“Scrollytelling” allows you to separate your content from the herd and build user engagement by providing your audience with a story to become involved in. By becoming engrossed in a story, users are drawn into a website or app with an experience that’s personal, interactive, and engaging.
Consider that scrolling itself, whether on a website or mobile app, is a common action taken by users when reviewing information. However, using the principles of scrollytelling, scrolling creates an immersive user experience that keeps users’ attention and brings them deeper into the site or app.
What Is Scrollytelling?
Scrollytelling is a method of visual storytelling that incorporates the action of scrolling to control the story and interact with users. Users control their destiny by scrolling further into a story and revealing additional information framed in various visual elements.
Visual storytelling has been around for centuries. Petroglyphs, comic strips, and even paintings are among the earliest forms of sequential visual storytelling. As technology has improved the availability and quality of visuals, many types of visuals, including images, videos, text blocks, and animation, have become popular techniques to attract users and keep their attention.
Benefits of Scrollytelling
Scrollytelling combines the main benefits of storytelling and takes it one step further to engage the digital user.
The benefits of scrollytelling include:
- Enhanced user engagement. Users have the power of choice while you invite them in for more.
- Improved user experience. Information is easier to understand as a visual story.
- Users spend more time on a site or app. The more engaged a user is, the more they explore.
- Increased clarity when communicating complex subjects. Visuals keep users’ attention.
Interactive elements and visual animations give data and text more life. The livelier the presentation, the more likely users are to stay actively engaged and understand the content.
Best Practices for Scrollytelling
Scrollytelling needs other visual elements to keep user attention. When used with interactive visuals, hover text, or video to create a visual story, a scrollytelling site or app can create a personalized experience that better connects with users.
Best practices for using scrollytelling include:
- Select visuals and multimedia objects for aesthetic and strategic value
- Include interactive elements beyond scrolling
- Invite a user in with purposeful and useful information
- Optimize the user experience for more effective communication
- Create a story that’s compelling, honest, and informative
Rather than bombarding users on a landing page with flashy content and animation, scrollytelling gives the users the control to get more information and become involved in the story.
Scrollytelling is an effective strategy for attracting users to websites and apps. Making information interactive and engaging using visual art and a compelling story can ensure users move beyond the landing page. Scrollytelling improves user engagement, user experience and draws users in.
Stories create connections with users, and the added visuals help to communicate the meaning.
Incorporate meaningful scrollytelling elements into your UX design to attract customers and create a connection. Make the most of your user’s interest by drawing them in with quality visuals and interactive elements that build understanding and communicate clearly.