The Power of Website Interactivity
May 10th, 2007 by 
Chris Pangburn
Many businesses fail to even consider the full potential the Internet can offer, and don’t understand that websites can be interactive mediums as well as one-way information-giving sites. There are a variety of technologies and applications out there or that can be installed that would improve the level of interactivity a business website offers. In some cases, certain types of interactivity such as forums or ‘live chat’ would not be appropriate to the impression some businesses intend to convey, however for other businesses, particularly those which require a significant amount of post-sale support or customer interaction, the extra interactivity can convey a collaborative and a “We’re listing to our customers” feel.
There are various interactive applications that can be installed onto a website, the below list starts from the most interactive to the least.
- Live support - In other words this can be a chat application, enabling your customers to gain instant contact with a representative when they need to. This can be good for both pre- and post-sales support.
- Forums - These are discussion boards, where customers can post questions and comments, and you as a company can respond. Whilst you might worry about receiving any negative press that’s posted on the forum, perhaps it serves as more of an incentive to improve customer relations and make sure every customer is fully satisfied.
- Guestbooks - For certain more personal (and perhaps smaller) businesses these can be quite useful (such as guesthouses and B&Bs) however for the more corporate website they should be avoided.
- Blogs - If you’re not sure what a blog is, just look around on this page - that’s what this part of the site is. We have chosen to mix our company blog featuring press releases with a small business guide. You can of course just create a blog which contains information about your press releases, current developments and any other pertinent topics to your business. This allows customers to keep upto date with your business, and gives the feeling that you are dynamic constantly-working and improving company.
As I mentioned, not all of the above are appropriate for every business, but don’t rule them all out - have a look around at successful company webistes and see what others have implemented on their website.
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