I ♥ Jellyvision

Interactive tools to help customers get to know you better, while you get to know them better, are the thing.

I’ve spent far too much time looking for it: Simple(-seeming) interactive tools that allow web visitors to self-select what they want from an information provider.

Yes, that is the basic function of web-sites, and the interactivity is simply navigating the site. But I’ve been eager to find something that doesn’t require a new page to load each time the user refines his request. That’s too slow, too clunky. Sometimes you need tighter controls and a more fluid experience.

Rapid, interactive decision trees or something like it, was what I thought. Not a wildly successful search, though. The closest I came was a decision tree developed by the FDA to help big pharma determine how to market new drugs. It did the job, but it was neither nice to look at nor to build (total reverse engineering job).

Google and YouTube, ironically enough, created an interesting interactive decision tree. This uses YouTube’s newfound interactive functionality to allow viewers to answer their way forward to the ideal information. Lovely google, they provide an extensive wiki and how-to so that you can make it happen.

Then there’s Jellyvision. They’ve already made a product that can be taken off the shelf, and – with the help of a design company and some AV expertise – turned into a first-rate interactive customer experience.

Like all great things, it’s deceptively simple. Just a guy chatting with you and asking you the occasional question to bring you forward constructively. At the end of the play, visitor leaves happy (presumably), with the specific information he/she was after.

Crucially, the host comes away even happier, with specific information about the visitor and his or her preferences. That kind of information greases the wheels of any marketing automation programme, which is probably why Eloqua, for one, has already used it for their own ends.

I’ve never implemented a Jellyvision story, sadly. I’d love to, for anyone willing to take the jump.

And, for those who’ve done it already, I’d love to hear their experiences. How many people who started a journey hopped off? How much time did it take to design the decision tree, and how much time to program the marketing automation that can track it? What was the final conversion rate like?

Lastly, obviously, as someone who spent far too much time getting here, I really want to hear about any other people’s experiences with other interactive tools. What have you seen? Anything even better that does the same trick?