How Microinteractions Can Improve Your WordPress Website

Microinteractions are the small answers to users` action within your website. These interactions are usually presented with additional animations while users accomplish some micro tasks. Microinteractions have become one of the most trending web design feature of the modern WordPress websites and blogs.

When microinteractions have come live and popular, there were no turning back to the previous static web design. Users got used to be rewarded for their action within any website and just would not bother to spend time on non-interaction projects. That could seem to be very similar to users` addiction but as soon as it brings new wave of developing interest to WordPress project, there is nothing wrong about that.

Let us observe all the opportunities microinteractions give to your WordPress website and the benefits they provide. This article gathers the information about how microinteractions work, how can they help your website to be more engaging and what prominent examples can be seen and used within your own project by means of modern premium WordPress themes.

Microinteractions` Case Study

One can spend hours describing what microinteractions truly are but there is no better way to understand their modus operandi then to observe some interesting examples of their practical usage. The most prominent examples of microinteractions are brought by social networks: holding down the Thumbs Up icon in Facebook Messenger to create a bigger emoji, swiping left or right on Tinder, tweet`s like animation on Twitter and so on. Social networks are pioneers in bringing new trends to life, and microinteractions` trend is not an exception.

Moving on to WordPress platform, we should mention that it tries to be up-to-trend in microinteractions` field too. Lots of modern WordPress themes provides website owners with beautiful opportunities to improve user experience by means of different microinteractions` types.

One of the interesting examples of microinteraction is presented by Flow WordPress Theme. The main demo page includes different posts and allows user to use Read More button to expend any of the presented posts without living the main page. This interaction makes website live and ever-changing.

The examples of combination of different microinteraction types has been brought to us by Flora WordPress Theme. This theme`s main demo includes guiding animated mouse, hover and parallax effects, appearing text and images, back-to-top arrow flashes and lots of other interactive elements, which make the overall website more engaging.

Another unique approach to microinteractions is performed by Wersktatt WordPress Theme. The main demo shows a glitch effect on full-width images to provide users with really unique experience while scrolling through the main blocks of design. Such unique microinteractions can make your WordPress website stand out of the crowd.

Reasons to Use Microinteractions

There is always an obvious reason to amaze your website users: this is the most reliable way to grab their attention for the long enough time to reach the goals you set up for your project. But there should be some refinement about how actually the amaze effect is brought to your users through microinteractions. Let us focus on 7 essential reasons why microinteractions can improve user experience significantly:

• Guideline. Microinteractions can easily show users what to do with your web project and what actions would be much more appreciated. Such guideline appeals to unconscious interaction which brings the most satisfying user experience ever.
• Instant Feedback. Users need to know whether they have done something right or wrong immediately after they have done it. That is way microinteractions are so important: if a user does not receive immediate feedback he will leave your website with a very high probability.
• Understanding. Microinteractions allow users to understand they do interact with your website, not just make something to a void. Understanding is the first step to love and affection your users will feel towards your website if it provides them with real interaction value.
• Visible Notifications. Most of the notifications you want to show to your website visitors would not reach them, if there were no interaction.
• Rewards. Even so small rewards like visible microinteractions` effect are better than no reward at all. It is obvious that you can not always reward your users, but you can try at least. And microinteraction bring you a real possibility to reach such a goal.
• Navigation. Microinteractions can easily become very good navigation elements for your WordPress website. You just need to study your audience and predict some of its actions to create clear navigation and further improve it with more analytics data you receive every day.

4 Main Components of a Microinteraction

Any microinteraction is based on 4 main components which you need to know and use properly in the context of your WordPress website:

1. Trigger — a user`s action or programmed reaction to some user action or behavior. Trigger initiates a microinteraction or sets up rules of its automatic appearance.
2. Rule — the substance of a microinteraction that says to this small program what it can and should do after the trigger appears to be touched.
3. Feedback — the notification a user receives about the completed action. It can also be a small reward delivered by animation, sound, vibration, short message and so on.
4. Loop — the special rule about microinteraction`s duration, style and repeatability. A loop can also differ within some contexts which you can establish for this microinteraction.

Tips for Creating Successful Microinteractions

Microinteractions are very important for every WordPress website but even more important is to know where they should appear and where not. Here are some common advice about making right decisions within microinteraction`s aspect of your website. They are only common because more precise advice should be based on the individual nuances of your website`s audience and its peculiarities.

• Precise Timing. Do not ever lose the opportunity to make a microinteraction instantly after its trigger. Otherwise you are at risk that a user would not catch the relationship between his actions and the microinteraction`s feedback. The faster a microinteraction appears the better.
• Simplicity. Do not try to be too much ingenious while creating microinteraction`s triggers and feedbacks. Remember that most users do not pay a lot of attention to what is going on your website and are not focused on difficult trials you wish them to participate in.
• Predictability. Keep your microinteraction clear to be as much understandable as they could possibly be. Too much uniqueness can cause some gaps between trigger and feedback connection in a user`s perception.
• Mimic a human`s behavior. The most predictable and understandable interactions are based on the real human`s behavior. Simply imagine what feedback would you expect (and like) for a certain microinteraction and put it as simple as you understand it.
• Avoid Abundance. Too much microinteractions make an overkill for your website`s design, overall performance and user experience in particular. Do not try to reward your users for any move of their cursor, otherwise you will only annoy them.