Using a 3D Configurator to Scale Your Business
by IdeaRoom Technologies, on Apr 15, 2022 12:53:09 PM
The "Amazon Effect" has redefined consumer behavior. Buyers now have the confidence to make large purchases online, however they demand instant engagement along with the ability to research products and check out anywhere, anytime. In addition, they are now willing to pay a premium for customized products. To harness that spike in sales, companies in the build-to-order shed, carport, and building industries must adapt and create an online experience to allow their customers the benefits of purchasing customized products online.
Adding a configurator to your website could help scale and grow your business quickly for a multitude of reasons you may have not yet considered.
1) Customizability has become the standard.
In this new internet age, consumers now have a nearly unlimited amount of information at their fingertips. They are educated, which means that they are more confident than ever in their ability to purchase complicated products online. As the passive consumer becomes more adept, conventional online shopping experiences simply don't produce the same outcomes they once did. Our customers have noticed that shoppers are more interested in an active role in the design experience, and have thoroughly enjoyed their newfound ability to personalize their buildings. This entails more expansive design freedom like custom door placement, multiple window styles, all while enabling a consumer to choose in what order they customize each facet of their building.
2) Create a seamless service online and in-store.
While purchases have steadily shifted online since the arrival of COVID-19, consumers in the build-to-order market still expect to explore product features in as much detail as in-store. From every angle to detail, shoppers expect interactive photorealism to most clearly represent their building before purchasing. For in-person sales, limitations on products in stock creates a block keeping customers from the ability to visualize their personalized building designs. Giving your sales people the ability to use a 3D configurator while assisting an in-person shopper allows them to appease the consumer's need to see their building's preferred features and personalizations immediately.
3) Increase the value of your superior products.
By allowing shoppers to explore design elements of their choosing, consumers are more likely to understand and appreciate the value of specific features or design elements. For example, exploring different siding options within a configurator may more clearly educate a customer on why one option is more expensive than another. To ensure your online shoppers get an equally (if not more) rewarding explanation of your products' worth, adding a configurator to your website can create an immersive and engaging journey leading them to complete a purchase.
4) Waste less time, materials, and money.
Rather than maintaining a large stock of unsold pre-made buildings, the built-to-order industries can expect customization to greatly increase the sustainability of their businesses. By fulfilling a custom order, production is limited to only necessary assets and no structure is produced without reason.
The creation of a single 3D model also allows a configurator user to create endless variations of the same product. By digitizing the physical product, you allow yourself the ability to reuse the digital model repeatedly within new circumstances. For instance, If you would like to update the product photos on your website or promote a new building style, you can avoid costly photographers and opt for creating a brand new image within your configurator. You are free to customize it as much as you choose to fit within your marketing constraints in minutes, without spending time and money on building the product, hiring a photographer, editing photos, etc.
5) Track trends to gain insight into popular products.
Consider the opportunity to gather data on consumer behavior that you'd gain by implementing a configurator. The popularly selected design elements and styles give you clear insight into the favored products and features that you offer. It can be incredibly valuable to combine this data with metrics like traffic changes and conversion rate to appropriately streamline your design and planning processes. Accurately detailed data and respective changes to your operations can result in faster sales cycles and quicker product releases.
Due to new changes in consumer behavior, more and more businesses in the built-to-order building industries have begun to realize the value of 3D product configurators.
Our clients continue to report that their customers have thoroughly enjoyed the high quality of visual assets, usability and function, and knowledge sharing capabilities that they've experienced by using IdeaRoom configurator to explore their products customizability. By allowing their shoppers to partake in the design of their custom buildings, they were able to remain competitive within their markets, increase the value of their products and features, create greener business practices, gain insight into their industry's popular trends, and overall create a highly engaging and rewarding shopping experience. If you're interested in growing your business and shortening your sales cycle, adding a configurator could be an invaluable addition to your suite of sales tools.