Getting people to your site is great. Getting them to come back again and again to look at what you have to offer and make purchases is even better. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by having interactive elements on your website that helps viewers connect with your company and your website. Here are 7 things that can be done to increase customer interaction with your website.
1. Have a Live Chat/Help Button
Many people might have questions they would like answered about something they have seen on your web site. Having a way to connect with customer service representatives allows for the immediate interaction between you and your potential customers. A visitor can gain confidence in the ability of your company to be able to handle whatever their concerns might be and they might be likely to keep on returning to your site.
2. Have a Review or “Leave Comment” Section
Comment sections allow visitors to interact with you and with other customers. These sections can become places where people can go to for information about a particular topic and allows you to address issues to a multitude of people all at once. Some websites have used this element to develop online communities where people repeatedly return to the website to take part in the community.
3. Connect to Facebook or Twitter Button
Facebook and Twitter allows people to stay connected and get messages out about whom you are and what you do. This has the ability to increase awareness about your site and entice others to visit after they notice that they have friends that “like” you. Posting good stories or pictures with captions helps to draw visitors and create new opportunities.
4. Prepare Presentations with Slides
Slides can be helpful in assisting visitors to understand the material you are presenting. This works well when one is promoting facts with graphs or showing someone how to do a step-by-step project. A website focusing on auto repair might find it good to present a picture of each step in a repair job. A person doing the repair work can use these slides to make sure they are performing the right task in the right way to complete a project. Seeing what has to be done with parts and tools can make the task a lot easier than simply reading what has to be done.
5. Use Videos
Not everyone likes to read about a subject and many welcome the ability to watch video about an issue. Having content explained by someone a visitor can look at and hear has been shown to increase the likelihood of people returning to a website. This can also help reach people who do not read well and might struggle to understand material that has been written. An automobile repair website can record their step-by-step procedures that allows a mechanic to follow along with how to do repairs. However, make sure that you are not adding too many elements as this can have a serious impact on the loading time of the website. You can try any of the following tools to check the loading time of the website – Website Page Speed Test, Uptrends, Bitcatcha, Pingdom, WebPagetest etc.
6. Use a Custom Search Engine
A custom search engine allows visitor to look up material that is on your website. This is not the same as the search engines one might have used to find your website. This search engine only focuses on content that is on your site. A visitor can quickly find information that they deem valuable to them almost instantly and increases the value of your website to them.
7. Use Sign-Up Forms or Surveys
Sign-up forms are useful for visitors to use when they want more information or they are enticed by a give-away offer. A benefit of using these techniques, along with reviews or comments sections, is that you can gain valuable information such as the email addresses of people who have shown interest in your site.
