Liz FromentAll marketers know that getting sustained engagement on their ads and emails is the holy grail. It’s when users are engaged and interacting that they see more clicks, a higher response rate, and of course, more revenue over time.
But, the big question is, how can you get there?
With click and engagement rates currently hovering around the lowest numbers yet, coupled with the ever decreasing attention span of most people, it can be a challenge to say the least.
Not to mention, the average attention span of human, currently around 8 seconds, less than a goldfish, and dropping. That attention span is down from the 12 second average that marketers were seeing in 2000.
It doesn’t take much to figure out that the numbers will continue to drop, and with it the engagement rates brands are currently seeing.
That’s where interactivity can have a huge impact on engagement and clicks. The brands and marketers who are able to increase engagement are seeing the results.
Here’s how to do it.
Increase Curiosity
Curiosity plays an important role in engagement. Studies, like the one from CalTech called “The Wick in the Candle of Learning,” help to illustrate the point.
The research found that when a person’s curiosity is triggered, their brain activity increases and their desire for more information goes off the charts. This all translates to engagement and that’s good news for marketers. When a consumer is curious and wants to learn more, they will spend far longer interacting.
Reveal marketing campaigns can illustrate this concept well. Users who are exposed to links and ads that are designed to trigger an increase in curiosity have been shown to have sustained interaction and engagement for an average of 24 seconds.
Increase Perceived Value
Here’s another factor that plays directly into psychology, called by it’s more common name, “The Ikea Effect.” This was a study done by researchers at Harvard Business School and they found that people who directly participate in creating, building or winning something value it more.
Here’s where brands who want to increase interactivity and engagement can embrace that. When brands and marketers send potential customers ads and emails that are designed to create a feeling of ownership, they can be confident that interaction rates will be higher.
Not only that, but consumers typically will begin to build an emotional and mental connection with the brands that want them to participate in the outcome of the campaign.
Putting it Together
It takes a lot more than fancy subject lines and fun copy to get consumers to engage and interact with ads and emails today. Smart brands and marketers understand that concept and are looking at out of the box ways to wow consumers right from the start.
Building and designing campaigns that dive into and embrace the psychology of why consumers behave can go a long way into improving interaction. Then creating specific emails and ads that trigger those behaviors is just good business sense now.
Work to put those together, honing in on how consumers can interact, and it won’t be long before engagement and clicks start taking an upward trend.
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