Augmented reality allows businesses to create a better experience for their customers. With the help of this technology, the customer is presented with a virtual version of reality, which creates a more interesting and informative experience for him. Therefore, many leading brands in the world have included AR as part of their digital strategy to attract customers and provide them with positive experiences. AR is used in marketing with three main goals:
Enhancing brand awareness
Having an attractive website or app that provides users with a memorable augmented reality experience will help build your brand reputation. In fact, AR increases the interaction of customers with products, which makes your brand more recognizable and lasting in their minds. In addition to being fun, creating AR-based advertising campaigns creates value for customers and enhances brand awareness in their minds, and of course, garners a lot of media attention. An example of the application of AR in this field is the advertisement made by Pepsi company using augmented reality in a bus station in London. When the brand Moosejaw presented an AR application to view its catalogs, the effectiveness of this technology as a marketing tool was well-proven; Because this app was downloaded more than 250,000 times and with this initiative, its sales increased by 37%!
Increasing customer engagement
Although online shopping has grown a lot in recent years, it is still considered a safer method for many people to shop in person. This is especially true when people want to buy things like furniture. Prominent brands like Ikea have used AR technology so that customers can see the products they want in their space and get a better understanding of them before buying. IKEA Place, the company’s AR application, uses a smartphone camera to display selected furniture in the customer’s location. In addition to making it easy for customers to choose furniture, this application also provides a fun way to test items. Other global brands such as Coca-Cola have used augmented reality in their marketing strategies to increase engagement with customers.
Boosting the perceived value
The use of AR allows brands to position themselves as innovative leaders in the industry by providing engaging experiences to customers. It also leads customers to value a brand’s products more than competing brands. In one recent study, 40 percent of respondents were willing to pay more for a product that they could experience through augmented reality. This result shows a direct relationship between the use of AR and boosting perceived value from the customers’ point of view.
Increasingly, brands realize the value of AR in improving customer perception and develop the use of this technology in their marketing and customer service channels. It can be claimed that 2018 was the year of AR and since then, the use of this technology has increased continuously. This is a warning for businesses that have not yet taken action to use this technology in their marketing campaigns!
