There are plenty of ways that businesses and their marketers are using to interact with their customers around the world. Their goal is to maximize their efforts in increasing customer satisfaction by improving customer experience through their user-friendly services and products. The medium of Augmented Reality is no different and is immensely popular among marketers from different industries. They are using this form of technology to increase customer satisfaction through application in different parts of the product manufacturing, sale, and after-sales process.
What Is Augmented Reality?
Before talking about the customer experience improvement applications of augmented reality (AR), we should briefly discuss AR. It is important to know the basics of this technology before indulging in its marketing applications. Unlike virtual reality (VR), AR doesn’t immerse the user into a completely different and virtual space that is controllable through a VR headset and several other devices.
AR offers virtual reality with a blend of real-world images. In simple words, AR uses the actual environment and overlays graphics over it. It creates a 3D visual effect that a user can view through their smartphone or other mobile devices.
A Pre-Sale Experience
An amazing example of augmented reality to increase customer satisfaction is through AR-based applications that perform pre-sales tasks. The application revolves around the concept of catering to the needs of potential customers by engaging with them virtually. To close a sale, a company has to deal with all the objections and queries a client might have. Similarly, with the use of AR, a customer can view the product in their home, office, or any other place through the camera of their phone. The customer will be viewing the product as if it was already in place through AR right before making a sound purchase.
AR User-Manuals
Did you notice that the bulky paper manuals on various types of products are disappearing gradually? One of the top automotive companies, Hyundai, introduced an AR-based digital manual for car owners. The idea was to fix the need of having prompt guidance on car use. For example, when a car owner has to use certain buttons or features they don’t know about, they will look up to the huge paper-based manual. This is where inefficiency in the form of time consumption occurs. With the latest AR application, your phone becomes a virtual technician for your car. Wherever you point in the car, the AR app will let you know what the button or feature does and how you can fix certain issues.
Interactive Packaging AR-Experience
Point of sale also benefitted from AR applications that improved customer experience and, in turn, drove customer satisfaction. Interactive packaging is one such example. Once a customer points their phone camera on the product whose company allows an AR experience, they will perceive compelling visuals. Further, this AR-based approach also allowed food companies to share recipes through their products’ packaging.
Conclusion
In the end, AR is a valuable solution to turn your customers’ interactions into memorable experiences. While AR allows the use of virtual graphics overlay onto real-life environments through the camera, it offers businesses a great opportunity to increase the customer experience of their product. The applications of AR above aren’t the only ones but rather a few from the many that industry and market leaders are incorporating in their marketing tactics.
