrolling, or hovering over. In other words, an interactive video places control in the hands of the viewers. 

This is quite different from the traditional linear videos we usually watch. You can only pause, play, fast forward, and move the video to a particular point with those videos. On the other hand, interactive videos graduate you from being a mere spectator to the person defining the video’s direction. 

Why Use Interactive Videos?

There is plenty of buzz around using interactive videos for marketing. 47% of marketers are of the opinion that interactive videos are among the best lead generators. Here are some of the main benefits you get to enjoy,

1. Help viewers understand the content better

The message looks easier to comprehend when you offer audio-visual content to the viewer. However, when viewers can interact with your content, they can understand the concept even better. 

2. Increase engagement with the audience

It is easy for a viewer to get distracted while watching a linear video. On the other hand, with interactive videos, the user receives a gamified experience that captures their interest and increases user activity. This definitely sounds like good news for any marketing team.

3. Enable easy tracking

All this while, it was only possible to track the view rates to determine its success. Marketers were unable to know the effectiveness of their video campaigns and their impact on the audience. There has been a sea change in video metrics tracking with interactive videos as now you can track clicks, chosen user paths, and much more. There are several tools to help you with analytics.

4. Have high conversion rates

When you compare interactive videos with video ads, you can see that the former has a higher conversion rate. For instance, Google ads have a conversion rate of less than 1%, whereas interactive videos touch a good 11%.

5. Increase brand recall

A user has a higher chance of remembering your brand name because you allow them to engage with your video. It is worth noting that just the fact that your video ad is interactive makes the viewer have a higher brand recall. And for that to happen, the viewers don’t have to actively interact with the video. 

6. Enable personalization  

As a marketing professional, you already know that you have to give viewers an unforgettable experience with your videos. Only then can you get results. While you have surveys to understand your audience’s preferences, interactive videos directly give the control to the viewers to take the video to another direction based on their preferences. This way, you get more ideas to improve the audience’s video viewing experience. 

What Are The Different Types Of Interactive Videos?

There are several kinds of interactive videos available, and it will be good to have an idea of what they are,

1. Branching videos

Another name for branching videos is ‘choose-your-own-adventure’. This style is widely popular and finds its place in many interactive videos. Such videos have multiple paths and scenarios. It is up to the viewer to choose which one they want to see. The video would then direct the viewers to the path they choose, and as a consequence, the story would change. It is noteworthy that this particular style helps create a totally immersive viewing experience for the target audience.   

2. 360-degree view videos

Also known as perspective change videos, 360-degree view videos are most often a part of the tourism industry. They may seem like traditional linear videos, but they give the viewer full control to choose the angle from which they are watching the video.

 3. Interactive video quizzes

Lengthy videos can easily distract viewers. You can insert relevant quizzes that require the viewers to respond to the questions. Such a format helps you find out whether the viewer is paying attention to the content or not. Needless to say, such videos are apt for videos related to educational courses. 

4. Hotspot videos

Hotspot videos have interactive elements in the form of clickable links or buttons. When viewers click them, they redirect the user to external websites, videos, or files. This way, the viewer can interact with the video content without affecting the flow. 

How Do Interactive Videos Fit Into Your Marketing Strategy?

There are several ways in which interactive videos help your marketing efforts. Let’s have a look at them,

1. SEO

Your content marketing strategy may have SEO on the list, but you can see a significant improvement in your SEO performance with interactive videos. Wondering why? Interactive content can get you more traffic which improves your page ranking. So try to post regularly and keep updating the content periodically. It will help build your online presence and make you rank higher in SERPs.

2. Brand recognition

Interactive content helps with brand recognition which is an important part of marketing. After all, conversions can’t pick up unless the target audience starts recognizing your brand. When viewers can interact with a brand’s videos, there are more chances of them recalling it while making a purchase. It also works well towards trust-building that increases customer retention. 

3. Social media

Social media platforms have been active channels for sharing videos in several formats. Interactive content is one format that engages customers like never before and makes social media marketing more effective. LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for B2B content marketing. It lets you share ideas related to your industry and connect with potential customers. If your brand is B2C, you can choose from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter to gain exposure.  

4. Email marketing

You can significantly increase open rates by including interactive videos in your email marketing campaigns. They are quite helpful in getting the recipient’s attention and increasing brand recognition. It is a refreshing change to watch videos that you can interact with instead of reading endless paragraphs. With more opens, there is an increase in click-through rates that increases conversions. 

