Engage your audience: the power of interactive catalogs

Let’s face it: these days, print catalogs simply collect dust. That’s why, instead of spending time and money printing and distributing “old school” catalogs, forward-thinking businesses (both big and small) are turning to digital, interactive catalogs.

In place of static product pages, interactive catalogs can captivate your audience and enrich their shopping experience with embedded videos, hyperlinks, animations, and more.

Here’s everything you need to know about interactive catalogs, including how they can benefit your business and how to integrate them into your marketing strategy.

What makes a catalog interactive?

Unlike standard print catalogs, which include text and static images, interactive catalogs create a dynamic experience for your audience, transforming how you present your products and services.

A couple of key catalog interactivity features include:

• Embedded videos of demonstrations, customer testimonials, or behind-the-scenes footage
• Hyperlinks that can take customers to detailed product pages, size charts, or care instructions

When you use FLIPpages to create and share your interactive catalog, you can add these and other interactive elements, such as animations.

Another major perk of using FLIPpages? You can deploy real-time updates. This means you can easily update pricing and product information without reissuing your entire catalog.

Benefits of interactive catalogs for businesses

Wondering if interactive catalogs are worth it for your business? The answer is yes, but to prove our point, let’s take a look at some of the benefits you can expect to see:

• Enhanced user engagement: Interactive catalogs play a role in effective user engagement strategies because they can attract customers and maintain their attention with rich media and attractive, interactive elements.
• More conversions: Expect more prospects to convert to customers due to a more immersive shopping experience. Additionally, data shows that customers today value up-to-date technology and easy mobile experiences when choosing brands.
• Improved customer satisfaction: Easily accessible, detailed product information and striking visuals can lead to happier customers who are more likely to convert and return. And don’t forget: repeat customers can be more profitable and often cost less than new customers.
• Easy updates and personalization: As mentioned, you can quickly launch real-time updates. What’s more, you can also personalize your multimedia catalogs for different audiences. eCommerce personalization can be a key differentiator for shoppers, with 86% saying personalization plays a role in buying decisions.

Designing your interactive catalog with FLIPpages

If you choose to design and launch your interactive catalog with FLIPpages (and you should), you’ll find that the process is user-friendly and straightforward. Here’s exactly what the step-by-step process is like:

1. Upload your catalog: Upload a PDF of your catalog directly to FLIPpages using interactive elements such as high-quality pictures, videos, animations, and hyperlinks.
2. Customize your catalog: Choose from FLIPpages’ selection of templates and themes to align your catalog with your brand identity and audience preferences. Be sure to include any brand elements and assets for consistency.
3. Refine your layout: When designing the layout of your catalog, consider certain best practices for online catalogs. For example, prioritize and optimize user navigation so customers can easily find products. Incorporate rich multimedia when relevant, and use text, fonts, and colors that are clear and easy to read (even on mobile devices).
4. Think mobile-first: Speaking of mobile devices, definitely prioritize mobile-friendliness in your interactive catalog. Why? Nearly 60% of shoppers say that being able to shop on mobile is important when deciding which brand to buy from.

Best practices for interactive catalog content

Creating an interactive catalog is not enough: you want it to speak to your audience and convince them to buy your products. For that, be sure to turn to strategies for content creation that captivate and convert. For example, use high-quality images and videos that enhance how you display and describe your product.

Also, be sure to write compelling product descriptions that speak to your specific audience. Focus on benefits instead of just listing features, and keep the copy clear and concise.

Of course, don’t leave customers hanging—use strong calls to action to inspire them to visit your website or make a purchase.

Integrating interactive catalogs into your marketing strategy

Your interactive catalog is an excellent tool to integrate into your interactive content marketing strategy. For instance, you can promote your catalog through your social media, email marketing, and other digital channels to funnel your existing audience directly to it. You can also share snippets of it (with links to specific product pages) and even embed pages into your website and emails.

To make the most of omnichannel marketing, consider the following tips:

• Highlight specific products or services from your catalog
• Always share links to your catalog
• Offer exclusive discounts related to your catalog

Tracking and analyzing catalog performance

Today’s intelligent interactive catalog platforms allow you to track metrics and data on how users respond to your catalog and where improvements can be made.

Be sure to use a platform that allows you to track key metrics such as viewer interaction rates, time spent per page, and conversion rates. Then, you can use this data to determine where to refine your catalog.

When you use FLIPpages, you can connect to your existing Google Analytics to track PDFs and gain valuable insights into your publication’s reach.

Create interactive catalogs your customers will love with FLIPpages

Creating and launching your own interactive catalogs means enhancing online shopping experiences for your customers—and FLIPpages is here to help.

FLIPpages is a user-friendly digital publishing platform that lets you turn your PDFs into interactive publications. With various templates and themes to choose from, you can easily upgrade your digital catalogs to engage your audience and take your customer shopping experience to the next level.

Visit our website to get started creating interactive catalogs with FLIPpages.