In recent years, businesses have been experimenting with new and upcoming technologies, and this is true irrespective of the industry they belong to. One of the main reasons to embrace this digital revolution is because of the kind of results it provides. Statistics show that over 75% of businesses worldwide have implemented a virtual strategy and seen a 10% increase in their marketing operations. To say that innovative virtual experiences are the next big thing that businesses are investing in would be an understatement.
What is a Virtual Experience?
To understand how a virtual experience can help businesses grow, one first needs to know what it really is. Simply put, a virtual experience is an interactive simulation of the real-world environment that is generated by a computer. It is designed to simulate a wide range of experiences, from entertainment and educational activities to training and practice in professional fields.
Typically, these digital experiences use virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and their combinations to create the simulated environment. The user can easily move around on a virtual platform, explore the virtual world, interact with virtual objects as well as characters, and, at times, even manipulate the environment.
Such digitally immersive experiences have become increasingly popular among businesses as they offer a way for their consumers to engage with the products and services. They also provide consumers with an interactive experience that positively impacts the relationship between consumers and your business.
Types of Virtual Experiences for Businesses
Virtual experiences have proven to be a powerful tool for businesses to engage with their customers in immersive and interactive ways. There are three effective types of virtual experiences that businesses often lean towards.
Virtual Showrooms
Businesses can create a virtual showroom to showcase their products and services in a 3D 360-degree environment. They can even add multiple interactive features, such as games, quizzes, webinars and more, to engage their consumers.
More often than not, such digital showrooms are packed with multiple features that enhance a customer experience, such as customised and realistic visuals, contextual games, human avatars, hotspot-based navigation, worldwide accessibility, live chat interaction, chatbot assistance and many more.
3D Product Demos
Businesses can use 3D product demos to demonstrate the full potential of products. They allow the consumers to see a product from all angles as well as give a close-up view and details of its different parts. Using product explorers, customers can interact with the product. For businesses, this is not just a cost-effective option but also saves a lot of time as it cuts down repetitive explanations of product features and functionalities.
Features like the ability to rotate products and explore, annotate and highlight USPs, demonstrate products with industry settings, easily integrated with web browsers for every device and more make a 3D product explorer an effective marketing tool that increases consumer interaction.
3D Product Configurators
A 3D product configurator is gaining popularity in the market today as it provides consumers with an opportunity to customise a product as per their needs and preferences. It offers consumers an immersive visualisation of the product. From colour and components to specifications and many more options, product configuration enables a consumer to build the product the way they imagined it.
A 3D configurator has multiple features, such as providing detailed and realistic visualisation of products, viewing from all angles, allowing businesses to offer over 100 variations, animations to highlight functionalities and more, all of which allow for product configuration.
These three types of virtual experiences, individually or in combination, enable businesses to engage with their consumers better and provide them with a customised experience.
Combining Virtual Experiences for an Effective Marketing Strategy
All three types of digital experiences can be used as standalone to get satisfactory results. Having said that, combining them or not is highly dependent on a business’s requirements. More often than not, a combination of all three or any two is used to make an impact on customer experience. Your businesses can make this decision based on your existing marketing strategy, consumer behaviour, needs, requirements and available resources.
Many businesses around the world have successfully combined different types of virtual experiences and improved customer satisfaction significantly. One such company is Grundfos, which leveraged the combination of virtual showrooms and 3D product explorers to demonstrate their sustainable pumping solutions to over 3000 consumers. Consumers could not just view their products from all angles but also easily understand the functions of the product and its parts. In addition, they could interact with the product, which enhanced their overall experience.
Benefits of Combining the Three Types of Virtual Experiences
In this era where everything is going digital, many businesses are reaping the benefits of virtual experiences. They combine the three different tools of virtual experience to boost their marketing strategies and get a competitive edge over their competitors. By using these tools, they receive multiple benefits, such as:
Increased Engagement
Combining the three types of digital experiences allows consumers to interact with a wider range of products and customise it as per their tastes and requirement. Businesses can use this strategy to ensure that consumers get an engaging shopping experience.
Improved Customer Experience
By combining virtual showrooms, 3D product demos and 3D product configurators, businesses can enhance the overall shopping experience. The combination allows consumers to understand the functions and functionalities of a product and its parts in-depth and view it from all angles. This helps in enhancing the overall consumer experience.
Increased Accessibility
Since the virtual experience is an online experience, consumers from all around the world can get access to your business at any given point in time. This is beneficial for businesses as it gives them a wider reach and creates a lasting impression on the consumer’s mind.
Improved Product Visualisation
Digital experiences give consumers an opportunity to know their products in depth. It allows them to view the products from all sides, zoom in and out and read details of the products and all their parts. This helps consumers make better purchase decisions.
Cost-Effective Option
Businesses can open a virtual store rather than buying/renting a physical space to open a store. This way, businesses can ensure lower overhead costs and save money. They can then invest all their savings into improving their products and growing the business.
Conclusion
In today's digital age, businesses need to leverage technology to reach more customers and improve their shopping experience. Combining virtual experiences can ensure that your consumers experience the real world while they are exploring the virtual space. Exhibit 360 offers a range of interactive and immersive virtual experiences that can help businesses grow by reaching a wider global audience. Contact us to expand your online presence and build a deeper connection with your audience.
