It’s no news: 2020 was an atypical year. In the business world, lockdown measures were a stress test that only the most innovative companies could survive. Customer expectations shifted, and born-digital companies found themselves at a clear advantage. This accelerated digital transformation was common across industries. And it reinforced the importance of certain digital tools that customer-centric brands already swore by.
In this post, we’ll take a look at one of these tools: Product configurators, and we’ll tackle three important questions:
- How do product configurators impact the customer experience?
- What does it take to drive engagement through real-time configuration?
- What’s next in this ever-evolving category?
Rediscovering the Power of Personalization
The shift in both consumer habits and business strategy in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic reinforced tendencies that were already latent through the last decade.
2013 research by eConsultancy and Monetate pointed out that 94% of businesses understood the importance of personalization. But 72% of these companies reported that they didn’t know how to implement personalization.
In recent years, personalization has become less of a challenge, thanks to both digital marketing tools and the evolution of social media platforms as sales channels. And last year, it became a top competitive advantage.
In December 2020, SAS found that nowadays the driving forces between customer loyalty are:
- Respect for the customer’s personal safety and compliance with distancing measures
- Speed
- Personalization and relevant recommendations
- Empathy and keeping a human touch
Through a real-time configurator, companies can deliver a customer experience that checks all these boxes, in a cost-efficient and scalable way. In the next sections, we’ll explore how.
Product Configurators in Luxury Industries & Beyond
Product configurators aren’t new. Luxury industries such as business aviation (BIZAV) have relied on product configurators to drive customer engagement for years. In sectors characterized by unbreakable attention to detail and impeccable customer service, product configurators are just one more tool to help your customer take a central and active role.
Product configurators are at the intersection of two noteworthy trends: The rise of personalization, and the wider adoption of immersive technology.
According to a Unity report, 63% of businesses used immersive technology to navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic. Product configurators are one of these technologies.
While online product configurators can be a great enhancement to an online store and an effective lead capturing tool, real-time product configurators have even greater potential.
What’s Next: Tomorrow’s Real-Time Configurator, Today
Expressa is a one-of-a-kind digital tool that redefines the product configurator category. This aircraft configurator is real-time, so an option doesn’t have to be pre-designed to be available. For instance, with a real-time configurator, a customer can not only change the color of an aircraft’s interior carpet across an endless spectrum but change the camera angle from which they’re seeing it, instantly. With real-time personalization, the customer can surprise you with options that you hadn’t thought possible and choose from custom materials. And you can surprise them, by turning their custom-made scene into an immersive VR experience with the click of a button.
But there’s far more to Expressa. Defining the platform simply as a real-time configurator is imprecise. Expressa is a turnkey tool that optimizes design, sales, and marketing processes alike. Let’s take a closer look at how it can change your business.
Design
Thanks to Expressa’s intuitive interface and unparalleled versatility, designers can now create custom visualizations without development or 3D modeling expertise, within minutes.
The average full visualization package takes from 15 to 20 hours to craft, costing up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Expressa can produce the same results, in 8 minutes and at a fraction of the cost.
Marketing
Anyone can use it. By being accessible for those with limited technical background, this real-time configurator also reduces the cost of delivering custom renderings for marketing presentations and ads. It’s also worth bringing up that, with Expressa, one can create as much content as necessary without limitations or extra fees. This makes it the ideal tool for digital content creation at scale.
Sales
Speed is a core expectation for contemporary customers. And, while lengthy decision-making processes aren’t uncommon in business aviation, there are some things that the customer won’t want to wait for.
Expressa makes it possible to create an estimate and a specs book automatically, making the sales processes far more dynamic. Now you can close more, in less time.
Along with the possibility of creating VR experiences with just the click of a button, Expressa’s specs book creation features are a direct appeal to the “wow” factor.
Effortless Personalization, End-to-End
If you aspire to deliver customer experiences based on speed, efficiency, and personalization, you should consider a product configurator. But most product configurators are hyper-focused on one purpose. It may be assisting the designer, capturing leads, or helping salespeople close a deal.
But, while including a product configurator in one step of your customer journey can drive results, there’s a better way. According to McKinsey, “best-in-class companies optimize customer journeys, not just touchpoints.”
Following this principle, Expressa optimizes the entire customer relationship. Driving world-class experiences has never been so effortless and cost-effective.
Don’t Wait to Delight your Customers
Turn your customer experience into a true competitive advantage. Increase your customer engagement while reducing visualization costs. Discover the power of Expressa today.