Consumers have very high expectations of their brands at every touchpoint, and these expectations have grown rapidly in the past few years. A large part of this is the acceleration of online buying, ushered in by the pandemic, forcing businesses to invest heavily in digital transformation.
Additionally, Big Tech has revolutionized the AR and VR space, igniting consumer enthusiasm and further bolstering the ecosystem. Altogether, these advances are driving the evolution of immersive customer experiences at breakneck speed.
Due to all of these major changes, it’s clear that companies need to create better experiences to build and sustain meaningful and lucrative customer engagement.
Today, as more customers buy goods online, the shopping experience often falls short of their expectations. While 75% of Fortune 500 companies accelerated their technology transformation in light of COVID-19, those businesses that still rely on traditional e-commerce frameworks, with static 2D visuals and rudimentary configuration tools, fail to capture consumer attention and loyalty.
As this realization grows, retailers and brands are increasingly looking to immersive and personalized experiences to help stand out and deepen connections with consumers. They must seek innovative solutions that can drive engagement, conversion, and sustained profitability. In retail, for example, AR experiences have proven to boost sales significantly by improving purchase confidence through placing items in real-life environments and allowing closer inspection in 3D.
AR spending by retailers is expected to reach $60B by 2023*. The majority of customers now start their shopping with online research; in the automotive industry, over 80% of new-car customers now begin their journey online. Brands first compete digitally by providing interactive and immersive experiences: Using AR to place a new car in your driveway or a virtual couch in your living room, experimenting with different upholstery designs through a 3D configurator, exploring a new factory layout in virtual reality before any physical construction begins, or even visualizing complex surgical procedures using VR and 3D modeling. Some brands, like Don Julio Tequila, even go as far as transporting their audiences to a whole other (virtual) destination to experience the magic behind the product. These digital experiences are transforming industries, providing interactive and immersive engagements for users and paving the way for a digital-first competitive landscape.
Beyond B2C, nearly two-thirds (65%) of B2B companies across industry sectors now offer e-commerce capabilities. RT3D applications are emerging as a valuable marketing tool for brands to drive purchases, improve shopper confidence and conversion, and enable brand storytelling.
*Harbor Research, RT3D E-Commerce (2021)
With customers expecting more during the purchase cycle, they need to trust that what they’re seeing is what they’re buying. With this comes a variety of challenges. For example:
The demand from consumers has built a need for seamless, immersive, and personalized interactions across all platforms in the digital journey. Companies are also awakening to the profound impact of 3D product views, which have been shown to generate 50% more engagement compared to static imagery. By utilizing tools that build interactive experiences powered by real-time 3D (RT3D), businesses can elevate engagement, conversion rates, and brand storytelling to drive increased revenue for many different scenarios, from product configurators and virtual showrooms to virtual photography and more. Here’s how:
In a nutshell, real-time 3D technology matters in today’s landscape because it can:
While RT3D technology has the potential to transform how businesses engage with their audiences, it is imperative to get those experiences right. Here are five strategies to follow.
1. Increase visual engagement with photorealistic quality
With the fierce competition to market better online, a brand’s ability to captivate and engage customers through immersive experiences can provide an edge. RT3D technology offers a blend of interactivity and visual fidelity that can streamline the pipeline of marketing content creation into an efficient process that produces scalable, photorealistic, high-definition assets – and brings your products to life.
Doing it right:
2. Build a personal connection by offering personalized experiences
Cultivating a connection between the customer and the product has become more important than ever. Luxury brands, such as high-end luggage manufacturer Globe-Trotter, understand that creating an emotional connection through customization and interactivity is more likely to lead to repeat buyers and foster customer loyalty. In fact, 40% of consumers reported that they had purchased something more expensive than originally planned when their experience was personalized.
Doing it right:
3. Go beyond the screen, offering interactivity and immersion in the digital world
Creative ways of getting customers to interact with products can be a big differentiator. From interactive showcases, hands-on demos, or immersive virtual reality experiences, businesses can change the way customers engage with their brands, deepening the connection between them.
Doing it right:
4. Take your experiences anywhere, to any device
The experiences you build should be scalable across devices and geographies, enabling universal access, permission control, and engagement. You should also be able to easily update content globally, keeping experiences fresh and relevant to increase user satisfaction and conversions.
Doing it right:
5. Leverage customer feedback to continually improve
Interactive customer experiences are a great way for companies to solicit, understand, and incorporate feedback from their users. In real-time, businesses can see how people are using their products, what features they like, and where they can make improvements. Such direct input from the users’ experience enables the company to refine its products to better meet market demands, ensuring a competitive edge.
Doing it right:
Unity Industry is a comprehensive suite of products and services for developers to build custom real-time 3D experiences for AR, VR, mobile, desktop, and web across industries such as automotive, energy, manufacturing, retail, engineering, and more. Here’s how it can radically transform your business:
Start now with Unity Industry and empower your business to create the experiences of the future.
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