There are plenty of reasons to improve your product visuals, but with all the options available on the market today, it may be difficult to determine what the right solution is to meet your needs.
How do you know if you need 3D product photography? At what point does it make sense to invest in a visual product configurator? And where do you even begin?
If you don’t already provide a 360 product view for your online shoppers, you have a lot of room to improve your customer experience by upgrading your product visuals. Here, we’ll walk you through what questions you need to ask in order to land on the right online product configurator for your customers’ needs.
What Information Do Your Prospects Need to Get from Your Product Visuals?
In the world of online retail, all decisions begin and end with your customer experience, and this includes product visuals. Begin by asking yourself who you’re selling to and what they need to get from your online product experience. Then, put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
If you’re a DTC company whose online store displays your line of signature power tools, you may not need an online product configurator – after all, there’s little configuration required. But shoppers will definitely want to be able to see the drill they’re considering in 360-degree views with the ability to zoom in to confirm how it will look and feel in their hands.
On the other hand, if you’re a B2B company selling medical devices to hospitals and clinics, the look of your machinery may be less important than the ability to get a sense of the size and scale of the product, in which case a mix of a 360 product rendering and a static product image in context may be more helpful.
There’s not a simple flow chart to determine whether you need a 360 product view for every product or an online product configurator, but asking what you expect your customers to gain from your product visuals is a good place to begin.
How Would a Visual Product Configurator Change Your Buyer Experience?
If you’re selling configurable products that could be displayed in an interactive 3D experience, consider what your customers will gain by having access to an online product configurator.
If you’re working to sell a large, complicated piece of machinery or an item like a highly functional work table that’s not primarily designed for visual appeal, you may think that a visual product configurator isn’t worth the investment, but the primary utility of an online product configurator isn’t always about how something looks.
A 3D product configurator lets shoppers preview how a product will look and potentially function from all angles – even if your product isn’t sexy, you may be able to sell additional features and optional add-ons by presenting them in an engaging format like an online product configurator.
For some products, how each component fits together for practical use matters far more than how that product looks. Providing interactive 3D product visuals can transform your customer experience from clicking through a deck of still images to configuring the exact product they plan to purchase (and building their confidence at every step in that process).
Read how our customers use 3D product photography or reach out to schedule a demo today.
How Big Is Your Online Product Catalogue (and How Big Will It Get)?
The size of your product catalogue may impact whether you’re ready to try a virtual product photography platform or forge ahead with all the features of a virtual product configurator.
See a Visual Product Configurator in Action
Virtual product photography allows you to present your full product catalogue in 360 degrees. While these visuals can be turned into configurable models down the road, it is a lighter lift to capture 3D renderings of your entire catalogue than it is to dive in with a fully configurable experience with all of your products on day one.
Before you embark on a fully configurable online product experience, you need to ensure you have the supply chain stability and efficiency to back up a fully configurable sales experience.
If you’ve bought furniture or custom home goods online in the past few of years, you’ve probably been offered the opportunity to preview different upholstery options under different lighting conditions. While this is fabulous and confidence-building customer experience, that all goes away if your company is not ready to product custom products at scale.
In the interim, 3D product photography can offer your site visitors the ability to stretch and shrink images, preview products from every angle, and provide a superior shopping experience. Or, schedule a demo to hear more about the options available today.
Identify Your Core Object to Leverage 3D Product Photography to Meet Your Goals
Wherever you begin with your product visuals and however ambitious your plans for transformation, don’t lose sight of how your customers will benefit from the additional visual information that a 3D or configurable product experience can deliver. These are the steps you need to take today to get your company on the path to higher conversions and more satisfied customers.
If you’re not sure where to begin with 3D product visuals, consider creating 360 product views with our Virtual Photographer to see how your customers interact with 3D product renderings, or schedule a demo to talk through what’s right for your organization today.
