4 Ways Interactive Content is Transforming the Sales Funnel
Sell smarter with responsive content that converts 💡
23 June 2020 by Joyce Chou
When it comes to sales and marketing, almost no topic is as discussed as much as the sales
funnel. A quick online search of the term brings up over 48 million results, and for good
reason.
The sales funnel is a visual concept that illustrates a user’s journey to purchasing
something—in other words, the transformation from a lead into a paying customer.
Several interpretations of the sales funnel exist, but one of the most well-known is the "AIDA"
funnel, which describes four stages:
Awareness - The prospect or potential customer first learns of a brand,
product, or service.
Interest - The prospect becomes interested and begins to seek out more
information.
Desire - The prospect becomes more invested and seriously considers making
a purchase.
Action - The prospect takes the final action that turns them into a
customer—that is, buying a product or signing up for a service.
For marketers and salespeople, the goal is to get leads through all stages of the funnel as
quickly as possible—although, like many things in life, this is far easier said than
done.
Compared to B2C sales cycles, B2B cycles are generally much longer and more complicated. In
fact, according to a MarketingSherpa survey, 69% of B2B marketers said that from lead generation to sales
conversion, the average sales cycle took at least three months.
Fortunately, emerging trends in marketing may be the key to transforming the sales funnel.
That’s where interactive content comes in.
What is interactive content?
Interactive content is any type of content that a user actively engages with in some way.
Unlike more passive forms of inbound marketing—such as blog posts,
podcasts, and videos, where the user simply reads, listens, or watches—interactive content
is a two-way street between the content and the audience.
Put simply, you can think of interactive content as the evolution of traditional content into
a more participatory form.
User Engagement Use Cases One platform, many applications
Quizzes
Surveys
Calculators
Online Forms
Lead pages
Payment Forms
So how does interactive content tie into the sales funnel?
Interactive content is one of the latest trends in marketing, and all signs suggest it’s not a
fleeting one.
In a 2017 report from the Content Marketing Institute, 46% of content
marketers in North America said they used interactive content in their marketing strategies. And
when asked about their future marketing plans, 79% said they planned to increase their usage of
interactive content over the following year.
But what’s the reason behind interactive marketing’s growing popularity? What makes it more than
just a passing phase?
To better understand this phenomenon, let’s explore how interactive content impacts the sales
funnel in four distinct ways.
4 Ways Interactive Content is Transforming the Sales Funnel
1. It boosts awareness and retention through memorable user experiences.
According to a 2017 survey, 87% of marketers reported that interactive content grabbed the
audience's attention more effectively than static content. This probably shouldn’t come as a
surprise. Just consider the difference between these two pieces of content.
Both are about the same topic—different countries’ preparedness to handle a pandemic—but the
content presented as an interactive map is more visually interesting than the other, a simple
table. After all, you can zoom in on a specific region and even filter countries based on
population and income.
Maps aren’t the only kind of attention-grabbing interactive content out there, though.
In this choose-your-own-adventure style short film, users follow the story of Jillian, a power
plant worker who springs into action during a storm that causes a city-wide blackout. The video
pauses at several intervals to allow the viewer to make choices about what Jillian should do
next, all while highlighting IBM’s capabilities.
Outage is not only an impressive short film in terms of production value, but it’s also a highly
engaging piece of interactive content—especially given the countdown timer enforced at each
decision-making point.
Those in IBM's sales cycle are unlikely to forget their experience with the video, making the
brand more distinct and memorable than competitors that rely solely on static content.
This is even supported by research: 79% of content marketers report that interactive content helps to enhance
the retention of brand messaging. With this in mind, interactive short films like Outage have a
higher chance of breaking through the marketing noise and creating a lasting impact for potential
customers.
2. It effectively educates potential customers.
When it comes to interactive content and the sales funnel, education is critical in moving
customers through the stages—especially between the interest, desire, and action steps.
How does interactive content factor into this?
Think back to your middle school experience. Did a science teacher ever try a hands-on experiment
for your class? Whether it was showing a chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar, or
making a battery out of a potato, these demos were probably a lot more memorable than simply
reading from your textbook.
The difference between these live experiments and reading from your textbook parallels the
difference between interactive and static content: one is more effective at
educating.
