Static vs. interactive websites – which serves the customer better?
- A traditional website provides information and leaves the choice up to the visitor.
- An interactive website can ask visitors about their situation and use their answers to help them find the right option.
- Not everything has to be interactive. Engagement is most effective when visitors are prompted to stop and think: ‘Which of these is right for me?’
Most websites still follow the familiar pattern:
The business provides information. The visitor searches.
A visitor arrives on the website, reads a bit of the homepage, opens the ‘Services’ section, goes back, perhaps looks at the testimonials, and at the same time tries to work out which of all these options might suit their needs.
If they find what they’re looking for and their interest lasts long enough, there’s usually a contact form waiting for them at the end of the journey.
So quite a lot is left up to the visitor. But a website can also work differently.
It can ask visitors what they are looking for, respond to their answers, narrow down the options and help them find the right product, service, content or next step. This can be described as a participatory or interactive website.
The difference can be summarised as follows:
Static web page:
Read → browse → search → fill in the form.
Interactive website:
Reply → describe your needs → receive a recommendation → continue.
What is a static website?
In this context, a ‘static website’ does not refer to a technically static HTML site. We mean a website where the visitor’s role is, first and foremost, to receive information and find what they need for themselves. The company has pre-defined the content, navigation and pathways, and it is up to the visitor to work out which of these are relevant to them specifically.
A typical path might look like this:
Home → Services → Service A → References → Contact details → Contact us
If a visitor knows exactly what they’re looking for, this sort of website can work brilliantly. The visitor searches for a specific service, finds it in the navigation menu and goes straight to the right page. But what if they don’t know? That’s when the website can easily become a bit of a mystery.
A static website leaves the choice to the person who is least familiar with the options
Let’s imagine a company that offers six different services. Within the company, the differences between them are, of course, clear. They have been designed, developed into products, sold and explained dozens of times. To a visitor, however, the names of these services may not necessarily mean anything yet.
He doesn’t think:
“I need Service Package B.”
He thinks:
“We should be getting more leads from our website.”
And then the website gives him six options and asks him to choose. Although the company knows its services best, it leaves the choice between them to the person who knows them the least. It is precisely in situations like this that the website could do more.
What is an inclusive website?
An interactive website doesn’t just display options and hope that the visitor makes the right choice. It responds to what the user says or does. Instead of showing the visitor all six services straight away, you can start with a single, simple question:
“What would you like to achieve?”
The visitor chooses:
I want more leads.
After that, one might ask, for example:
“Where does the majority of your website traffic currently come from?”
Or:
“What is the biggest challenge at the moment?”
After just a few responses, the website can highlight a service, piece of content, recommendation or next step that is specifically suited to that particular situation. This means the visitor does not first need to familiarise themselves with the company’s entire range of services.
The website translates his needs into what the company has to offer.
Static vs. interactive website
The difference does not lie in the fact that one has more flashing elements, plays a video or has a button that produces a cool animation when pressed. Above all, interactivity means that the user’s choice has an impact on what happens next.
| Static website | An inclusive website |
| Reports | Asks and tells |
| Show options | Helps narrow down the options |
| The same path for many users | The path can adapt based on the answers |
| The visitor is searching for | The website helps you find |
| CTA often at the end | The following small steps along the way |
| Collect information using the form | Can learn about the user during interaction |
Nor is it a case of one or the other. A good online service still needs high-quality content, navigation and standard web pages. Interactivity is best introduced, above all, at those moments when the visitor pauses to think:
Which of these is right for me?
Try it out for yourself
- STATISTICAL VERSION
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2. INCLUSIVE VERSION
An engaging website can help personalise the customer journey
When talking about website personalisation, the discussion easily veers off into artificial intelligence, user profiles, segmentation and various systems. These can certainly be used. But personalisation can start on a much more everyday level.
Ask a question.
If a visitor says they are a retailer, show them relevant content. If they are a consumer, show them a different path. If they are already an existing customer, perhaps a third one.
A single question can be the starting point for the whole personalisation process.
We particularly like this idea because it means the company doesn’t have to try to guess what the visitor needs using some mysterious algorithm. The visitor can tell them themselves.
Involvement can start on a very small scale
There’s no need to rebuild the entire website. It’s often more sensible to start by identifying the one point where the visitor has to put in the most effort. Perhaps there are too many services on offer and it’s difficult to choose the right one. Perhaps understanding the pricing is tricky. Perhaps the customer doesn’t know which product suits their needs.
Examples of this include:
- a selection tool that recommends a suitable product or service
- a needs assessment to help analyse the client’s situation
- a calculator that provides an estimate of the price, savings or benefit
- a test that provides a personalised result
- a survey designed to gather feedback or gain an understanding of customers
- game-based content that encourages participation
- A guided contact process in which the relevant questions are asked step by step.
Ultimately, the format isn’t the most interesting thing. What matters most is that the choice the user makes has an impact on what happens next.
An inclusive website does not mean that everything has to be interactive
This is perhaps the most important counterpoint to the whole topic. An engaging website does not mean turning every paragraph into a question, every service page into a quiz, and every visit into an adventure game.
If I want a phone number, I want a phone number. I don’t want to have to answer five questions first just to get it. If I know exactly which product I want, I want to go straight to that product. If I want to read an article, I’ll probably want to read it at my own pace.
Interactivity is useful when a visitor needs help making a decision, narrowing down their options or finding the right next step.
A good, engaging experience reduces the workload. It doesn’t create extra tasks for the user.
Don’t leave a visitor to find the right path on their own
When designing a website, a great deal of thought goes into what information should be provided to visitors.
Another equally important question is:
How could we help him find exactly what he needs?
Sometimes the answer lies in better navigation or clearer content. Sometimes the best solution might be to ask.
Static web page:
Read → browse → search → fill in the form.
An interactive website:
Reply → tell us your needs → get a recommendation → continue.
Don’t leave a visitor to find the right path on their own. Help them choose it.