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What Does It Mean to Create an Interactive Website?

Eleanor Hecks

An interactive website has responsive user interface (UI) elements visitors can engage with. It goes beyond displaying information, listing products or demonstrating value. Instead, it makes the user experience something more. What do you have to do to create this kind of site?

What It Means to Make an Interactive Website

An interactive website lets people interact with the UI. Menus, buttons, tabs, infographics and search tools are — almost everything that appears on the page — should do something when clicked, pressed on or hovered over.

Unlike a static site, it does not simply display information. However, the level of interactivity varies depending on which on-page elements are present. For example, user-generated content can only be created if there are comment or review sections. Even simple design choices like a scrolling animation, progress indicator or page transition make a site more engaging.

However, there is more to it than that. An interactive website does not just contain a UI that reacts to input. It promotes interactivity through trigger-based animations, clickable buttons and responsive graphics. Every aspect is designed to engage individuals and support navigation.

For example, a small business selling dog treats could make its website engageable by placing buttons at the top of the product page that act like tags. They might say things like “crunchy,” “soft,” “freeze-dried” or “dental chews.” Each one a visitor clicks on applies a new filter. Every action has a reaction that fulfills a specific objective.

The Benefits of Making an Interactive Website

Interactivity puts site visitors in charge of their session, personalizing the user experience. They decide which UI components they click on, where they navigate and what user-generated content they produce. Thus, they can effectively tailor the site to better meet their needs.

Meaningful, personal experiences help maximize business growth. According to a Deloitte study from 2022, around 69% of consumers said they are more likely to do business with companies that personalized the user experience. Most business leaders agreed. About 71% believed personalization had a significant or very significant impact on their customer strategies.

Another benefit of creating a responsive website is engagement. Giving people more control over their place in the sales funnel and the overall user experience contributes to organic traffic, potentially boosting conversions. In short, brands will see their visitor count and revenue go up.

Best of all, interactive UI enables user-guided navigation, improving transparency. This is vital since 60% of consumers agree transparency is the most important trait a brand can have. The more readily people can access information, the more transparent a site is.

Advice for Creating Interactive Web Elements

Following these tips for creating an interactive website can help you optimize the overall user experience, potentially leading to more organic traffic.

1. Make Responsive Elements Intuitive

How do visitors know whether or not a button is clickable? Is there any indicator that scrolling will play a video, or will they discover the correct trigger by accident? Your UI should feel intuitive. If it does not, it can quickly frustrate people instead of making them feel in control of navigation and interactions.

2. Have Microinteractions Throughout

Microinteractions are small responsive components that nudge individuals to engage with your page in specific ways. One study shows 69% of people believe they improve the user experience. Whether you animate transitions or trigger effects while scrolling, the result is a responsive, satisfying experience.

3. Make Room for User-Generated Content

Letting people leave comments under articles, participate in polls or write product reviews can keep others on the site longer. They will want to view what others have written in addition to reading your information. This is an especially great tactic if you operate in e-commerce, as it keeps them from leaving to find user-generated content elsewhere.

4. Prioritize Visual Cues and Feedback

How do you know if a button is clickable — or whether you have clicked on it already — unless it changes color, size or shape? Visual cues and feedback are critical for any engageable site because they guide interactions. The latter drives engagement in real time, keeping visitors interested in whatever is on the page.

Considerations for Implementing Interactivity

Even with those tips in mind, creating an interactive website requires a bit more thought. For one, you should ensure your visual cues and feedback are accessible to everyone. What happens if a simple color change is invisible to someone with color blindness? Changing multiple aspects of the UI element is essential.

Consistency is key, whether you animate a menu or trigger a sound when buttons are clicked. Visual cues and feedback do little good if your visitors do not know what to expect when they move from one page to the next.

That last — and potentially most major — consideration is implementing responsive design if you have not already done so. A mobile-friendly design may be the most important. According to Pew Research, 90% of adults in the United States have smartphones. Even something as simple as a scroll-triggered animation will look odd unless you fit it to different screen sizes.

What Goes Into Making an Interactive Website

Making an engaging, responsive site takes time, effort and development knowledge. The technical side of things is slightly more complex. While you can often find code for free online, you will still need to personalize it to fit your needs. As long as you know the fundamentals, you can craft a successful implementation strategy.