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Interactive Content Marketing for Lead Generation

Ideas to Inspire You

Ideas to Inspire You

Creative ways to turn your existing content into high-powered lead-generating machines.

A New Twist on Your Existing Content

There are many types of content experiences that generate more leads, of higher quality, while gaining deeper prospect profiles. You can get started by repurposing static content you already have into interactive experiences. We’ve got loads of ideas to inspire you, including what measurement you can expect, what sales insights you can surface, and testing ideas to amp up your conversation rates.

34% </strong>report that sales lead quality is&nbsp;their most frequently measured content&nbsp;marketing effectiveness metric

34% report that sales lead quality is their most frequently measured content marketing effectiveness metric.

-Content Experience Impact and the Buyer’s Journey, Demand Metric, 2018 (p. 39

Interactive Content Ideas:

Interactive White Paper Examples

Interactive White Paper or eBook

A navigable online white paper or eBook enables visitors to engage with the content most interesting to them. Do you have an in-depth white paper? Turn it into an interactive, ‘choose your own adventure’ eBook. Chunking up the white paper content into interactive, navigable sections can bring your content to life in a highly engaging way. Instead of a visitor downloading a 12-page white paper to quickly skim through then throw away, entertain them with something engaging that they want to share.

Generate leads with an interactive white paper or eBook:

  • Use a call-to-action to optionally capture leads from visitors who want to download the white paper as a PDF version. Once you have captured the basic lead, you can even create hot inbound leads by placing a “contact sales” call-to-action on your thank you page, getting the leads with the most interest to raise their hands.
  • Offer visitors just a select portion of the eBook or interactive white paper in the experience. Allow them to see the few sections, then insert a form for them to receive the complete content.

Test for higher conversion rates on your interactive white paper:

  • Content access: Can you drive more leads by providing all the content with an optional form to download the PDF? Or by giving a subset of content, providing access to the complete content only to those who complete your form? Find out with an A/B test!
  • Call-to-action and form: Will you capture more leads with a short form embedded into the footer area of every page? Or will it generate more leads when you place a call-to-action button in the header of the experience that links to a form? An A/B test will let you know if a form on the page or a call-to-action button works better at getting more visitors to convert into leads. You can also test varying form lengths to optimize for maximum conversions.
  • Layout: Test radically different versions of the first page to see which version reduces bounce rates and increases engagement with the content. Or, test various placements of the form throughout the interactive white paper/eBook to determine where visitors are most likely to convert.

Measure content consumption and engagement on your interactive white paper:

  • Look at the basics such as bounce rate and conversion rate to get an idea of overall performance.
  • Each time a visitor hits a page, increment their score by 1. A 10-page interactive white paper might have a total possible score of 10. Measure the average aggregate score, even getting into granularity of the average scores by different traffic sources to understand how much of the content is being consumed, and which sources of traffic are delivering the most engaged visitors.
  • Use behavioral tags for each area of content. Use tag clouds to see which areas of the white paper visitors are clicking on most frequently to see what your audience is most interested in. Consider which sections visitors are most likely to convert within as well.

Surface prospect insights to your sales team:

  • Show sales the percent of content consumed. Did the prospect get a score of 1 (not too much content consumption and engagement) or a 10 (lots of content consumption & engagement)?
  • Surface the behavioral tags you used for aggregate reporting for the individual leads, showing which sections of the experience the visitor showed interest in.

Assessments and Quizzes

An assessment helps visitors determine areas for improvement or how they stack up against their peers, letting them self-evaluate or self-learn. Based on visitor responses to questions, you can deliver personalized recommendations for improvements. Use any type of best practices or benchmarks to have visitors answer a set of questions and then show them a result of how they stack up, or how they are doing in applying the best practices.

A quiz is a popular experience right now and is a shorter version of an assessment. Think of a quiz as lightweight, usually 3-10 easy questions, and an assessment as something that requires more considered attention from the visitor, usually 6-20 questions. A quiz provides fun, education or entertainment on a topic about your industry, product or service.

Generate leads with a quiz or assessment:

  • Let visitors complete the assessment/quiz and see the results and recommendations. Optionally allow them to email the results to themselves, or a colleague, using that action as a lead capture opportunity.
  • Have visitors complete the assessment, and gate the results, requiring the user to complete your form before seeing their assessment outcomes.
  • If your content is of very high value, require visitors to complete a form before providing them access to the quiz or assessment.

Test for higher conversion rates on your quiz or assessment:

  • Results access: Can you drive more leads by providing the results with an optional form to email the results to themselves? Or by gating the results, providing access to the results only to those who complete your form? Find out with an A/B test!
  • Content cross sell: Will you capture more leads by gating the assessment results, or by giving free access to the results, but with an optional form to receive complementary content that’s related to the assessment or quiz? An A/B test will let you know if the offer of related content is more compelling than the results themselves.
  • Form length: How much is your visitor willing to tell you in the form? You can test varying form lengths to optimize for maximum conversions.
  • Layout: Test radically different versions of the first page to see which version reduces bounce rates and increases engagement with the content. Or, test radically different results pages, varying the emphasis on the call-to-action to determine how you can influence conversion rate with layout and design changes.
  • Question tolerance: Test different number of questions to optimize for completion and conversion.

