Finding a channel that isn’t already being overused for advertising, consumer engagement, brand awareness and more is tough.
Most digital channels are saturated with brands trying to get their message as well as their products out to the masses. In order to make even the slightest blip on people’s radars, you need to stand out. 3D and AR are a currently undervalued way of doing that and the new technologies are bringing in BIG results for brands who are getting an early start.
Here are some stats to consider:
- 37% of consumers have tried AR
- 45% of consumers would like to try AR in their online shopping experiences
- 73% of mobile AR users were very satisfied with their most recent experience
- And 30% of consumers would never go to a clothing store if AR could guarantee the right size clothing with confidence.
3D Shopping Improves Sales
There are a few brands that are currently leveraging AR to their advantage on Shopify. Businesses that used 3D on the Shopify platform saw a 40% reduction in returns and a 2x lift in conversion rates. Houzz began using AR to allow consumers to place furniture in their homes and found consumers were 11x more likely to purchase after using the AR app. IKEA whose entire kitchen catalog was created virtually experienced a 30% revenue jump when implementing 3D and AR.
Five Key 3D and AR Tactics to Leverage for Your Business
There are several platforms that are free for business owners to use that offer 3D and AR capabilities that you can then share with your followers or use in your online advertising. Here is a list of the platforms and some of the benefits each one has to offer.
1. Enhance your online meeting presence
Snap Camera is from SnapChat and Snap Lens Studio. This technology can be used to create fun shareable filters that can help increase engagement, help you gain followers, increase brand awareness, and more. The filters here can be used on many personal and business meeting platforms such as:
- Zoom
- Twitch
- Google Hangouts
- Skype and more
There are simple-to-use templates that you can customize easily even if you do not have any experience.
2. Add 3D to your organic and paid social media to build your brand
On Facebook and Instagram you can create AR filters that are automatically accessible to all of your followers. If you are looking to grow your following on social media platforms, AR filters are a great way to do so. They are shareable, but in order to get access to the filter, they need to follow your account.
3. Try out 3D ads in your display advertising to increase conversions
Using Google Swirl to create 3D ads for your products is something that can currently be done. If your business already has 3D models of your products then you are one step ahead of the game. If your product is more of a service they do have generic models that can be purchased as well. To create 3D ads just use Google Web Designer and you can even edit your 3D models from there.
4. Create 3D ads in today’s most popular gaming platforms to reach new audiences
Unity is one of the most popular 3D platforms in the world and the #1 gaming engine as well. 50% of mobile games and 60% of all AR/VR are built with Unity. With this, you can create 3D ads that can appear in games as well. Imagine playing a game and your product popping up as part of an interactive experience during the game! Those are the types of experiences that are possible with Unity. Another great way Unity can be used is by creating your own app and then using Unity to create a try-on experience. Currently, these try-on experiences have created an 11x increase in conversion rate.
5. Add 3D and AR to your existing e-commerce website
VNTANA and a number of other brands have built technology that can help you add 3D assets to your existing Shopify site or other e-commerce platforms. Some of the products are easier to use than others and some serve only specific industries. The VNTANA 3D CMS platform was built to make adding 3D assets to your website as easy Vimeo or Youtube is for video. We’ll handle everything from optimizing your assets for fast loading to automatically converting them into the formats you need to test any of the strategies covered in this article.
Building a Cohesive 3D Strategy
A huge part of creating a 3D strategy that works for your brand is making sure you start at the beginning of the design process. Manufacturing companies currently use 3D software to create products. Finding out which software they use and what types of 3D files they export can save you tons of time and money. From there those exported files can be given to your marketing team. Marketing statistics have found a 25% increase in engagement when 3D and AR are used in campaigns. Here at VNTANA we automatically optimize your existing 3D files and export them in multiple formats so that your team never has to worry about converting file types again, saving you weeks of time, effort, and expense. Not only do we optimize your 3D files for lightning-fast load times on any platform, we also automatically convert files to the right file formats so you can instantly use them across any of these platforms.
3 Tips to Get Started with 3D today:
1. Begin digitizing your products
It is never too early to get started on the path to 3D e-commerce, but it may soon be too late if you’re interested in being an early adopter and outpacing your competition. There are several solutions available, including VNTANA, that can help you convert your existing 3D models into optimized glTF formats. You can also use 3D scanning if you don’t design in 3D today.
2. Run pilot projects and compare performance against 2D
The fastest way to build support for a move to 3D is to compare the performance of 3D assets against your current assets. Even starting with a single product can give you valuable data on how 3D assets impact engagement and conversion.
3. Get engaged with the 3D community
There is no better time to establish yourself as a 3D leader in your business and in your industry than today. We’re still in the early stages of this transformation. You can get connected with peers and industry experts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and through industry groups such as the Khronos group. Join the conversation!
If 3D e-commerce sounds like something you and your business may be interested in contact us! One of our 3D & AR Specialists can help answer your questions and get you connected to the right resources. We can also help you implement a proof of concept or pilot project to help your business test the power of 3D and get those early data points to support you.
