Today’s brands only have a few a second to make a good impression online. If nothing catches a new visitor’s attention on the website, they will leave as quickly as they arrives. Of course, the design of your website or online shop plays a big part in these first impressions. However, offering website marketing animations is also a highly effective way of maintaining the interest of your audience and even encouraging visitors to return.
Website animations will essentially make the browing experience more dynamic. Elles peuvent aussi servir à guider les acheteurs d’une page à l’autre, leur partager des informations de manière plus percutante ou créer une réelle connexion avec la marque en encourageant les interactions.
In this article, we share with you some advice and concrete examples of how you can liven up your website… All without making your customer journey more cumbersome or increasing the loading time of your pages.
Website animation: what does it mean ?
Marketing animations for websites are simply interactive elements that are integrated into the pages and the browsing experience to make it more dynamic. This may involve videos or games, but also background animation or micro-interactions that are brought to life or made playable.
The main purpose of animation is to capture visitors’ attention and keep them engaged for as long as possible to keep them on the site. Unlike a static experience, which simply consists of scrolling through the various pages of the site, users are encouraged to interact with its content, are drawn by animated visual elements to the pages that are most likely to interest them, etc.
The main advantages of integrating animations on your website include :
- Grab visitors’ attention and keep them engaged for as long as possible with original and intriguing elements;
- Make navigation easier, by guiding the user through the site (particularly in terms of the menu);
- Encourage visitors to take action by drawing their attention to strategic elements (such as CTAs for adding an item to the shopping basket, etc.);
- Reinforcing your brand image by offering a differentiating and dynamic browsing experience. Animations make a site memorable and anchor the company in the minds of consumers. They can also support storytelling by personalising the company’s message and giving it a more human and accessible image.
3 animated marketing techniques for websites
The aim of website marketing animations is to make the browsing experience more engaging. It encourages visitors to stay on the page as long as possible, or even to take action (by signing up for a newsletter or placing an order).
But to achieve its objectives, it must integrate natively and coherently into the website, without overloading the page or confusing visitors. Here are some examples 5 effective website animation techniques that really improve a website’s UX.
1. Video to liven up your website
Video is the leading animation format used on websites. For example, the simple act of integrating a video into a landing page allows you to increase the conversion rate by 18%. Elle aide à get your message across more clearly, quickly and intelligibly to as many visitors as possible.
Video can, for example, liven up a brand’s presentation page by sharing portraits of its founders. It’s also a sales tool on a product page, putting the product in a situation and encouraging buyers to think about it.
2. Animated micro-interactions
Micro-interactions are subtle website animations that provide visual feedback to users and guide them through their browsing experience. They are generally triggered by a user action, such as clicking on an element or hovering over it with the mouse. For example, this could be a clickable icon that changes colour or becomes slightly larger when the user hovers over it.
The purpose of these animated interactions is to draw visitors’ attention to the strategic elements of your site (to encourage them to sign up to the mailing list, for example). They establish a clear visual hierarchy and make navigation more intuitive and dynamic.
3. Gamified animations to boost customer relations
Internet users are increasingly impatient and expect a web page to load in less than 3 seconds. Ils auront tendance à quitter un site trop long, ou qui ne offers no animation during this floating period. Plus globalement, les animations interactives permettent de maintenir l’attention des utilisateurs tout au long de l’expérience de navigation et de la rendre plus agréable et donc mémborable.
For example, the company could share a playable experience (such as a quiz or a Memoryfor example). The game will be accessible in the form of a banner or pop-up page and will engage web users.
The game can open during the loading time. This is what web browsers do, for example, with the Dino Runner game which loads automatically until the user’s Internet connection is re-established. But it can also liven up the checkout by, for example, allowing shoppers to use a Winning Instant to win a discount coupon to use immediately on their order.
How to choose and use website animations?
While a static site can nowadays be considered too basic, or even a little boring, the aim is not to add animations everywhere on your website. You need to create a dynamic experience that is still pleasant for the visitor (and optimised for the company).
Before starting to integrate animations into the website, it is therefore important to :
- Take into account the loading speed of your site so that the animations don’t take up too much space. Bear in mind that this is a determining factor in the ranking of your page on Google, for example. It is therefore advisable to choose a solution that optimises the coding and hosting of animations so that they do not sacrifice the performance of your site;
- Provide real added value. Animations shouldn’t just be pretty. It must be of interest to the visitor (by sharing relevant information via a Quiz or by allowing them to share feedback via a Survey, for example). But it must also respond to the company’s commercial challenges (by encouraging users to take action by sharing promo codes via an Instant Scratch or to collect opt-in via a form);
- Remaining consistent. Animations must respect the website’s graphic universe and be in line with the brand’s image. Here again, the choice of a solution that makes it easy to customise animations will be decisive.
Create a unique browsing experience on your website with our interactive animations. Vous pourrez opter pour une mécanique qui vous permettra d’engager efficacement votre audience et d’atteindre vos objectifs stratégiques. Sur Socialshaker, vous pouvez su You can opt for a mechanism that will enable you to effectively engage your audience and achieve your strategic objectives. On Socialshaker, you can customise them so that they fit in naturally with your pages.
