How Augmented Reality can Improve the Buyer's Journey
Azure Communications
Our mission is to create buzz, spark conversations, and make your brand the talk of town. Experts in print & marketing.
All of us remember the famous Pokemon Go game and its insane popularity - but can marketers use the same technology to attract users and make them buy more?
Apparently, the answer is yes. AR has proven to be a true gem for marketers as it significantly boosts customer engagement and the level of interest for a product. Research by Deloitte?states that most of the mid-market companies already experiment with AR to improve user experience and the global AR market is expected to reach about?$75 billion by 2023.
If used right, AR technology can significantly increase the recognition of your brand among the users and engage them in a more efficient manner.
The presale stage: attract and engage
We live in the era of the internet and we can easily compare products online, look for alternatives, and find the best deals with just a few clicks. With such a diversity of choice, the competition between products has become incredibly tight and marketers need to use the most efficient tools to attract users. AR is one of the ways to do so in an engaging manner through methods such as:
These are just a few ways of how the AR application can help you attract the users and increase brand awareness.
Examples to inspire you:
?
The point of purchase stage: facilitate the buying decision
Many people leave their shopping carts or physical stores without a purchase simply because they are uncertain about it. After all, nobody can predict just how well a product will look in their room or how it will match items they already own. The inability to try the product and the variety of choices lead to indecisiveness and hurt the overall sales.
AR eliminates this uncertainty by enabling people to actually “try” the product and match it with the needed items - all that without even leaving their home. A great example is the Ikea app that lets the users see how the actual piece of furniture would look in their house. After browsing the in-app catalogue and choosing the real Ikea item, users can then drag it around the screen and see how the item fits in the room. This is a really smart solution considering the fact that you do not usually have the option to “try” the furniture before buying it.
On top of this, AR strongly supports the customer’s buying decision by providing additional information on a product in an interactive and visually attractive manner. What many companies started doing is adding QR codes to the product packages that users can scan and receive additional information on the product making process, ingredients, etc.
Examples to inspire you:
The post-sale stage: inform and support
A good marketer efficiently sells a product to a customer but a great marketer keeps the customer’s interest after the purchase in order to retain a long-term relationship. This is another area where AR significantly helps marketers retain the customers and engage them even after the purchase is completed.
AR is one of the ways to make maintenance and support more engaging and educate the customers in the right way. For example, upon scanning a QR code on the packaging, the user then sees interactive instructions and information on their mobile phone screen. The same applies to the AR manuals when the user can scan the item with the phone and see an interactive guide on product usage and maintenance.
To sum it all up
Though the use of a new and efficient technology sounds incredibly tempting, you should not rush into using it just because it’s trending.
In order for the AR to bring profit to your company, first, define your business goals and the state of the business and see which areas call for optimization. Only after defining the issue, you can come up with a suitable AR solution that will help you resolve it and attract customers to your product.
For more information on how AR can benefit your company contact Azure Communications
Call us at (01) 531 2695 or email [email protected] to learn more about how we can help