3 Easy, Under-the-Radar Tools to Create Interactive Visual Content

Content is customizable. So why aren’t we taking greater strides to customize it? One fact that we fail to take into account when trying to teach is that not everyone learns the same way. A blog post might be helpful, but it won’t catch everyone’s attention and hold it. It won’t even catch most people’s attention.

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, as much as 65% of learners do so visually. Our brains more easily capture and memorize visual knowledge, with only 10% of learners being auditory, and the brain being able to process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

It is much easier to understand information when it is presented with bright colors and visual examples? Visual learning is an important issue to consider when creating your own interactive visual cues.

Here are three easy-to-integrate tools that you can use to create interactive visual content to guide your users through your site:

For Product Pages (And Anywhere Else): Whatfix

This is a how-to generator that gives you access to various features to make attractive, information “flows” demonstrating steps one can perform on the site.

Interactive flows aim to provide information at a rapid, easy-to-follow pace. Through completely customizable templates, you will be able to provide instructions for things like how to use a tool or website, how to finish an academic requirement, and a lot more.

Those Flows can be embedded into websites using a copy/pasted code, so you can show it off anywhere without a lot of installation and fuss. You can also add a flow as a badge for users to click it when they need help:

The site has a number of great examples that you can see to spark your own inspiration. There is a business version for more thorough and professional Flows. Every flow is also converted into a video:

Whatfix provided business plans which let you create self-hosted flows, hide branding, etc.

For FAQ Pages: ThingLink

ThingLink is an interesting way to make any image interactive. Upload an image, mark the areas that you want to play a video or go to any link and you have converted your image into a ThingLink. Here’s a good example:

If you have infographics explaining what your site offers or how to use your product, ThingLink can be a nice way to make your image interactive. It’s also a great way to curate your important guides and videos on one image! The business account comes with the ability to access analytics, convert your ThingLinks into Slideshows, upload your own icons, etc.

Throughout the Site: Qeryz

Depending on the purpose of the site, you can create lots of interactive and visual calls to action using Qeryz.

Qeryz is very easy to embed and it comes with cool analytics feature giving you a good idea in how your calls-to-actions are working, and the business account comes with advanced targeting, scheduled surveys, survey timing options, and more:

More Tools for Better Customer Experience:

WP Video Lightbox
If you have a YouTube and Vimeo account, you don’t have to rely on the embed feature to show them on your site. WP Video Lightbox creates an attractive and elegant overlay that displays videos.

It is more appealing, and less distracting as it brings the video right to the forefront of the screen. It even dims out the background, further focusing the viewer on your content. The fact that this plugin is compatible with both YouTube and Vimeo is every convenient, as many other related plugins only cater to one or the other.

To see it in action, click “Watch the video” on this page: You’ll see the video play in a cool overlay:

Smart Forms
Do you need to create customized forms for your site, emails, etc? Smart Forms is a simple plugin for WordPress that will let you make quickly customized forms for various uses.

They are compatible with multiple formats, formulas, and alerts. Spacing and look can be quickly adjusted, so it is more versatile than most single-form creators. They even have calculated forms as a feature, which is great.

Canva
Anyone who works in visual content knows all about infographics and how important they are as a tool. But not all of us are ready to make our own. They can be complex, and take a lot of time and effort. Unless you have an infographic generator to do the work for you.

Unfortunately, most generators are less than stellar in their results. If you want more professional looking infographics, you need Canva. There is a reason it is one of the most popular graphic tools on the web. All you have to do is drag, drop and customize using their many excellent layouts.

Canva is great for creating those infographics which you can animate using ThingLink. It can even be used for creating print materials (brochures, checklists, etc) which makes it a very budget-friendly solution. You can use it in combination with this site to print out what you have designed and you’ll have your businesses printing needs covered almost for free.

Fanplayr
Fanplayr is a neat conversion optimization analytics software that keeps track of user behavior on your pages and automatically customizes visually-appealing messaging that encourages conversions to those users.

How Interactive Visuals Can Improve Your Strategy

Now you know what tools to use, but in what way will it benefit you? There is no single answer to that question. You will find yourself able to apply the principle to your own needs.

Interactive visuals are an excellent way to improve your visibility on the web. Social media platforms, from Pinterest to Facebook, will be a great place to show off visual cues and content. By the nature of the platforms themselves, it automatically makes them interactive as you boost engagement.

You can also use it to attract visual learners and pass on information. Since viewers are more likely to remember visuals than text, you can slap on your logo and associate yourself as an authority on any given topic. They will remember that you are who they should go to for help.

Then there is customer conversion and acquisition. Generating leads is easy, but it isn’t always so simple to convert. Especially if you are using a common model on the web today of free to premium package upgrades. Visual content can get you there, as it breaks through more forcefully than text and gets their attention.

Whatever you use it for, there is no denying the power of visual cues. The interactive element just adds to that power, as it pushes the viewer to take an active part in learning from it. You will be sure to stand out when you choose that tactic.

Visual Usability Presentation
Do you just want a checklist to make sure you are getting the most out of your visual content, and that you are keeping usability in mind? This is a fantastic presentation on visual design principles that anyone who is creating a website, tool, or even just a graphic should turn to.

It gives you easy to follow tips, along with examples of how those tips are done right. It is pretty intensive, with 113 frames (much larger than most presentations). But it is worth looking through all of them, so you can better tweak your visual designs and content in the future. There is a transcript for the presentation available in the comments to keep on hand, as well.

Have any tools to add to the above list? Any tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments!