Interactive content (i.e., online assessments, calculators, and quizzes) helps B2B marketers shift from explaining to conversing. As my colleague Laura Ramos explains, “Interactive tools…help to create an ‘across the table’ approach at scale.”

Despite this obvious connection, only 44% of attendees at a recent webinar I hosted said they currently use interactive content on their website. So what should B2B marketers do to help close this gap between content delivery and buyer engagement? Interviews with over a dozen senior B2B marketing leaders reveal three primary ways they are putting interactive content to work creating business results: 

  1. Generating leads. Interactive content is great for generating leads because it attracts prospects’ interest by offering an engaging and tailored experience that doesn’t exist when someone passively reads or watches your content. In fact, our January 2016 content objectivity and credibility survey of 200-plus IT and LOB professionals showed that two out of the top six content sources they prefer to read/use are interactive content tools.                            
  2. Prioritizing leads. Every time prospects engage with your interactive content, they share information about their objectives, challenges, current state, etc. Marketers must use this buyer-supplied information to help score and prioritize the lead. For example, say you know only mature firms are good prospects for your solution. After your prospects complete an online maturity assessment, those who rank as mature can easily be scored as an “A” or a hot lead, while immature respondents can be scored lower and added to a drip or nurture program.                                                                                                         
  3. Delivering SQLs. The pressure on most marketing organizations to deliver high-quality sales-qualified leads is immense, and many organizations have a very hard time delivering.” Interactive content helps solve that challenge. Marketing can deliver a lead containing specific insights about the prospect’s objectives, challenges, or current state that the prospect shared via his or her completion of an online assessment, calculator, or quiz. The salesperson now knows the prospect’s specific situation before he or she initiates contact. It turns cold calls into warm calls.

Don’t be one of the 56% of marketers who aren’t benefiting from interactive content. Evaluate how interactive content can help you generate, prioritize, and deliver high-quality leads. It will serve you well.