Interactive Content Marketing: The Answer to the Health Literacy Crisis

9 out of 10 Americans have this in common

Healthcare information is confusing, full stop.

• It uses terminology that people rarely use in daily life (is “benign” good or bad?)
• The words are hard to read (words like “esophagogastroduodenoscopy” shouldn’t exist)
• Information is harder to process when most of it is new to you (and many patients have limited background knowledge to pull from)
• Research is written in a way that’s inaccessible to the average healthcare consumer (how should one interpret “18.8% vs. 17.1%, p = 0.72”?)

9 out of 10 American adults struggle with health literacy. This means most people find it challenging to understand health information and use it to make decisions about their care. (Learn more about the health literacy and numeracy crisis.)

Healthcare marketers have a responsibility to make health info easier to understand. Writing in plain language (using bullet lists, avoiding jargon, writing concisely) is a start, but it’s still not enough to make content accessible for all patients.

Fortunately, interactive content can help.

Benefits of interactive content

Text alone is often not an effective way to communicate health information. Interactive elements can improve a reader’s understanding.

How does interactive content marketing help readers (and marketers)?

• It reduces overwhelm: Interactive content reduces words on the screen, replacing some of the text with imagery and shielding walls of text behind additional clicks. If people are interested in learning more, they can find more info — but they won’t be ambushed with it.
• It improves engagement: Many readers identify as visual or “hands-on” learners. They learn by seeing or doing, not reading. This type of content aligns with those info processing styles.
• It benefits everyone: Interactive content isn’t only for the 90% of Americans with low health literacy. Even the top 10% of readers benefit from it. Everyone is strapped for time; everyone wants instant gratification; everyone deserves access to health info that’s easy to understand.
• It provides you with data: Interactive content typically requires some element of interaction that you can measure. This gives you an opportunity to track clicks, video plays, and user input. As a result, you get audience data you can act on.

6 interactive content examples in healthcare

Most resources about interactive content marketing are geared towards industries like tech and ecommerce. Our industry is different. We’ve found that those resources don’t really apply in healthcare.

So we’ve pulled ideas from interactive health websites that you can draw inspiration from. See 6 examples of ways you can use interactive content in healthcare marketing.

1. Interactive visuals

We know why visual content is great for audience engagement. The imagery gives the brain a break from reading, and the extra white space gives the eyes a chance to rest.

Interactive visuals bring this to the next level by encouraging readers to touch or click a part of the image. Touching a screen can be easier than reading and scrolling through a list. Interactive visual content, like WebMD’s symptom checker, makes finding info quicker and easier.

2. Videos and animations on health websites

Medical animations and videos explain complex medical concepts in a way that:

• Boosts comprehension
• Adds depth and warmth to your topic
• Builds connection and trust

There’s an added benefit to this type of interactive content: It improves user engagement. Including video content on a webpage can increase user engagement time by 88%. See how UW Health leverages an engaging medical animation on this Conditions page.

3. Interactive website design blocks

Creative web design also makes for more interactive health websites.

Certain design choices can shorten page scroll (and reduce user overwhelm) by tucking extra info away behind clicks. This way, the reader can “opt in” to reading more content. See how Children’s Hospital Colorado condenses its value propositions in this design block on their homepage.

Children’s Hospital Colorado doesn’t stop at their homepage. Check out this “choose your own adventure” moment on their parent resources page. Readers can select from drop-down menus of topics and ages to tailor the content recommendations to their needs.

5. Calculators for pricing estimates

One of the most confusing aspects of healthcare for consumers is cost. From an outside perspective, it can feel as though prices for health services are random and unpredictable.

In an effort to improve hospital price transparency, many health systems have added interactive price checker tools to their websites. These tools provide personalized cost estimates based on the type of treatment and a patient’s insurance.

Below, Mount Sinai’s Patient Price Estimator offers an estimate for allergy skin tests without insurance.

6. Interactive maps

Maps offer users a visual way to explore your hospital locations. NYU Langone Health’s interactive map gives users the ability to scroll over different areas, click on specific locations to learn more, and click to find a doctor or call the location direction within the tool.

Looking for more ways to make your content engaging and accessible for all of your readers? We help hospitals implement interactive content and other techniques in their content strategy.

This CTA was originally going to be video strategy but it felt like only a part of this blog. Is there a different CTA that feels more appropriate?

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