Bridge the online imagination gap and boost conversion
You offer high quality products. They are distinctive and available in several configurations. They’re online, they’re SEO optimized and they’re in stock. When you speak to your customers offline, they’re enthusiastic and customer satisfaction is high. But when it comes to the online conversion on your product pages, the numbers are disappointing. How come?
The problem lies within the imagination gap. And the lack of proper online customer experience. That’s the bad news. The good news, however,: there is a solution!
The importance of online customer experience
Does that black couch fit into your interior? Do these curtains match your living room? And do your cushions match your sofa? Pretty hard to imagine with little or no information. The fact that customers find it hard to visualize your products is called the imagination gap. It’s the missing information between what is shown online and what the product actually looks like in your living room. In the furniture industry, the imagination gap is quite a common thing. But it’s known in other industries as well. How can you help your customers to buy your products with confidence?
Visitors lack online experience
The imagination gap also strongly influences the customer experience. It’s rather frustrating when at the end of the customer journey, there are still many questions unanswered. For example, when you want to buy a couch, there are questions like: ‘What color should I choose? How will this couch look in my living room? And even more so: “Does this couch fit in my space?” The less customers can imagine the impact of their purchase, the more likely they are to postpone or even cancel their purchase. The bigger the imagination gap, the less predictable the customers’ action.
The online imagination gap costs money
When the customer is left with unanswered questions, he’ll probably have too little confidence to place an order. The imagination gap makes customers doubt their choice and as a result, they’ll postpone or even cancel their purchase. Some visitors will first look for more information or inspiration before they decide to buy. For example, they might want to visit a physical store and talk to a sales agent first. Others might switch to another online retailer that offers more information, so that they can buy with more confidence. When the imagination gap remains too big, the retailer will lose turnover.
Disappointment and returns
Imagine you just bought a new bed for, let’s say, $2.500 and it doesn’t meet your expectations. That would be a disappointment for everyone involved. Due to the imagination gap, there is a change customers buy products that don’t meet their expectations. As a result, they might want to return their product. And on top of that, changes are they post a negative review about their purchase and maybe even your company. Not an outcome anybody is looking for.
Visualizing product configurations is time consuming
How do you visualize 20.000 different product configurations? Producing thousands of products, photographing each of them separately and displaying it all online is practically impossible. Without proper visuals the imagination skills of your clients are challenged to the max. Imagine you want to buy a beige chair. First, you have to imagine what that grey chair with arms would look like in beige without arms. Next, you’d have to imagine how that beige chair would fit your interior. Especially in furniture, the imagination gap is enormous. No wonder many customers decide to postpone or even cancel their purchase.
The possibilities of a 3D product configurator are endless.
The solution: 3D product configuration
A 3D product configurator is an online tool that processes 3D models of a product. The configurator is interactive and works online. The configurator can be used to replace the regular product images on your product pages, by making these images configurable. Within the configurator, customers can customize the product to their needs and wishes, view it from all possible angles and zoom in for more details. The 3D models are extremely accurate and highly realistic. These qualities help bridge the imagination gap of your customers.
Visualizing your products improves online customer experience
How do you visualize 20.000 different product configurations? Producing thousands of products, photographing each of them separately and displaying it all online is practically impossible. Without proper visuals the imagination skills of your clients are challenged to the max. Imagine you want to buy a beige chair. First, you have to imagine what that grey chair with arms would look like in beige without arms. Next, you’d have to imagine how that beige chair would fit your interior. Especially in furniture, the imagination gap is enormous. No wonder many customers decide to postpone or even cancel their purchase.
Cease order mistakes and returns
When the imagination gap is small, customers know what they buy. This decreases the change of being disappointed. Wrong orderings and returns are costly and undesirable. Moreover, you want happy customers that are thrilled about your product and are likely to spread the word among their family and friends. A 3D configurator is user friendly and helps your customers to view your products in great detail. According to Gartner (2020) a 3D product configurator results in 23% less returns and reduces to change of wrong orderings close to zero.
Cutting photography costs
With configurable products, the number of possible configurations can easily add up to hundreds of thousands of possible configurations. It is both costly and time-consuming to photograph all of these options and place them online. In an online 3D product configurator, all possible configurations are collected within a central interface. With a 3D configurator customers get a realistic impression of the product, while saving big time on photography costs. According to Gartner, with photorealistic 3D renders you can save up to 58% on visualization costs.
Be better prepared for virtual and augmented reality
The next step in bridging the imagination gap is to project products in a virtual or real-life environment. Once your products are available as 3D images, you can easily place them in a virtual environment. And with Augmented Reality you can actually display the products into your own living room. When customers can see the product within their own environment, the imagination gap becomes even smaller. This improves the change of conversion and minimizes the change of being disappointed.
Get ready for the Metaverse
The Metaverse is a hot topic. “Metaverse is the entire network of connected virtual 3D spaces in which the user can look around and interact with other items, mostly by means of avatars. The Metaverse includes all virtual worlds, including augmented reality, and exists on the internet.” (source: Wikipedia). A 3D configurator could be your first step into the future Metaverse.
Find out more about improving the online customer experience!
Can you imagine how a 3D product configurator could boost your business? How much there is to gain by improving the online customer experience and bridging the imagination gap? Have a look at our 3D product configurator and discover the endless possibilities!
Curious to find out what we can do for you? Schedule a free demo or connect with us.