In fact, 93% of respondents in the Content & Buyer's Journey Benchmark Report rated interactive content as
effective at educating consumers, while only 70% said the same of passive content.
For an example of interactive content being used for educational purposes, check out EnergySage’s
solar calculator.
Enter in a few key data points, such as your address and monthly electric bill, and the
calculator creates an incredibly informative breakdown of the financial benefits of switching to
solar power.
The breakdown is so detailed it tells users:
• How much square footage is needed for solar panels to support their property
• Their potential savings from federal incentives
• How much their property value could potentially increase
• Their potential net savings from switching to solar energy, based on different payment plans
It’s an information-packed piece of content that’s perfect for leads at the top and middle of the
sales funnel: those who are curious about solar power and how cost-effective it is in the long
run.
Because of the nature of your product or service, maybe it feels difficult to present information
in an interactive way. But before writing interactive content off, know that you don’t need to
get as granular as EnergySage. Instead, just try getting creative with your product.
For example, the mattress review brand Each Night pairs its simple Sleep Calculator with an
article about how much sleep the human body needs.
3. It provides marketers with more data about their leads.
Fifty-seven percent of marketers report using interactive content for top-of-the-funnel lead generation, while 34% use it for mid-funnel lead
nurturing. But no matter what stage of the funnel your leads are in, it's important to gather
more information about their preferences.
This is exactly what the online styling service Stitch Fix does with its interactive style quiz.
The quiz is broken into two parts. The first begins with just three questions, asking for broader
information like how much time and effort users put into their fashion choices.
After completing this first section, StitchFix prompts users to create an account before
launching into a more detailed style quiz. This exemplifies just how quickly interactive content
can accelerate conversion—users are invited to create an account right away!
Once a user has created an account, StitchFix’s more comprehensive style assessment begins,
asking questions about users’ clothing preferences, sizing, budget, and more.
Finally, once completed, the styling service generates a customer-specific style profile and
invites users to sign up for a monthly subscription to its curated fashion picks. Spelled out,
the process may seem tedious—but it’s a smooth and speedy workflow with a twofold impact.
First, the quiz piques users’ curiosity and entices them to sign up for StitchFix’s monthly
service. But aside from helping convert leads into customers, it also gives the brand a wealth
of data about its leads.
Not everyone that takes the quiz will sign up for StitchFix’s service. But the brand’s marketing
team can at least use the information they've obtained from the quiz to retarget their leads in
a more personal way, leading them down the sales funnel through other means.
4. It creates a more personalized user experience.
When it comes to boosting conversions through interactive content, one of the best players in the
industry is ThirdLove, an ecommerce women's lingerie company.
Realizing that almost 80% of women wear the wrong bra size, ThirdLove developed a Fit Finder quiz to
help customers determine their bra size and shape.
Visitors to the site are prompted to take the quiz, where they are given a series of questions
about their current bra size, cup and band fit, strap tightness, and so on. Once complete,
ThirdLove recommends quiz-takers the best products for them based on their answers.
With this interactive quiz set up, ThirdLove marketers created separate landing pages depending
on where prospects were in the buyer's journey:
• If their potential customers had returned to the site after completing the quiz, they would
see updates about ThirdLove's newest products.
• First-time visitors, on the other hand, would instead see the company's tried-and-true
products.
This personalized user experience, made possible through a shoppable quiz, helps customers in the interest stage quickly find what
they’re looking for and funnel them through the sales cycle. Users are immediately shown curated
products that are right for them or that they would be more likely to buy, which boosts
conversions. Such was the case with ThirdLove, which saw a 23% increase in revenue per user after implementing this personalized
buying experience.
The Takeaway
When it comes to the sales cycle, interactive content marketing is a game-changer. Compared to
static content, it engages potential customers more effectively, transforming them from passive
audience members into active conversation participants.
In short, when incorporated into a business’s marketing strategy, interactive content measurably
quickens the pace of the average sales funnel. Consider implementing interactive content into
your marketing strategy to see how you can transform your own sales.
About the Author
Joyce Chou is a Content Marketing Strategist at Compose.ly,
a content platform that matches businesses with seasoned freelance writers. Apart from managing
and writing for Compose.ly’s blog, Joyce also contributes to other publications about digital
marketing, personal finance, and business and ecommerce.
