Augmented reality has become an important part of businesses everywhere. We can see the potential of AR just by looking at the wildly popular Pokemon Go game. Since its launch, gamers everywhere were posting AR selfies with their favorite Pokemon. New technologies are making AR easy, reliable, and available for business use. The market for AR tech has been growing fast and AR has turned out to be a perfect technology to deliver the ultimate user experience. Read on to find out about the 7 benefits of Augmented Reality in your business.
Product try-outs anywhere, anytime
The best benefit of AR technology is that it can create immersive customer experiences. Many innovative companies are creating augmented reality apps for customers to try out their products.
With AR technology, all you need is a compatible smartphone and an AR application for your products. For example, customers can try out how different clothes would look on them, from the comfort of your home. The same also applies to furniture. With AR technology, you can check if the height, width, and look of the furniture match your home before buying.
AR technology cannot replace a physical store yet but it can help your customers decide on what they want to buy. Plus, it is better to stay home in a global pandemic!
Better customer engagement
AR technology is a very effective marketing tool, too. Creating a branding campaign with technology can boost your products’ popularity. Pepsi used this strategy and launched an AR screen at a bus stop where customers can take photos with virtual characters. The result is that the customers were entertained. They had fun while promoting Pepsi brand by posting pictures of themselves in an AR environment.
Customer engagement is the key to almost every digital marketing strategy. AR technology can create a unique and exciting customer experience. This kind of experience will earn your brand a highly positive reputation. A positive reputation means that more new customers will use your brand and existing customers will stay loyal to your brand.
Interactive Learning Experiences
Customers often struggle with learning to use new products effectively. User manuals are less useful when customers are already confused and overwhelmed with operating a new product. This can lead to customers having a negative impression of your product.
It is especially true when your product is complex machinery (e.g., a car or any industrial machine). AR technology can solve these issues. With AR, information about various components can be displayed through the smartphone’s screens. And customers can see the actual procedure come to life right before their eyes. Compared to reading lengthy user manuals, many customers have found that following instructions in an AR environment are much easier and exciting!
Safe Training Environment
AR learning experiences are also suitable for workplace training. This is especially true in the manufacturing industry. A tiny mistake in factory operations can cause severe injuries and cost up to millions of dollars in revenue. New factory workers may find it confusing to follow operation manuals and guidelines but with the help of AR technology, even a complete newbie can learn to operate complex machinery in a few days. Moreover, new employees can learn to navigate the different facilities inside the office buildings/factories with the help of AR navigation.
3D Design and Layouts
Another benefit of AR technology is that you can visualize layouts and designs for structures more realistically and practically. More often than not, business owners struggle with arranging their offices, stores, or factories in the right layout. AR can create realistic scaling models of buildings and objects. This visual input can simplify the layout planning process for business owners with no architectural background. It is also helpful for architects to see the augmented structural design, even before the foundation has been laid.
AR-enabled Tourism
If you are in the Tourism & Hospitality sector, you may have probably noticed an emerging trend of AR tourism. If you haven’t noticed it, don’t worry. It is not too late to adopt this approach. AR can provide touring tips and signs that you cannot find in the real world. For example, let’s say you are visiting Italy and you want to find great touring spots near you. With AR, all you need to do is scan your surroundings with your smartphone, and AR travel tips can pop up on the screen. This AR experience can be much more engaging than reading a map and following the routes on Google Map as you get the much-needed visual input.
Another benefit of AR-enabled tourism is that tourists can see the historic landmarks in their former glory while standing right in front of them. For example, when you visit the Colosseum in Rome, AR can create a digitally augmented replica on top of the actual landmark so that you can appreciate its full glory!
AR as a competitive advantage
Nowadays, businesses are always trying to outdo each other in almost every aspect. It is critical to stand out from the crowd to succeed. Combining AR technology into your products and/or services can help you get ahead of your competitors.
Many toymakers are already adopting this technology. For example, when customers buy a physical toy of a fictional character, they also get an AR copy of the toy character that they can use to take photos with or use in an AR game. Offering AR services together with your products can be a great way to stand out from your competitors no matter what business you are in!
Conclusion
Augmented Reality technology is relatively new to most of the public and it is already on the path to revolutionizing our quality of life. So, we suggest you take advantage of this opportunity to reflect on whether investing in AR is a good fit for your business.
