The internet is a densely populated marketplace and enabling your brand to stand out from its competitors is no mean feat. This is where the creation of an immersive website can help.

An immersive website draws users in, captures their attention and holds on to it – entertaining them and ultimately taking them on a journey that delights and pleases, and often results in a purchase. Customers are left with a positive lasting memory of the website too and are more likely to develop brand loyalty and return to the site because of the immersive experience.

When you look at websites like the Hong Kong Design Institute and Cellag, you are struck by the impressive visuals and overall feel of the sites – both are cleverly designed to fully entice you to explore more, and help you navigate seamlessly from page to page, thanks to the animations and visual cues. These are great examples of successfully created immersive websites.

The question is, how can you create a fantastic immersive web experience?

Go beyond aesthetics

The immersive websites that really work are about much more than the aesthetics – they rely on a great deal of technology and digital know-how to create the best customer experience. Yes, the website needs to look good and be appealing to viewers, but it also needs to offer a deeper experience using visual cues and responsive technology. The user experience always needs to be the priority, so don’t be distracted away from the fundamentals.

Offer more than the standard

A run-of-the-mill website can be appealing to customers. However, where standard websites often struggle is when it comes to retention – there is usually not enough on the sites to hold the customer’s attention for long and they’ll soon move on. By offering an enhanced, immersive experience customers will spend far longer on the site and be far more engaged as a result.

Keep it simple

Whilst the technology may be advanced with immersive websites, the experience should be straightforward for customers. Ideally, make the site easy to navigate with features that appeal to viewers and that they want to press to discover what’s next. The fewer distractions and unnecessary visuals there are, the better – or viewers become distracted and stop engaging with the experience.

Make it effective

Before you start creating an immersive website for your business, make sure you understand your customers – who they are, what they like, and what they want, for example. Keep this information front and centre when designing the website and place visuals that your target audience will like rather than visuals that use cutting-edge technology that won’t appeal to your customers. For example, not all viewers will appreciate 3D objects or parallax scrolling that look incredible but don’t always run as fast on the browser – so unless it’s a priority for viewers, the slower speed might put them off. If you’re looking for the best of both worlds, try working with streamlined animation libraries, such as Lottie and Three.js. These provide lightweight and optimised content that enable a deeply engaging experience, without impacting site performance. You can also work with our agency, RCCO, our expert team are able to find the perfect, tailored balance for your brand and company.

Tease with visuals

The visuals will likely have a bigger impact than the content for much of the experience, so be sure to make the most of them. As well as using signs and arrows as cues for guiding viewers to the pages you want them to visit, you can make the overall design more appealing. YouTube, for example, show the next video automatically and without prompting – the idea for this is to subconsciously keep viewers on the platform for as long as possible, showing them endless footage in the hope they’ll get hooked and stay for longer.

Interact with your customers

An immersive website should engage and respond to viewers, incorporating clever technology that can react in real-time. Good examples of this include a video that is on a loop that only plays when the customer hovers over it – features like this encourage customers to explore the website further, click on the video and discover what’s next. Visuals such as animation and pop-ups are also effective for engaging viewers and keeping the site feeling fresh and fun. Instead of having a traditional information form for prospective customers to fill in, for example, you could include an interactive questions and answers feature to keep customers interested. So, think about the entire site and how elements can respond to the user. Video teasers, for example, can help viewers understand what will happen next while also encouraging them to click and explore further.

Immersive websites that are created with the customers in mind, create a positive customer experience. These websites are effective and help the business not only attract more visitors online but to boost brand loyalty and repeat visits. In time, this enables the business to grow thanks to the increase in sales as a result of the increased web traffic and wider customer appeal.

Jordan Richards is Founder and CEO of RCCO.