Visual configuration is driven by configurator software that lets sales representatives and end customers view a life-like 2D, 3D, or augmented/virtual reality representation of the product and features they intend to order. Visual configurators allow users to change product options and features and see their product update on-the-fly.
Although 2D configuration may seem like a simple concept, that is exactly the reason to look into it. For use cases that don’t require the complexity, users sometimes fare better getting through the process interacting with a 2D illustration. Customers and sales folks (especially non-technical ones) don’t get lost playing with, or get frustrated with manipulating a 3D object. It’s about closing the sale after all…
Basic 3D product configurators display products from several fixed viewing angles. And users can zoom in and out to view products in more detail. On the more technically advanced end of the configurator spectrum, users can interact directly with the 3D images they see on their screens. They can open a door, “use” a piece of animated machinery, “fly” into the interior of a vehicle and drag and drop components into predefined locations. Anything’s possible.
VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) take 3D product configuration to a whole other level. VR places your customers inside a simulated reality where they can look in any direction, move around, and interact with your products inside a computer-generated 3D scene. AR, meanwhile, overlays a 3D representation of the product being configured onto a background captured live by the camera of a handheld device. It’s a fully immersive experience and one that buyers can access anywhere.
Despite the groundswell of interest in the product configurator market, adoption is still in its relative infancy. This means that YOU can become an early adopter, experiencing substantial competitive advantage and cost savings over the competition, while providing your customers with leading-edge buying experiences.
Every visual product configurator needs rules to ensure customized products are viable from a functional, technical, business, and budgetary standpoint. For many solutions, this means writing out every functional rule as logic in a programming language like Javascript that can drive the visual experience. As products and options are added or changed, companies find out quickly that this is an inherently an expensive and hard-to-maintain approach.
The KBMax Snap rules engine handles this for KBMax users. With Snap, non-technical users can build algorithms with advanced language features for the most complicated configurable products and sophisticated pricing methodologies without the need for technical know-how or third-party IT involvement. Users simply build rules by dragging blocks around and snapping them together to form logic statements. Dropdowns, color-pickers, and buttons make everything intuitive and accessible to everyone.
90% of all information transmitted to the brain is visual
Studies from the field of neuromarketing (aka consumer neuroscience) show that introducing new sensory experiences into the buying process increases the monetary value a customer is willing to exchange for a product. So, if you want to engage your buyers fully, you need to do so in a compelling, visual way. Forget a paper sales brochure – visual selling is about as persuasive as it gets!
Visual configuration is perfect for the Millennial buyer
With a visual product configurator, you can offer your customers a highly realistic, showroom-like buying experience through any device. You can resolve your buyers’ desire to physically interact with a product prior to purchase without leaving the comfort of their desk.
While nobody can predict quite how the world will look like post-coronavirus, it’s a near certainty that Zoom (etc.) will take precedence over face-to-face meetings for the foreseeable future. After all, COVID-19 is only catalyzing a trend that began way before the pandemic. Never before has the capacity to present your products virtually, through a range of devices, been so crucial. Companies without such capabilities risk falling by the wayside.
A visual product configurator streamlines quoting for the most complex, highly customizable, and aesthetic-led products. Fewer mistakes, less rework, lower return rates, and increased customer satisfaction are just some of the benefits gained by eliminating miscommunication between the customer and vendor.
B2B buyers are experiencing a crisis of confidence when it comes to large-scale purchase decisions, but a visual product configurator eases much of the pressure. Customers no longer have to guess what their products will look like when they’re shipped – you can show them!
When buyers ‘see’ and interact with your product prior to purchase, they’re compelled to buy. Buyers take greater ownership of their selections and, crucially, relate to your products on a deeper, more emotional level: the result – a 40% increase in conversion rates.
Buyers hate protracted sales cycles. In highly competitive, fast-paced markets, you need to be the first to quote or lose business. A visual product configurator, usually integrated into a CPQ application suite, can cut the time required to generate a proposal from several weeks down to less than a minute! Here’s how: