Converting online shoppers is increasingly challenging
Working within an e-commerce SEO agency has meant learning and evolving in many different ways. Whilst over the years, we have seen disruptive technologies impact many industries, one area that has seen great impact is e-commerce.
One of the biggest challenges that e-commerce stores face nowadays is the fact that their users can’t see, touch and try the product before buying it. Online reviews and static images are no longer enough to convince their visitors to buy a product either. We’ve seen a persistent drive in users needing to examine the product far more carefully, to trust it as well as the experience provided prior to purchasing.
Whilst free shipping used to be a sufficient way in pushing visitors to make the purchase, it’s apparent that this is no longer enough. Nowadays, users require more and more instant gratification. If they can’t picture themselves wearing or using it they’ll just decide to postpone their purchase and leave your website…maybe for good.
You may be wondering how you can evolve your e-commerce store to suit users needs. This is where AR solves this problem! AR, referred to Augmented Reality – are improving customer experience vastly, and investing in this digital system will help you increase sales.
AR Technologies take the Customer Experience to the next level
AR allows visitors to check how the product would fit them or in their environment without physically touching them, taking online shopping to a new level. Large companies like Amazon and Ikea are already using AR to allow their shoppers test out how the furniture will fit in their houses, but very soon smaller businesses will join the AR trend! So that it’ll become as a standard in e-commerce platforms.
Why you should invest in AR
Apart from the fact that visitors can try before they buy, there are other valuable benefits in using AR technologies.
- AR will improve your brand awareness by standing out from other online stores. Even if your e-commerce is new and your brand doesn’t have any reputation yet, the AR will boost your brand quicker than you could imagine by making you seem advanced on the market.
- Using AR technologies yet at an early stage tells a lot about your business, it shows that you care about your products and that you love customers that buy from you. This another way to boost your brand reputation positively among your customers as you want them to have the best experience possible via the AR technologies. You’ve invested in advanced technologies just so that customers’ experience and they won’t forget that!
- AR features in your e-commerce will make your products seem more valuable and customers would be willing to pay more just because they viewed them via the AR experience! AR technology will help showcase the best features of your products and will suddenly boost your sales!
- AR makes your products more memorable. The stark reality of any online business is that visitors browse the site and go. They don’t always buy something from your online store. Viewing your products on AR will make them feel an amusing surprise and that feeling will certainly stay with them for a while!
Which AR app can you use?
Already convinced in implementing AR? The next step is deciding on which kind of AR app will enable computer-generated products to coexist in the physical environment. We gathered here for you the common AR apps to consider:
- Marker-based AR app uses a visual marker that overlaps pictures into the physical environment to then determine the orientation and positioning of the camera. Any images would work really as a marker but it’s recommended to use the ones with high contrast and various patterns.
- Markerless AR is the kind of app that don’t necessarily need markers as they can determine colors, patterns and other features within a frame when directing mobile phones at the object or spot.
- The Location-based AR is one type of Markerless AR that determine users’ particular GPS location and displays visuals accordingly.
- The Projection-based AR is an app projecting the light on a 3D product to showcase various designs and colors of the same product.
Conclusion
AR Technologies have proven to be an advanced way to effectively boost sales mainly among large companies for now but they’ll probably expand to smaller online businesses and will become increasingly surprising with new features! Now is the best time to set up AR technologies into your online store, to make your e-commerce business part of the advanced world of AR. The sooner the better to get the golden rewards! If you’re interested in using AR, working with an e-commerce SEO agency can enable you to deploy this type of technology efficiently.
Polaris is an award-winning B2B SEO agency in London specialising B2B, PPC, e-commerce and the healthcare industry.
