How Businesses Could Benefit from Having Interactive Flash Applications

To try and increase the number of visitors to their websites, a number of companies will look at creating something interactive and fun to help get people talking and sharing their sites.

Some will look at simply having an on-site forum where people can chat to each other and ask relevant questions, while others will consider creating something more fun and visually stimulating for the end user.

Flash Pages

One such company is Interflora, who have recently launched an innovative, new design tool called My Interflora Creation. My Interflora Creation uses a Flash application to enable users to design their perfect bouquet. It works by allowing   them to drag and drop their favourite stems from a choice of many, to create a virtual arrangement which they can then share with a friend on social media or send to an expert Interflora florist to make up and deliver. This new design tool has helped Interflora reach out to new customers as it allows them to have creative input into the bouquet they choose to send to a loved one.

While Interflora was the first flower-delivery company to create such an app, they’re not alone. Flash or interactive pages are a key element in helping to drive up visitor numbers, and some sites such as Fantasy Football Leagues are almost entirely reliant on it. Users pick the players they want with ease by clicking names and then they get added to the page, the interactive nature of these sites attracts people as when they click something parts of the page change.

Flash isn’t the only way to do this however as you can create such pages using DHTML (dynamic Hypertext Markup Language) and JavaScript. This can also be used to help create and move lists.

The use of an interactive app to help consumers create something they would want to buy is a good idea and adds to the personalisation of the product.

Rather than choosing from a set list of products that are bog standard, this move is perfect for any company desperate to boost sales without having to spend a small fortune on widening their range in the hope that it will result in a wider customer base.

Flash apps for flash phones?

With Flash applications becoming the norm on many company websites, could they soon be coming to smartphones and tablets? 

Developing Flash apps for normal websites is relatively straightforward, but on smaller devices that are less powerful and smaller such as mobile devices, could be quite tricky.

However, smartphones and tablets are gradually becoming more sophisticated, which means that many of the most expensive models on the market are able to run Flash applications with comfort, but will we see more of these devices in the future?

As more business is being done with the use of smartphones or online, it’s likely that companies will want to improve its interaction with customers and perhaps make use of flash or interactive pages on their mobile sites.

Using flash for mobile sites should be a good move. People who own smaller internet-capable devices expect to be able to do everything they would with a conventional computer, and if some businesses do it, they’ll surely benefit.

Will Apple incorporate Flash players into the iPhone? It would appear that they have thought about it and may not do this. As such should mobile sites just offer basic information? Some Android devices did have Flash but it has been removed from most of the newer models. Does this open the way to using tablets for mobile sites instead?