Improving Product Education and Minimizing Returns with Online Visualization Tools
For retailers and consumer goods manufacturers, returns are an unavoidable consequence of doing business. It isn't just expensive to receive and process a returned item; it can also impact your bottom line if customers experience repeated issues with products they purchase from you.
To reduce returns, providing effective product education is essential—and today, that can be done using online augmentation and visualization tools.
In this blog post, we'll explore why these tools are so important for mitigating returns and how they can help your buyers gain a better understanding of your products.
The Customer Journey and Optimizing Product Education
For companies that sell to consumers, the customer journey is often relatively short. The customer recognizes that they need a solution to a problem, they search for a product to resolve that problem, then they purchase that product. In this context, a "problem" could be anything from a broken dishwasher to an upcoming date.
According to Forbes, "Customers want context; they want to know about the product as it exists in the real world. They want to know which problems that product will solve, and what experts in the field think of its merits."
Ultimately, mastering the customer journey is all about providing customers with the right information at the right time, so they can make well-informed decisions about your products. That means identifying content types that can educate the customer based on their present needs and circumstances, whether they are about to make a purchase or are considering returning the product.
Enhancing Understanding with Augmented Reality and Visualization Tools
Traditional formats like text and images are still effective. However, newer formats, including videos, augmented reality (AR), and even virtual reality (VR), can help customers gain an even more thorough understanding of a product before they purchase it.
For example, imagine a consumer is searching for a new sofa online. They may be more drawn to a company that lets them use augmented reality to view what a sofa would look like in their living room rather than a company that simply posts an image of the sofa. The AR experience allows them to "try out" the sofa to a greater extent, so they have a better understanding of whether it suits their needs.
This, in turn, reduces the likelihood that they'll purchase the product, then return it because it didn't meet expectations.
Although experiences like AR and VR aren't the real thing, they are becoming especially important as consumers purchase more and more products online. Online returns can be expensive to process, especially when they must be picked up from the consumer's home, so any option to mitigate them is a good investment.
Examples of Effective Visualization Currently on Market
There are already several examples of online augmentation and visualization tools being used to help educate consumers about products. As many as 9 out of 10 consumers already read product reviews before making a purchase online, and most online stores now include reviews either within the company's website or as part of a third-party solution.
Other online retailers have mastered simpler visualizations to help consumers understand products before they buy. Online furniture retailer Wayfair includes a "Product Overview" visualization on all its products to educate consumers about their most important features, such as their weight, size, and materials, as well as whether or not they need to be assembled manually.
Another online furniture company, APT 2B, lets users view furniture in a 3D environment before they make a purchase. Meanwhile, Zeekit provides a turnkey solution to apparel sellers to let customers see what they'd look like in clothes while shopping online.
Start Educating Your Customers More Effectively
All in all, providing product education to consumers can be paramount to reducing returns and increasing customer satisfaction. As advances in technology open up new possibilities for retailers to provide customers with compelling experiences, savvy companies should take full advantage of these opportunities.
If you'd like to learn more about educating customers about your products, don’t miss Consumer Returns 2023. It’s happening from October 2nd to October 3rd at the Austin Marriott Downtown in Austin, Texas.
Download the agenda and register for the event today.