Scrollytelling works. Here´s  how…

If the word scrollytelling brings storytelling to mind, you’re on the right track! Both things have a lot in common, but they’re not the same. Read on to find out how this new interactive technique could benefit your content…

What is scrollytelling?

As you´ve probably already figured out, the word ´´scrollytelling´´ is a combination of ´´scroll´´ and ´´tell´´, and yep, you´ve got it, it´s a fun, interactive way of telling stories with your content, whatever it may be!

Scrollytelling is a narrative technique in which the elements displayed in an online page change as you scroll. So as you move down the page, there are transitions between animations, interactive elements, videos, and other multimedia formats. 

The result is a dynamic, fast-moving piece of content that encourages consumers to keep progressing through the content.

Scrollytelling works really well when it comes to engaging your audience and communicating your story. Scroll on to see why (see what we did there??)

4 key elements to irresistible Scrollytelling

Some of the best content out there receives thousands of visits years after being posted, and many times that´s thanks to scrollytelling.. Few content formats garner as much attention as this. But why do we love stories with scrollytelling? 4 Here are the 4 secrets to the success of this phenomenon:

1. It’s easy. Scrolling is the most intuitive storytelling technique  around, and one that best suits consumer behavior.When you´re scrolling through a website, you get to see content continuously and smoothly, without having to guess where you need to click, change pages, or search for elements to move around.  

2. You’re in control. With scrollytelling, you can browse content however you want. With one quick swipe of your finger, you can control the pace at which you want information to appear. . This is a great technique to avoid over- saturation of information, which makes communication so difficult and which is so common in this world full of content. 

3. It connects with audiences. Consumers  have to interactwith scrollytelling content for it to work. That draws the audience  in, because a connection is created between the story and the consumer , and in some way they become an active part of the story. That element of interactivity is what keeps audiences on their toes! 

4. It captures your attention, excites you, and entertains you. Scrollytelling is much more appealing and enjoyable than other formats. You never know what’s next! It could be a video, an animation, an audio… As you scroll through the content, new elements appear. If it’s a good example of scrollytelling, you won’t be able to stop exploring, because you’ll want to find out what comes next.

How does this magic happen? 

If you think about it, the 4  keys of the previous point can be summarized in one: interactivity. 

What makes any content a memorable experience is the possibility of interacting. 

Well, now you know: give your audience the chance to interact! Here are some of the resources you can include in your creation. 

• New scroll-prompted elements trigger curiosity about your story, and let people manage the pace at which they consume information.
• Animations that come alive as you scroll through the content or even timed animations, such as  elements that appear after a few  seconds. Looking at something that moves is instinctive in people; it’s a simple reflex. That’s why adding moving elements is the most effective way to capture people’s attention. 
• Content-related questions or surveys. Ideally, they should be answered with a simple click. And if you add a time limit, you get an extra measure of excitement.
• Clickable areas or elements, which give way to windows or labels with additional information. For example, multimedia content or a curious topic-related fact.

Scrollytelling in Marketing and eLearning

It doesn’t matter if you’re going to present data, explain concepts in a training session, or tell your brand story. With scrollytelling you can create an immersive multimedia experience that instantly captivates your audience. And it’s a very versatile format. In fact, you can apply scrollytelling to almost any content you’re going to show online. 

• Microlearning: Turn training microcontent into an experience.

• Infographics and timelines: Scrollytelling works great for displaying blocks or stages.
• Gamification: Add an extra measure of excitement and fun. If you include a time limit, it will be even more enjoyable.

• Landing pages, especially if your audience is viewing you on a cell phone. Invitations to events, product catalogs, service presentations…
• Guides and tutorials: Scrollytelling is ideal for showing the steps of a process. The audience scrolls through at their own pace and isn’t overwhelmed with information.
• Image galleries: You’ll see them from start to finish, guaranteed!

Benefits of scrollytelling in marketing

All brands are looking for strategies to engage their audience. And the same thing happens in the training world at any level and in any context. It’s more and more difficult to capture the attention of learners and retain it long enough for learning to be effective. 

A technique such as scrollytelling, immersive by definition and capable of creating an emotional bond with the public, is a powerful marketing tool, and also has benefits for eLearning. 