How To Create An Interactive Video?

A lot goes into creating videos that viewers can interact with. Knowing that right at the start can be quite helpful to you. Here is a step-by-step approach to making high-converting interactive videos,

 1. Find your purpose

Try to understand the purpose behind creating your video. Is it to market your product or to educate the audience? Are you aiming to build your brand image or improve the user experience? Regardless of what you aim for, make sure that you clearly define the purpose of creating the video. It is more like laying the foundation for the success of your campaign.

2. Understand your audience

Once you know your purpose, it is time to move on to know your target audience like the back of your hand. If you want to create interactive video content, knowing your target audience as much as possible is undeniably important. Try to understand who your target audience is, what they prefer, and their needs.

3. Determine your style

After you know what your purpose is and who will watch your video, you can easily determine what your style should be. Here you have to keep the production cost in mind while choosing your style. Also, you needn’t stick to one particular type. There is complete freedom to create your own version while mixing two or more kinds. 

4. Produce your video

At this stage, you have to start executing your plan. While producing the video, make sure that you keep the target audience and the purpose of your video in mind. The visuals and concept have to be relatable to the audience and aligned to their expectations.

5. Distribute your video

How you do video distribution is as important as the previous steps. Are you going to embed it on your website or release it on platforms like YouTube? At the same time, figure out how it will reach the target audience. 

What Are The Qualities Of A Great Interactive Video?

While there are several benefits of using interactive content for marketing, you have to make sure that your videos have the following qualities,

1. Ability to enhance user experience – Your video must have the viewer in mind during the designing stage and aim at improving their viewing experience through interaction.

2. Inclusion of gamification – Unlike traditional linear videos, marketers get the opportunity to branch content pathways with interactive videos. This way, they relate to the content better.

 3. Ability to make the experience enjoyable – Your videos should not only aim at selling but also provide the audience with a pleasant experience. This way, your brand can stay on the top of the audience’s mind most of the time.

4. Making the viewer a part of the narrative – With an interactive video, you can narrate a story in a never-seen-before manner by letting the viewers become a part of it. It is obviously quite a gripping experience for viewers when they can decide how the story moves forward. 

Top 5 Interactive Video Software Platforms

1. PlayStory

PlayStory is a brand new interactive video creation tool that helps increase engagement. It lets you upload/record videos, add interactive elements, and embed them on your website, emails, or landing pages. You are free to create multiple pathways for your videos and let the user actively take part and choose one of them. As viewers control the video, it provides them with a personalized viewing experience.

Pricing – Playstory has a free plan for beginners. The paid plan starts at $12 per month. 

2. Wirewax

This is a popular tool that creates interactive video content and gives you hundreds of options to choose from. It lets you customize videos using templates, and with branching, it allows viewers to choose their path as the video moves forward. The tool enables embedding videos on your website and sharing them on social media. 

Pricing – They have a customized pricing plan for medium to large businesses.

3. Wyzowl

This video-creating platform is ideal for beginners as it offers multiple functions to make videos interactive and engaging. The team at Wyzowl helps users choose the features based on their projects. In a way, you will get proper guidance from the team to get great results.  

Pricing – You have to get in touch with the company to get the pricing plans. They will understand your requirements before reaching out with the plans. 

4. Mindstamp

Mindstamp is the perfect tool for creating interactive video content. It lets you add clickable images to your clips that viewers can choose as per their preference. In addition, it offers hotspots and CTA elements to make viewers interact easily. One of the most striking features of the tool is that it uses custom variables to personalize the viewing experience for each potential customer. 

Pricing – The tool offers a free trial with paid plans starting at $19.

5. Verse

Verse is a feature-rich software for interactive video creation. The tool lets you add clickable tags to videos along with interactive Q&A. The other features include the addition of branching and slideshows to the content. 

Pricing – The pricing of the tool starts at $100 per month 

Get Ready To Add Interactive Elements To Your Videos To Maximize Conversions!

After getting a clear idea of interactive videos, we are sure that you are raring to create them for your marketing campaign. However, using the right tool makes all the difference. Additionally, you also need proper guidance. Our team at PlayStory is always there to help you with the right inputs to fuel your video marketing efforts. So, stay tuned for more such posts!

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