Here we weigh up the pros and cons of content that plays automatically to your website visitors to gauge this type of contents effectiveness.

Images

Gallery carousels and Ferris wheels are a popular sight on websites. You have probably encountered them – images that rotate through a cycle and play on a loop to show those on the website the various pages, products, and options within the website. Yet this changing nature can be a source of confusion for some users – especially if each image is built as a link to a specific webpage.

Pros: With the nature of these images on a cycle displaying different things, you have the ability to convey different pieces of information with little or no effort from the website visitor themselves. These types of image displays are also great at keeping a webpage look fresh and engaging as the visuals of the page continually change.

Cons: Due to the changing nature of the images, as one goes to click on one; the image may change and the click only registers with the new image in its place. Users may find themselves arriving on a page of your website that has no relevance to them and as such is a source of annoyance (the last thing you want people to experience on your website).

Video Content

Reactivity and responsiveness are big buzzwords in the web design community as their traits connote a living, breathing, and interactive website. This means that a website displays features that are slick and inviting for a browser to want to explore more and interact with. One of the ways to achieve this is by having video content play automatically on a website. This is an instant draw visually for the eye but is also a double-edged sword as you ideally want to draw potential customers towards your eCommerce platform or a booking/contact form to make a conversion.

Pros: Automatically playing videos (with the audio turned either on or off) are a great way at drawing people into your website as they may view it as an interactive entity waiting to be explored.

Cons: The initial draw of this video content can draw visitors to your website in the wrong direction from the get-go. If they are especially enamored by your video content, they may click through to your YouTube/Vimeo page and end up away from your website altogether, distracted from why they came to it in the first place.

Music and Audio

Music and audio can be used successfully to set the tone of a website and be pertinent to the industry, services, and products on offer. A spa website may feature relaxing and melodic audio as soon as a user comes to their website in an effort to instantly immerse them in the relaxing spa experience. However, as this is automatic and played to the website visitor instantaneously without choice; it may not be a suitable time and place for audio to be played.

Pros: Music is a great way to set the tone of a website and industry that engages the user and helps to invoke a specific mindset in relation to the services on offer. Having this play automatically on a website is an instant hook and can be used to make a specific first impression.

Cons: Due to the automatic nature of this music playing, new visitors to your website would not be aware of this. As such, when and where they access your website for the first time may not be in an ideal location to play music i.e. on public transport or in an office. The con here is that this may cause them to close your website immediately to stop the music from playing which results in a registered bounce from your website.

Here at Ireland Website Design, our expert team is here to consult you about all of the pros and cons of every element of your website design. Discuss with us your website and conversion aims and goals and we will work with you to set and meet KPIs for your website. Our websites deliver you, customers. Get in touch with us today to get your dream website built.