How to make an interactive digital catalog

What separates digital catalogs from PDFs? Being able to add interactive elements to the digital catalog and make the browsing experience more engaging - Here's 3 tactics to do that!

1
Make your digital catalogs easy to navigate
2
Add product links or icons
3
Add engaging content to keep visitors browsing
A table with a white and orange cat lying next to a laptop computer next to, showing a digital catalog.

Engagement = attention.

And attentive readers are more likely to buy from you!

Here's 3 tactics to make your digital catalogs more engaging with interactive elements.

#1 Make your digital catalog easy to understand

Explain navigation and interactive elements

If shoppers understand your digital catalog and all its features, they will spend more time there.

But not all shoppers are digitally native. For some, it can be a great help to provide extra information that ensures a smooth customer experience.

This can be done by using a page in PDF or by creating a pop-up CTA (as in the example below) once your PDF is uploaded.

Create a table of contents

You can also create a table of contents to direct shoppers to a particular product or category.

This way, shoppers don’t have to browse through the entire digital catalog to find what they’re looking for.

#2 Add product links or icons to your flipbook

Today's online shoppers expect retail content to be shoppable. Play into that expecation by ensuring products can be clicked on and shopped directly from your catalog or your webshop.

Using iPaper, you can easily create product links and icons manually (or automatically) to your digital catalog after uploading the PDF.

#3 Add engaging content to keep visitors browsing

Animations and videos

Data shows that when readers turn a page and see that images move, fade, or zoom in they are more likely to stop and pay attention.

And that isn't to say that you have to fill each page of your flipbook with a lot attention-grabbing animations. Just a few animations can make a huge difference in your digital catalog.

The same principle applies for videos. Recent research suggests that 83 percent of consumers stay longer browsing a web page when there is video content they can watch.

So, adding videos to your digital catalogs is definitely a great use of your marketing efforts.

Pop-ups and forms

Pop-ups and overlays are pretty self explanatory, they literally pop up on the screen as your reader flips through your digital catalog. It could for example be a link to your website or your latest blog.

Forms are CTAs that can be clicked to trigger a pop-up that requires the filling out of information.

The forms might be to sign up for a newsletter or customer club, or fill out a survey.

Pro tip: To make the most of a pop-ups and forms, you should tailor them to your business model.

For Ford Denmark, for example, it's really powerful to get potential buyers to try the car they’re interested in. So, Ford use pop-ups in their digital catalog to encourage readers to book a test drive or locate local dealers.

A video showing the spread of a digital catalog with a call-to-action popping up. The CTA is clicked and the reader is taken to a website.

How to create an interactive digital catalog

Creating a digital catalog for your business is easier than you might think - assuming you already have a PDF of the catalog.

In that case, here are the basic steps:

1. Find the right digital catalog software for your business

2. Upload the PDF to the software’s platform

3. Add interactive elements - either manually or automatically.

4. Press “publish”

And that’s it.

See it done in one minute here:

Easy, right? With iPaper, it can be.

And there you have it!

Whatever your industry, there are benefits to be had from giving your readers an interactive experience while browsing your digital catalogs.

To create an interactive digital catalog, make sure that…

  • The navigation is easy
  • There's shoppable product links or icons
  • There's lot of engaging content, such as videos or forms


Looking for a real-world example?

See how SPAR went from flat PDF to interactive digital catalog here.

More strategies that will make
your digital catalog effective