Engaging User Experiences (Pt. 2)

In this Web 2.0 world, users are beginning to have an expectation of involvement in their web experiences. The second part of this article deals with possible ways to fill this need.

There are many techniques and technologies that can be used to create engaging user experiences. N Formation Design believes that the best and most promising solution is interactive (or "rich") media.

Interactive media includes all web applications with rich visual content and interactive capabilities that expand beyond the traditional scrolling, typing, and button-clicking.

Overcoming Stigma
Interactive media has been around for nearly as long as the web but has only recently become a reasonable option for the business community. Even so, it has yet to gain the critical mass needed to become a standard due to the strong stigma that lingers from past failures.

1. Download Times:
As stated in part one of this article, the average user will leave your site if the pageload time exceeds 8-10 seconds. The size of rich media applications made this standard nearly impossible to reach in the days of dial-up modems. Luckily broadband penetration has now reached 90.49% at home and 96.47% at work (June 2008), so this has more or less become a non-issue for most businesses' target audiences.

2. Plug-in Panic:
Most (if not all) interactive media applications require a browser plug-in to function. In the past, many web-users were understandably hesitant about downloading any unknown content, let alone installing applications that they may or may not know the function of.

These days, most interactive content is based on the Flash or Java platforms. A recent market study commissioned by Adobe showed that Flash and Java enjoy 99% and 85% coverage rates of Internet enabled desktops in mature markets. There seems to be no more justification for worrying about plug-in downloads, most users already have them installed! As a side note, these coverage rates fall to 45%-65% for video plug-ins - a technology that seems to have already become commonplace.

Virtual Tours
A great type of engaging user experience that incorporates interactive media is the virtual tour. Virtual tour probably brings to mind real estate - sets of pictures or 360 degree views of a location. This is one type of tour, but this concept can also be used for products, services, or even ideas.

The main idea is to let the user explore all of the parts, options, and nuances of product/service at their own pace. This allows them to get just the information they need without losing interest or attention. An example of this could be providing the user with an interactive 3D model of a product. This way the user can turn the product any direction to see the features that they are particularly interested in.

Configurators
Another engaging application is the configurator. This type of application allows users to configure a product or service specifically to their needs or to mix and match features and compare the results. To continue the product example used earlier, users might be given the option to pick a particular color or add-on and then view their own customized version in 3D.

Configurators also provide a marketing bonus in that they allow you to capture data on the most popular configurations and options. This data can then be used for production, print, or other marketing purposes.

Other Solutions
If you're still not sold on the powers of rich media, there are plenty of other options available that create engaging experiences. A couple of my favorites are user forums and user created content. They both allow users to 'belong' to an environment surrounding your product or topic. Forums allow for creation of community while user created content provides a sense of ownership with your site. A specific technique that has become more popular lately incentivizes contribution by holding contests for users to provide certain pieces of content.

The Bottom Line
We can remain passive no more! Businesses need to embrace the culture of interaction if they hope to engage potential customers and keep up with the pace of online competition. Interactive media provides the means and 'wow-factor' that is necessary to get the job done.