Businesses, by making images interactive on their websites, can interact more with their customers. Educators can improve the learning experience. In either case, it is easy to do with software that can be purchased which can create and manipulate interactive images. This article will explore some of the advantages of using these types of images in online situations.
Clearer Communication
An interactive video can present a clearer message in terms of the information that is being presented. Some things are easier when presented both visually or aurally than when they are being read in print or interpreted from only a still image. Clarity is everything with a message as otherwise people can come away with uncertainties. When buying a product, you want people to make the decision to buy it and not come away with a few reasons why not. By showing the same thing as a picture that is also being said, or is also in text, it can reaffirm a message. By having it moving, it makes clear just how to uses a product. By incorporating the product with other things to put it into a natural context, nobody can be unsure as to what the message of what the product is to be used for is.
Influence Emotional Responses
Emotions can be influenced by an interactive video in ways that they cannot with something in print or on a display that does not move. For example, someone might react with a smile to a certain situation that is represented in interactive video format. This smile is an indication that the person has been put into a happy state of mind. So, the effect is that they are more likely to buy the product that features in the interactive video. Different colours have the potential to change emotion when featured in interactive videos. Lots of red should be used with caution as it can mean lots of different emotions, from passion and love to anger or danger. It is the warmest and most dynamic of all the colours and capable of triggering opposing emotions. It all depends what emotion is required for engagement in a particular product. For instance, if it is to aid a relationship, then red could be used because of its role in creating passion as the state of mind.
Learning
Interactive images aid learning in that it is easier to understand what the message is when it is being given to someone in a more engaging way. That is, through moving graphics. As ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, an interactive video is worth so much more. No additional explanation is then required, so these types of learning or selling aids can be seen to represent a complete learning or selling experience. This makes them ideal for online learning situations or for use on a business’s website to increase the sale of a certain product. It should be noted that too many on a website at the same time might have the opposite effect and become learning overload, but in moderation and geared to certain products that require further promotion, they are a wonderful tool and learning experience. We can learn through college education, so we can learn enough about a product to be encouraged to buy it. We can feel empowered by the knowledge of knowing the product information, that we can then explain to all those who admire our new product purchase.
Saving Time and Money
By creating an interactive video, it can save on a lot of explaining. This means that time and money is saved. An example of this might be an interactive video that teaches staff how to carry out a certain procedure or about how to improve the customer experience. Interestingly, the same video that teaches staff about how to demonstrate a certain product to customers in a high street situation can then be used online where customers do not have the benefit of face-to-face product demonstration. It shows the power of demonstration in any form that this is possible.
So, the advantages of interactive videos include that they are a clearer form of communication, are likely to greater influence emotions and buying habits, and that they provide a more effective learning tool. In addition, they save money by taking less time to deliver the same message as other methods.