Measure content consumption and engagement on your quiz or assessment:

  • Look at the basics such as bounce rate and conversion rate to get an idea of overall performance.
  • Look at drop off through the assessment. What is the tolerance your visitors have for completing questions, and are they finding the experience valuable enough to complete? Which questions cause the highest drop off?
  • Score answers based on how desirable of a prospect the visitor will be, and evaluate scores across traffic sources to determine which sources deliver you the most qualified, engaged leads.
  • Evaluate the aggregate responses to understand your audience better and gain real insights into where they fall across the spectrum of what your assessment covers.

Surface prospect insights to your sales team:

  • Show sales the prospects’ actual answers to the quiz/assessment so they can pick up the personal conversation exactly where the digital conversation left off. This helps accelerate deals by providing the buyer with a great experience where expectations are met, and information surfaced in an online experience doesn’t have to be rehashed in a scripted sales experience.

Interactive Assessment Examples

Quick Start Configurator Examples

Configurator

A configurator gives visitors the opportunity to see a variety of different options and outcomes based upon their selections. Do your products or services require complex configurations to determine the right personalized solution?

Configurators allow visitors to assemble or package your product or service to what they specifically are looking for. This provides a valuable service to the visitor while providing marketing with even more valuable packaging data on what visitors need and want. This insight can be used in marketing automation programs as well as in personal selling to cater messages and offers, which makes sales and marketing smarter, more likely to satisfy visitor expectations, and more likely to convert traffic into leads. Think of a configurator as a ‘self-service’ experience, supporting the buyers desire for discovery on their own.

Generate leads with a configurator:

  • Let visitors complete the configurator and see the resulting recommended solutions or products. Optionally allow them to email the results to themselves, or a colleague, using that action as a lead capture opportunity.
  • Have visitors complete the configurator, and gate the results, requiring the user to complete your form before seeing their configurations.
  • Consider requiring visitors to complete a form before providing them access to the configurator, especially when the configurations are likely to be complex or high value.
  • Share only a summary of the configuration, but offer to send complete configuration results via email.

Test for higher conversion rates on your configurator:

  • Results access: Can you drive more leads by providing the results with an optional form to email the results to themselves? Or by gating the results, providing access to the results only to those who complete your form? Find out with an A/B test!
  • Content cross sell: Will you capture more leads by gating the configurator results, or by giving free access to the results, but with an optional form to receive complementary content that’s related to the configurator? An A/B test will let you know if the offer of related content is more compelling than the results themselves.
  • Form length: How much is your visitor willing to tell you in the form? You can test varying form lengths to optimize for maximum conversions.
  • Layout: Test radically different messaging about the configurator to see which ‘merchandising’ version reduces bounce rates and increases engagement with the content. Or, test radically different results pages, varying the emphasis on the call-to-action to determine how you can influence conversion rate with layout and design changes.
  • Question format and length: Test different numbers of steps to optimize for completion and conversion. Is each question best on its own page, or does it work better to group questions together? Also, visitors may have reluctance to divulge information deemed too personal or specific, so experimenting with varying degrees of specificity can reveal the sweet spots at which information gathering and conversion optimization are aligned.

Measure content consumption and engagement on your configurator:

  • Look at the basics such as bounce rate and conversion rate to get an idea of overall performance.
  • Look at drop off through the configurator. What is the tolerance your visitors have for completing questions, and are they finding the questions valuable enough to complete? Which questions cause the highest drop off?
  • Score answers based on how desirable the configurator outcomes of the visitor will be, and evaluate scores across traffic sources to determine which sources deliver you the most qualified, engaged leads.
  • Evaluate the aggregate responses to understand your audience better and gain real insights into how well your product, service or solution fits with their requirements or needs.

Surface prospect insights to your sales team:

  • Show sales the prospects’ actual answers to the configurator so they can pick up the personal conversation exactly where the digital conversation left off. This helps accelerate deals by providing the buyer with a great experience where expectations are met, and information surfaced in an online experience doesn’t have to be rehashed in a scripted sales experience.

Calculator

A calculator enables visitors to calculate something such as a price or a discount or a special rate, specific to their inputs. Even complex pricing can be converted into a pricing range estimator. This provides the immediate gratification that buyers crave.

Generate leads with a calculator:

  • Let visitors interact with the calculator and see the resulting outputs. Optionally allow them to email the results to themselves, or a colleague, using that action as a lead capture opportunity. Or, if hot inbound leads are what you want, have your visitors request a sales call once they have seen their calculations.
  • Have visitors use the calculator, and gate the results, requiring the user to complete your form before seeing their outcomes. Note, this works best for complex calculations, as the results may not be deemed valuable enough by visitors who have completed a calculator for a simple product or service.
  • Consider requiring visitors to complete a form before providing them access to the calculator, especially when the calculations are likely to be complex or high value.
  • Offer to send pricing results from the calculator to the prospect instantly via email, rather than displaying the pricing results in the calculator itself.