Here are some of the benefits you’ll see when applying this technique:

1. Increase page dwell time

People interact with your content for a long time and stay longer on the page where it’s being displayed, i.e. scrollytelling boosts your audience’s level of engagement with the content. 

2. Decrease bounce rate

Of course! If everyone interacts with your content, you’ll see your bounce rate plummet. And that’s a great sign, as it means that the content is meeting your audience’s expectations.

3. Build up loyalty

If your audience likes your content and you offer a good user experience, they’ll want to see more. That means there’s a great chance they’ll keep exploring your website AND revisit it in the future. 

4. It lets you showcase (as never before) the value of your products or services 

With a little creativity, you can do anything you set your mind to. You can use multimedia content to showcase your product or service, and use interactivity to draw attention to its best features. You can tell a story around the product to create a connection with your audience. And you can also make sure that FAQs are solved with your visual presentation. Here’s to imagination!

5. Help your brand stand out and be remembered

Remember the last ad you saw while browsing your favorite social network? Yeah, neither do we!  The over-saturation of messages and stories is so widespread that we no longer retain any of the messages in the marketing. What we do remember  are experiences. Make your audience have fun and you’ll get your brand remembered.

Benefits of scrollytelling in eLearning

Scrollytelling creates educational experiences to make learning more engaging, more dynamic, and — of course — more effective. Here are some of its benefits in this field:

1. Helps people to understand complex concepts

Using different types of media content helps to break down complex ideas. Content becomes more dynamic and easier to understand.

2. Promotes active learning

Scrollytelling stimulates students and engages them in their own learning, as audience  participation is needed to make progress. What’s more, having to interact and scroll through the content helps them to increase attention and focus.

3. Adapts to different learning styles

Visual, auditory, kinesthetic… Integrating different content formats such as audios, videos, and animations helps people with any learning style to understand the subject.

4. Boosts long-term memory

Stories are really effective as a teaching technique , because they let people associate concepts with emotions. Combining the narrative with interactivity and visual content creates a multi-sensory experience that enhances recall and helps students to retain information.

5. Allows each student to learn at their own pace

Each person can explore the content at their own pace, and stop at more complex parts or further explore the concepts they consider the most important.

6. Increases motivation

The dynamic and engaging format of scrollytelling holds participants’ interest during learning by reducing the sense of monotony that so often accompanies other traditional formats.

How to do interactive scrollytelling

You may be thinking: yeah, great, but I wouldn´t even know where to begin…it’s not for me. Animations, multimedia content, interactivity… It takes a whole team of professionals lots of time and money to develop all that, right? 

Well, not necessarily!  Thanks to Genially, you too can prepare unforgettable scrollytelling content  without  needing to know how to program. In fact, all the examples of scrollytelling in this post are created with Genially. This one too:

 All you need is a little  preparation beforehand 😉 Here’s a quick  guide giving you all the tips you need to get started with Genially in less than an hour – all for free!

Tips to create your scrollytelling with Genially

1. Imagine the content. Create an outline or sketch on paper to define what you want to show and how you want it to appear. It must be developed using a common thread and designed to make sense as you scroll through the story.  
2. Choose the resources you want to include in your content, such as images, audios, and videos. The resources have to be appropriate to the topic and also eye-catching, so that they capture attention. 
3. Think about how you’re going to structure the content, so that whoever is viewing it knows where it is at all times, even if there’s multiple content in different formats. 
4. Open up Genially. Decide if you want to start from scratch or choose a mobile template. If you start with a template, you’ll have some of the work done for you. Want a hack to find your template? Enter ‘mobile’ in the Genially template finder and a number of options will pop up!
5. Follow the steps in this tutorial to tailor your creation to scrollytelling, and keep good practices in mind.
6. Add your content and edit the interactivity and animations to suit your ultimate goal. Here are some practical tips and tutorials to help you.

• Add input animations with your favorite effect. You can also say how many seconds you want to wait before  the elements appear on-screen. 
• Use interactivities such as Play audio, Scroll to element, or Throw effect.
• Embed all kinds of multimedia content, such as videos, audios, maps, or even Street View locations.
• Include interactive questions to ask for feedback or evaluate what has been learned.

We bet you never imagined you had so many options at your fingertips to create your storytelling!   So go ahead, get stuck in and create your own example of storytelling  – then show off your creations in the comments on the post. We can´t wait to see what you come up with!