Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality: Dual Power Source for Your Skyrocketing Sales

What is the first thing that matters the most in product sales? The answer is simple and intuitive - the first impression.

Here are some evidence:

• A consumer forms an impression of a retail interaction within 7 seconds. (Harvard Business Review)
• 72% of your customers would spread the word to six or more people if you make a good first impression.
• The primacy effect says that people tend to remember the first thing they experienced more than anything else.

Hence, not only do you need to grab the customer's attention fast but also communicates in the best possible manner.

But how to make sure that you make the right impression? There is another stat to help you out.

55% of first impressions are visual, 38% are vocal, and 7% are actual words.

This shows that you need to make the best possible visual impression if you want to make the best first impression.

This is exactly where AR and VR are making a difference.

The unique ability of AR and showcase products and services in ways previously unimaginable is proving a differentiating factor. Let’s discuss one by one.

Augmented Reality in Sales

Augmented Reality is a phenomenal immersive technology that overlays digital elements onto real-world objects and syncs them together. As a result, it appears as if the digital elements are an integrated part of the real world.

Real-world Visualization

First thing first, since AR overlays the 3D product model in the real-world setting, this allows the customers to visualise the product right in their own physical space. This makes a huge difference compared to a 2D photo on a mobile screen.

Customers get a more tangible and, much sought-after, personalised experience. They can see how a product will fit or look in their surroundings which brings them significant clarity, and instils their confidence in the product, making them more likely to buy.

Interactive Try-before-You-Buy

The second sales-favouring factor in the case of AR is that it enables customers to virtually try products before making a purchase. They can try on clothing or place furniture or home decor pieces in their intended places and see if it works out.

This interactive "try-before-you-buy" feature goes a long way in increasing the users’ confidence in the product's suitability. Thus, leading to sales. But that’s not it. This factor has one bonus that every seller craves.

• The confidence it infuses leads to a significant reduction in the risk of dissatisfaction and thereby the return of the product.

Convenience and Accessibility

The third AR factor that leads to higher sales is their high accessibility.

With high strides in technological advances, users are able to access AR experiences right through their smartphones. No fancy equipment or elaborate technical set-up is required.

This facilitates anytime and anywhere product engagement, making it easier for customers to evaluate products on their terms. As a result, they are better informed about the product which leads to higher sales.

Enhanced Product Information

Next, AR experiences are much more capable of providing complete product information and context than non-interactive 2D images or video can.

Businesses can add any element they want in the AR experience such as specifications, reviews, and related products and give users a completely free hand to access all the information out there on the product.

As we already covered, this enhanced information increases customers' confidence and likelihood of completing a transaction and making a purchase.

Novelty and Engagement

Last but not the least!!

Since AR is still a fairly new and unexplored avenue of marketing, the novelty and interactivity of AR experiences capture customers' attention and engage them like no other.

Moreover, such never-seen-before experiences stay way longer in the memory of the customers, powering brand recall in a way no other marketing experience can do, except VR. We will discuss that in the next section, stay till then.

This memorable shopping experience with AR creates a positive association with the product and brand, thus powering not only this incidence of sale but many future ones, contributing to long-term gains, and even better, to brand loyalty.

All these factors are helping businesses showcase their product in a new light and leave a long-lasting impression right from the first microsecond.

Virtual Reality in Sales

Coming to another powerful immersive technology, VR transports its user into virtual environments where they are present in the different reality altogether and can explore a product firsthand.

This is yet another highly engaging way that captures user’s undivided attention and encourages them to make a purchase. Here are the VR factors that play a great role in actualising a sale:

Visual Realism

When users enter the VR experience, they see products in a lifelike environment. This renders a very realistic representation of how the will look and function in the real world which is also termed as visual realism.

As is apparent, this instils confidence in the product's quality and features, making customers more inclined to make a purchase.

Interactive Engagement

The second great factor of VR that contributes to sales is their interactive nature. This allows the customers to engage with products innovatively. They can customize the product in that very own virtual setting, exploring its features and functions in detail, or use it in different scenarios in a single VR experience instance.

This high-level interactivity results in an instant yet deeper connection with the product - you can say it is “love at first sight”.

Emotional Connection

VR experiences lead to a higher emotional connection between the customers and the elements therein. This is because It evokes strong emotions and feelings in its users by involving more senses than traditional media. Brands can utilise this emotional connection to captivate the audience and create positive associations with their products.

Convenience and Accessibility

Just like AR, users can access VR experiences from anywhere anytime, eliminating geographical barriers and temporal barriers. You can understand in this way: once you put your VR (or AR) experience in the public domain, people from around the world across different time zones will be accessing it.

Even better, you can top it up with AI-powered virtual humans. They will work as your non-tiring sales or marketing representatives 24/7, intelligently helping potential customers understand your product and services in great detail.

This will bring your brand two powerful outcomes.

