How can AR improve customer engagement and retention?

In my experience, the best AR experience are the most simple yet magical. AR should feel almost invisible like a try-on experience with shoes, eyewear or even make up. Allow the user to freely play in the experience with ease so add their own story and share with friends. Create simple interactions that do not ask too much of the user. Try not to confuse them but let them play and have fun.

Engaging augmented reality experiences prioritise storytelling over the technology itself. Rather than being the central focus, AR should serve as medium to tell a compelling story that a potential customer can relate to. I am particularly interested in how Visual Positioning System AR experiences can enable memorable experiences by tying AR content to the physical world.

I strongly believe that the power of AR for engagement lies in its interactivity. In a nutshell, AR allows you to open a door for your customers to play with the brand, tell their stories, and share unique perspectives with their friends. It's a very different interaction model than reading a post or watching a branded video. Very powerful.

True, Augmented Reality offers unique ways to enrich the customer journey and foster loyalty. However, I would say that integrating AR into each stage of the customer experience, from pre- to post-purchase, can elevate loyalty **because** of the engaging experiences that encourage repeat purchases and referrals.

Our studio recently worked with a global shoe brand to create a product recommendation quiz in AR for its customers. By moving their heads, customers could answer questions about themselves and eventually get a recommendation for a product they should acquire for their goals. Customer retention was key to the AR campaign.

Also, AR (glasses) might not be accessible to everyone. Customers who are vision impaired or tend to get motion sick very easily will have to stand on the sidelines while others get to enjoy the experience, thus turning a positive experience for most into a negative experience for others.

One crucial challenge is always easy-of-use. This can easily be overlooked when working with a technical team, and should be spotted during the Q&A and testing sessions. A lot of audiences still aren't that familiar with how to use AR experiences. So you have to think carefully about what helpers are you putting into the experience, as well as what you may be leaving out, counting on their intuition or familiarity.

A key tip is to see what already works, and the current trends in the AR space. Like, what interactions are being played more often? By which audiences? And I don't mean to outright copy similar AR projects, but try to constructively build brand new ideas on top of interactions that users are already enjoying.

Nike, Gucci, Prada, Disney, McDonald's, Ikea, Amazon, Walmart, Volvo, L'Oréal, Bath & Body Works, and Netflix are just a few of the major brands exploring Augmented Reality today. Augmented Reality usage really spans across multiple industries and sectors. Successful use cases usually include millions of views, record-breaking engagement metrics, great organic reach, and high conversion rates. The branded AR experiences vary from fun & shareable selfie effects to high-quality artistic augmentations of the real world.

During the covid-19 pandemic, we at Govak Reality developed an AR experience to maintain fan engagement for an American Football team in the US. It was great to see fans engaging with the brand, and wearing the team's new uniform in AR, even at a time when they couldn't visit the stadium in person. So, what else can we build to boost customer engagement with Augmented Reality?