How to Make an Interactive Video in 6 Simple Steps

There are many tools to make an interactive video, and in this post, we will focus on the six basic steps to follow to achieve the best results.

Viewers can play, pause, or forward the content in a typical passive video. But interactive videos allow viewers to interact with the story and decide the path to go, creating high-engagement moments.

Consumers watch interactive videos differently because they feel within an immersive experience that shows elements like quizzes and hotspots. These are unique items that grab their attention.

Taking advantage of personalization is a big plus since viewers are keen to pay attention to content that is relevant to them. This strategy is a secure road to higher click-through rates and better engagement levels.

Whether your video is about marketing, sales, education, or human resources, creating your own interactive video will significantly boost viewer engagement.

And although most brands are using video to connect with consumers, today, interactive videos offer an excellent opportunity to stand out from the crowd. As a rule of thumb, consider interactive videos' click-through rates up to 10 times higher than regular videos.

The process to make an interactive video requires work but is not difficult. Your conversions will increase with a good strategy, the right tools, and a simple workflow.

Check our essential six-step guide to making an interactive video.

1-Planning

To make an interactive video, the first and fundamental step is planning. Concentrate your efforts on storytelling, who is your target viewer, what you want to communicate, and which is the best approach.

Write a script for each element of the video, and if you decide to use branching, you will also need a script for every branch.

Prepare written and graphic content for buttons, overlays, hotspots, and every interactive element you plan to include in the video.

 

 

2-Shoot your video

Once you have done your planning, the following step to make an interactive video is shooting. You can create your own video using any commercial editor, like Filmora, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere, or Camtasia.

On the other hand, many online platforms feature pre-built templates and drag-and-drop editors to make a video. You can make a video in a matter of minutes, and some also have free basic plans (Check InVideo, Wavevideo, or FlexClip)

 

 

3-Choose your interactive video platform

When your video is ready, you need to upload it to an interactive video platform to add interactive capabilities like buttons and hotspots. Here is where the magic happens, and you start to make an interactive video from a regular video.

You can choose among enterprise-focused video platforms like Wirewax, Vixy, and Smartzer, with many features, including transcription and editing.

But many other options provide an excellent cost-benefit relationship, like Spott, Adobe Captivate, and Hihaho, to name a few. The great advantage of Hihaho is that you can play around with the platform for free. You only have to pay when you want to download the video.

Check our article about  18 Best Interactive Video Platforms and pick the platform that suits your needs. Notice that some also offer free trials, so you can evaluate them and learn the ropes

4-Add interactive elements

You can start adding interactive elements when you are logged into the interactive video platform. Most platforms feature drag-and-drop dashboards to make this process relatively straightforward.

There are many options for interactive elements:

Buttons: Add clickable buttons throughout the video to drive actions.

Images: Add images to enrich viewers' experience. Product images, charts, or specifications can guide the customer to the appropriate stage of the funnel.

Hotspots: Add fixed hotspots (to a fixed position on the screen) or sticky hotspots (these stick to moving people or objects and get a much higher engagement rate)

Quizzes: Embed multiple-choice questions to test viewers' knowledge or provide them with an assessment.

Quizzes are a superb tool to gather consumer data and increase further personalization.

Forms: Add input forms where viewers can enter their information to subscribe to a mailing list or get viewer data.

Branching: This is one of the most exciting features of interactive videos and allows viewers to choose which content is relevant to them.

If you decide to use branching,  Twine is free software for designing branching scenarios within interactive videos to build stories.

Product overlays: Add product images to take viewers to a sales page or a detailed product description.

 

RELATED READING: 6 Types of Interactive Video

 

5-Publish your video

When you preview the video and consider it finished, you are ready to publish it. The platform will provide a link that you can copy to your website to embed the video.

If you want to make an interactive video to publish on YouTube, consider that YouTube does not support interactive video features like hotspots, clickable links, and branching. You can upload each branch of your story as an individual video and link them up.

YouTube video

 

YouTube allows a maximum of 4 video cards on an end screen. This means you can give the viewer up to four options at the end of every segment.

If you choose to do this, only promote your first video, and hide the others from your listing to ensure the viewer starts from the beginning. Also, consider that if you have a video shorter than 25 seconds or is classified as "Made for Kids," YouTube won't allow you to create links.

On the other side, Vimeo provides advanced features to make an interactive video on its platform. At the time of this writing, it is only available to enterprise users.

 

 

6-Track your results and adjust your strategy

In a regular passive video, you can only measure views. Still, it is impossible to know engagement and what part of the video work for the consumer.

Interactive video is different because these platforms track every interaction, click, and conversion. Needless to say, this is an excellent reason to start creating interactive videos.

This valuable information allows you to fine-tune your strategy and adjust your video content according to consumers' behavior. And since many interactive video platforms provide useful integrations, you can collect customer data to improve personalization.

The era of personalized experiences is here, and technology makes it possible to get a detailed picture of your viewers' interactions.

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