to transform passive video viewers into leads, customers and even brand loyalists

The 4 best types of interactive video

Oct 14, 2020

Interactive video has the power to transform passive video viewers into leads, customers and even brand loyalists. Discover the best ways to use them.

Interactive videos are revolutionizing the video content space and transforming the way consumers engage with businesses. They have the unique ability to create an engaging, memorable viewing experience for users, shifting them from a passive to an active audience.

In turn, interactive video gives companies valuable insights about audience behavior, whether that audience is its consumers, prospective leads or even employees or students completing e-learning modules or watching company videos.

Interactive videos can even allow companies to future-proof brand concepts or invite feedback on their products or services.

It empowers brands with the data they need to help them appeal to their audience in new and innovative ways, allowing them to mold their business goals according to what their audience really wants.

Overall, this allows for a far more targeted and cost-effective video content approach with minimal wastage.

What is Interactive Video?

An interactive video is simply a video that provides viewers with the ability to interact with content the same way they would with a web page, by clicking, scrolling or hovering.

Unlike traditional linear videos, interactive video allows you to add a multitude of interactive options throughout video content, such as clickable pins, subtitles or checkpoints.

Additionally, creating interactive video doesn’t have to be an elaborate production. You can create interactive videos easily in-house in just a matter of minutes.

Hit play to explore Vudoo's interactive journey and learn about how interactive can help with creativity, conversion and insights.

How to Use Interactive Video

So, how can brands use interactive video strategically to achieve their business objectives? Here are four of the most common (and most effective) types of interactive video we typically see.

Interactive E-commerce Videos

According to Google, almost 50% of consumers look for videos relating to a product or service before shopping. Videos can provide a richer, more immersive shopping experience, and, as a result, video content has developed a strong foothold in the retail marketing world.

E-commerce interactive videos have been particularly helpful in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to combat the increasing demand for rich, engaging virtual shopping experiences in lieu of real-life shopping experiences.

Shoppable videos are a game-changer for retail brands, giving them the ability to add interactive product tags within a video, sending viewers to the checkout in just one click. These clickable video interactions can fast-track conversions, resulting in instantaneous and measurable results for e-commerce brands.

For instance, Politix used interactive video to launch their new collection. Their video campaign utilized interactive shoppable buttons, allowing viewers to shop the outfits shown in the video immediately. This created a seamless shopping experience that mimicked a real, in-store interaction.

To top it off, each interaction that occurs within an interactive video provides rich insights into consumer behavior, allowing brands like Politix to discover which video marketing approaches are the most successful and why.

Vogue's Fashion's Night in made it easy for users to enjoy the runway and click to shop their favorite items throughout the video.

Interactive Sales & Marketing Videos

Interactive videos can also help elevate a brand’s online presence with a richer, more visceral brand experience; perfect for brands in the luxury space or those that rely heavily on sensory appeal.

They can help build or sustain your brand’s image or establish it as an industry thought leader. In fact, over 80% of people say that they have been convinced to buy a product or service purely by watching a brand’s video.

Branching videos, also known as choose-your-own-adventure videos, provide an innovative concept for the audience to interact with. Again, this is a very simple way to extract important insights from your audience.

In-video polls, surveys and forms also enable businesses to engage in two-way conversations with their audience or capture leads without directing users away from the video or detracting from the message they are trying to convey. This creates a more immersive and holistic brand experience, which captures viewer attention for longer.

Flight Centre incorporated beautiful imagery in their video to engage their audience and inspire people to one again see the world again.

Interactive Recruitment and Onboarding Videos

Recruitment is a competitive space; however, job posts can receive 36% more applications if they are accompanied by a recruitment video. Interactive video can help set your company apart, allowing candidates to gain a richer, more instantaneous understanding of your business culture.

This also applies to student recruitment. For example, Monash University reimagined their opening day for 2020, using interactive videos on specific courses, which provided prospective students with a greater, more in-depth understanding of what to expect from each course.

Interactive video also has the power to deliver a more engaging and personalized onboarding experience that is memorable and measurable, even more crucial when many of us are still working from home. Interactive video has the power to immerse new recruits in company culture quickly, and get them excited to get started.

The video analytics available for interactive video enables brands to evaluate a new employee’s engagement level to see which content they’re most interested in. This allows businesses to improve the onboarding process continually. Interactive video quizzes can go even deeper in gauging interest in content.

Interactive Learning & Development

The year of 2020 has brought new meaning to virtual work and education. Interactive video can transform training and education into an engaging experience, promoting an active learning environment. In fact, 75% of professionals prefer to learn new skills via online training videos as opposed to an in-person classroom environment.

E-learning videos can also reduce the in-person teaching costs for businesses and education providers. It can even allow education providers to adapt courses or modules according to what resonates best with students.

Interactive video replicates an in-person learning environment. It gives students the ability to access further information, participate in polls, respond to quizzes, download additional resources and engage in conversations within their teacher, all within the video itself.

This is especially crucial for younger students who thrive on interaction and assisted learning. Not only does it provide younger students with a richer learning experience, but it also ensures that teachers can monitor the responses and track the progress of their learning, providing assistance to those students who require it.

Manukora used engaging interactive video content to onboard and educate new starters with their company journey.

Interactive videos have the power to transform passive users into active audiences. From a marketing perspective, it can turn users into leads, customers and even brand loyalists, helping businesses achieve far greater ROI.

But from a video content perspective, interactive video has an infinite number of uses. It can be incorporated into all facets of business, from recruitment to e-learning and much more.

There’s no question that interactive video is a powerful content tool, but ultimately, how you use it will depend on your unique business goals, your video content strategy and how quickly you’d like to transform your business.

Explore our use cases and find out how Vudoo can truly help your business.