Augmented Reality Marketing

Virtual reality has often been heralded as the technology of the future. In particular, the tourism, real estate, and automotive industries, have used VR to impressive extents by allowing their customers to “visit” hotels and travel destinations, and “test drive” cars. However, despite the steady increase in its number of compatible applications, there are a number of drawbacks that have limited VR’s mainstream appeal. Not only has the high cost of consumer-grade headsets such as the HTC Vive, Samsung Gear, and Lenovo Mirage Solo resulted in limited adoption among a vast majority of consumers, but even those that are in possession of a set are unable to make use of the product in public spaces, which limits promotional efforts to the confines of their homes. For these reasons, the marketing departments of the most cutting-edge companies have turned to a more accessible and portable alternative—augmented reality.

Augmented reality—AR for short—refers to digital content that is superimposed over real images and landscapes. Importantly for businesses, the only required piece of hardware needed to view this type of content is a smartphone containing the necessary set of features—a camera, display, GPS sensor, and accelerometers or motion sensors to track user movement. This relatively narrow set of requirements means that the technology is already accessible to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world.

In recent years, Tencent and Alibaba have made waves by using augmented reality in order to market their products and services, however, it’s not just large companies that can benefit from the use of this powerful tool—AR can help bolster any business that makes effective use of its capabilities.

Enhanced Customer Engagement

Every time an augmented reality application is launched on a compatible smartphone, the camera lens works to pick up an image of the surrounding environment. This is processed and tracked via the built-in GPS to overlay contextually appropriate content which can then be viewed by consumers, thereby “augmenting” their reality with digital images, text, and graphics.

This technology allows businesses to hold promotional events that would otherwise be too costly or difficult to implement. The Hong Kong branch of the Asia Society has notably made use of AR in order to carry out digital scavenger hunts that families could participate in to learn more about the heritage and history of various sites. Along these same lines, businesses could adopt this practice in the stores of participating retailers to offer shoppers gift cards, promotional codes, and more—all without ever needing to put physical materials in place. This gamification of the shopping experience can improve customer engagement, which generates brand loyalty and improves the mind and market share of innovative companies.

Improved Communication and Visibility

One oft-cited statistic is that human beings only remember 10% of what they see in the world around them. While the trustworthiness of this figure is often brought into question, it does reveal one insightful truth—the vast majority of messages spread through television commercials, billboard advertisements, and magazine spreads are forgotten by customers. Thankfully, AR technology has proven to be an effective deterrent against this by promoting two key features that enforce long-term recollection—interaction and engagement. By encouraging the use of smartphones to access digital content, businesses can create customers that are active in the consumption of information, which will allow them to more readily recall and relay corporate messages.

Increase Sales Conversion Rates

One issue that plagues all ecommerce companies at one time or another is cart abandonment—potential sales that are not followed through to checkout. This phenomenon is often caused by a lack of trust or general uncertainty on the part of consumers about products that they might otherwise be interested in purchasing.

Digital storefronts that support AR integration will be able to address these concerns by giving customers the ability to inspect and assess the colours, shapes, and sizes of their desired products—similar to what they might experience in a brick-and-mortar store. This can inspire confidence in the online purchasing process, which has the effect of converting prospective leads into confirmed sales.

Augmented reality is a powerful new tool that can dramatically improve the growth and profit forecasts of any business, and the combined Asian markets are poised for explosive growth in this domain—Digi-Capital estimates that Asia could account for over half of all AR revenue by 2022. However, it is critical that companies interested in leveraging this disruptive technology do so in tasteful ways that complement—rather than replace—their existing marketing efforts. A rapid, wholesale adoption of this process can ultimately alienate consumers who do not yet have access to the hardware necessary to partake in the phenomenon. As always, businesses who are successful in implementing AR marketing techniques will be those capable of casting the widest net by striking the right balance between new and traditional approaches.