• Brand image enhancement: customers will start seeing you as an innovative business and mind you studies indicate that customers love brands that innovate. They appreciated brands that deliver out-of-the-box solutions to help them out and ease their life.
• Business edge: By opting for advanced solutions like this you achieve an upper hand over your competitors and sell more than them. The combination of AI and immersive technologies like AR and VR is disruptive. We will cover this amazing topic in our upcoming blog.

For now, you just need to remember that even if you are out of the office an AI virtual human in your VR experience is closing sales like a loyal and hardworking employee.

Unique Selling Propositions

Lastly, VR experiences allow you to highlight the unique selling propositions of your product in a compelling way.

You can use mesmerising animations, captivating effects and catchy sounds to demonstrate your product's innovative features, benefits, or even use cases.

Basically, with VR, you effectively communicate why your product is superior to alternatives. The end result? Higher sales than before.

Ways to Utilise AR and VR in Sales with Popular Brand Example

Virtual Fitting Rooms

If you are in the said industries then this AR/VR functionality is an industry disruptor for you, helping you win consumers' confidence, boost sales, and reduce returns all with a single shot.

Examples from Big Brands:

• Gucci:

  Gucci launched its first AR shoe try-on global campaign with Snapchat. The aim was to raise awareness and excitement around their newly launched sneaker collection. The experience allowed Snapchat users to virtually try on ultra-realistic 3D models of four different pairs of sneakers.

• Valentino:

  Renowned luxury fashion house known for its romantic and feminine designs. They partnered with Wanna, an AR company, to offer virtual trials of their clothes from the Valentino Urban Flows Fall 2023 men’s collection in real-time.

Product Visualization

Businesses can use AR and VR to let customers explore their product in detail, get more informed, and make confident purchase decisions that lead to no returns.

Home Depot

They are a popular home improvement retailer with stores across the United States and Canada. They are known for their wide variety of products in the home renovation, decoration, and maintenance space.

• Under their Project Color app, they utilized AR capabilities to let potential customers visualize how paint colors will look in their homes. Remarkably, the experience took lighting, existing real-world objects, and even the shadows into consideration for an accurate representation.

IKEA

The world’s leading furniture retailer, IKEA, introduced the IKEA Place app. It allowed users to superimpose to-scale furniture models in real-life rooms. This IKEA home planner helps potential customers build furniture sets before placing orders.

Enhanced In-Store Experience:

AR can also help you add information layers to physical products, gamify shopping experiences, or provide wayfinding assistance.

Macy's

The popular American chain of departmental stores selling clothing, home furnishings, and cosmetics for across genders and ages. They used AR to enhance the shopping experience at their physical stores.

• They integrated AR experience into the products at their store allowing shoppers to access product details and special offers by just scanning the particular product.

Immersive Brand Storytelling

Using the amazing VR capability to transport customers into a new reality, brand can use it for immersive story telling. By immersive storytelling, we mean:

Creating Engaging Narratives

The brand will craft compelling narratives that align with its brand identity and values. These stories could be your brand's history illustrating its mission and values, or fictional scenarios that resonate with the target audience.

Visualizing Brand Experience

You can transport customers right into the scenarios of your story. For example, if you are telling a story about sustainability, you can get a VR experience created on a virtual forest to let customers experience the impact of deforestation firsthand.

Interactive Elements

Your VR experience may include interactive elements for customers to be more involved in your story. Such as getting an interactive option in the form of a button to alter the course of the story in the VR experience.

Brand Messaging Integration

You can also seamlessly integrate your messaging and branding so that users not only enjoy the story but also associate positive emotions and perceptions with your brand.

The North Face

Under its VR initiative, the American outdoor gear and clothing company offers users the opportunity to explore and interact with various North Face products in a digital environment.

The VR experience features educational content about outdoor safety and sustainability, as well as interactive games and challenges. Along with that, it allows users to customize and purchase North Face products directly within the VR environment.

Employee Training

According to PwC, VR training significantly improves the training outcome to help businesses achieve higher efficiency through a highly trained workforce. Here is what they found:

• Faster training with greater focus: VR-trained employees can complete faster training with greater focus, up to 4 times than classroom learners and 1.5 times more than e-learners.
• Improved confidence: VR-trained employees are 40% more confident than classroom learners and 35% more confident than e-learners to act on what they learned after training.
• Greater emotional connection: VR-trained employees feel 3.75 times more emotionally connected to the content than classroom learners and 2.3 times more connected than e-learners.

Hilton

Hilton is a popular hotel brand that offers a wide range of accommodation options worldwide.

Hilton uses Hotel Immersion virtual reality (VR) to train employees from entry-level to corporate executives. The VR training program uses 360-degree video and 3D computer graphics to simulate tasks performed by housekeeping, front desk, and room service employees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AR and VR have the potential to revolutionize the sales and marketing landscape. They provide your business with new opportunities to engage customers and drive sales while differentiating your brands in an increasingly competitive market. All you need is to implement them strategically.