Augmented reality has been coined the “next big thing” for innovators everywhere, disrupting numerous industries including food, automotive and digital marketing.
As it transitions into business applications, we look at the key ways in which it will be able to impact mainstream customer journeys.
Interactive Advertising
A recent study titled “74% of digital natives tired of brands shouting at them”, found that a majority of 16-39 year olds stop using social networks where they feel like they are just targets for advertising. “They want it to be a conversation, they want to engage,” Rob Tarkoff, president and CEO of Lithium Technologies, told SFGate. “It has to be a two-way interaction if brands want to succeed. It can’t be one way any longer.”
Customers need to be able to visualize how brands can become a part of their daily life. Augmented reality has challenged this issue by elevating advertising to the next level, giving consumers the ability to transport brands, products, and stories directly into the consumer’s world. Ikea has famously integrated AR into their brand in a unique way. The Ikea Place app allows users to see how a piece of furniture would look in each space by scrolling through the Ikea catalogue, pointing their smartphone camera at the location they would like to place it and magically seeing the item appear on the smartphone camera in that location.
Improving the Buying Experience
AR is working to solve the issue of understaffed and disorganized stores by allowing customers to quickly and easily find product information and navigate to other complimentary products from their initial search.
Customers are now able to scan a product and get all the information they need in one place, making the retail experience much simpler and convenient. It is hoped that the ease of the experience will see customers coming back for more.
Optimizing Customer Service
The days of calling the customer service line and being left on hold could be coming to an end. AR has combated the issue of overflowing call traffic and impatient customers by reducing the amount of calls in innovative ways.
AR incorporates How-To’s and instructional set-ups to deal with customer issues. Customers can simply point their phone at the issue and AR overlays can walk you through the process of fixing it.
How We Innovate In This Space
We are a leading B2B augmented reality enterprise that is on the cutting edge of AR progression and usage. For more information on how AR is disrupting industry and our role in this, click here.