Test for higher conversion rates on your calculator:

  • Results access: Can you drive more leads by providing the results with an optional form to email the results to themselves? Or by gating the results, providing access to the results only to those who complete your form? Find out with an A/B test!
  • Content cross sell: Will you capture more leads by gating the calculator results, or by giving free access to the results, but with an optional form to receive complementary content that’s related to your product or service? An A/B test will let you know if the offer of related content is more compelling than the results themselves.
  • Form length: How much is your visitor willing to tell you in the form? You can test varying form lengths to optimize for maximum conversions.
  • Layout: Test radically different types of calculator inputs—radio buttons, sliders, free text inputs, etc. to see which user experience reduces bounce rates and increases engagement. A calculator is a also great place to test different headlines, images and calls-to-action around the calculator itself. Or, test radically different results pages, varying the emphasis on the call-to-action to determine how you can influence conversion rate with layout and design changes.

Measure content consumption and engagement on your configurator:

  • Look at the basics such as bounce rate and conversion rate to get an idea of overall performance.
  • Score calculator inputs based on how desirable the inputs of the visitor are, and evaluate scores across traffic sources to determine which sources deliver you the most qualified, engaged leads.
  • Evaluate the aggregate responses to understand your audience better and gain real insights into how well your offering or pricing fits with their unique buying scenarios.

Surface prospect insights to your sales team:

  • Show sales the prospects’ actual calculator inputs from the visitor so they understand the buyers unique parameters and buying situation. This helps accelerate deals by providing the buyer with a great experience where expectations are met, and information surfaced in an online experience doesn’t have to be rehashed in a scripted sales experience.

Interactive Calculator Examples

Interactive Infographic Examples

Interactive Infographic

An infographic is created as an interactive experience that includes industry or corporate facts, data and small pieces of information in a visual presentation. An infographic is a great experience for high-funnel visitors from social campaigns as they require a low commitment for consumption and engagement and present content in a compelling, ‘lightweight’ manner. Turn your infographic into a lead gen machine with a few simple tweaks to the format.

Generate leads with an infographic:

  • Include prominent calls-to-action throughout, offering related content sent to the visitor via email, using the email as a lead capture opportunity.
  • Include a form at the footer, or in the header, of the infographic for visitors who want to talk with a sales representative.
  • Let visitors email themselves a PDF version of the infographic.

Test for higher conversion rates on your infographic:

  • Content cross sell: Offer optional related content to be emailed to the visitor at various spots with the experience, and see which content drives the most form completion.
  • Form length: How much is your visitor willing to tell you in the content cross sell form? You can test varying form lengths to optimize for maximum conversions.
  • Call-to-action: When cross-selling content or offering a form to contact sales, test radically different calls-to-action in terms of copy, color, placement and style.

Measure content consumption and engagement on your interactive infographic:

  • Look at the basics such as bounce rate and conversion rate to get an idea of overall performance.
  • Each time a visitor interacts with a page element, increment their score by 1. A 10 element experience might have a total possible score of 10. Measure the average aggregate score, even getting into granularity of the average scores by different traffic sources to understand how much of the content is being consumed, and which sources of traffic are delivering the most engaged visitors.
  • Use behavioral tags for each element within the infographic of content. Use tag clouds to see which areas of the infographic visitors are clicking on most frequently to see what your audience is most interested in.
  • Embed other types of interactive content within the infographic, like a calculator or quiz, and capture those results as well.

Surface prospect insights to your sales team:

  • Show sales which infographic elements the visitor interacted with, and if you include a quiz or calculator, share those outcomes as well.

Quick Quiz — Gated vs Ungated?

Which one converted better?

We tested a gated interactive white paper in which visitors were required to complete the form in order to gain access to the white paper vesus an ungated version, in which visitors could freely access the content, with an optional form to receive the PDF version.

Select which one you think generated more conversions!
Gated vs Ungated

➜ Gated Version

Gated vs Ungated

➜ Ungated Version

You are Correct!!!

The ungated version drove 33% more leads!

Yes, that’s 33% MORE leads by allowing visitors to freely access the content and optionally register for the PDF. 
Read the full story
The Ungated Version drove 33 percent more leads

Good Try but...

Believe it or not, the ungated version drove 33% more leads!

Yes, that’s 33% MORE leads by allowing visitors to freely access the content and optionally register for the PDF. 
Read the full story
The Ungated Version drove 33 percent more leads

Next Steps

Now that you have explored new ways to generate content, test for higher conversion rates, measure engagement, and surface your interactive content insights to sales team members, you are ready to start your interactive content program. Check out the next chapter of best practices for getting started.

How to Start

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