Once upon a zoom call, while writing minutes of the meeting and randomly keeping my glasses over to the bed table, my cat stumbled across her favourite spot; the keyboard of my laptop. In an attempt to brush her off, she jumped over and eventually broke my glasses.
Now normally one would have gotten up to get it fixed but we were in a middle of a Pandemic and life was mostly online. I among the 4.5 billion users of internet was desperate to fix my hindered vision. Pandemic or not, one cannot afford losing their glasses. But, multiple e-com website offering the users to try on anything virtually have made it almost too easy for people seemingly overjoyed with not having to go outside, it was indeed interesting to notice that how sensation of AR has come a long way.
If you have ever used Google lens you’ve probably witnessed AR. In an interlude of two letters- the phenomenon of Augmented Reality is said to welcome a whole different game in the coming years, especially advertising. Analytics reveal that 9 out of 10 brands including the big players like Netflix, Snapchat etc, are planning to shift their marketing strategy focused truly on AR by the year 2022. So, if the big franchises are doing it, what happens when start-ups approach the similar route?
Learning and seeing from the early adapters of AR like Ikea or Pepsi, it was whole heartedly faced with a new yet exciting genre of people perceiving it. Back in 2013 when Ikea released its own app showing virtual pieces of furniture from its catalogue, it brought 2.3 billion visitors in Ikea’s website alone. Along with huge arrival of sales and customer interaction for the brand.
Moving onto Start-ups, using AR could eventually turn into a benefit. AR is now an important part of a successful marketing plan. With minimal spend, one can leverage the emerging tech, giving brands not only more visibility but to also guarantee business continuity in these tough times. Looking into the aspect that AR is naturally seen to capture more relatable connections, it will engage more customers along with their real time emotions. Start-ups being new can successfully present something new to the users, persuading to infuse a curiosity.
Some popular start-ups have successfully merged emotions and social issues with the prospect of AR. Proximie, is a start-up which was established to solve the crisis of surgeons through Augmented Reality. For a country which has the ratio of 1 surgeon for 600,000 patients allegedly, it was a revelation brought to rescue. Another start-up called Vividbooks, was made to learn basic science and maths, once the user sees into the application through a tablet. The times have changed since the pandemic, so even we at Graphixstory, a tech and video led advertising agency too, maximise digital campaigns with the integration of AR &VR transforming the customer journey into an immersive visual interactive experience.
Note : Data Analytics of recent Beauty Filter Campaign of Celebrity Makeup Stylist Namrata Soni
What these start-ups captured successfully was they made the users see and connect to it. It was a revelation indeed, but it brought forward customer interaction to a different level:
A. People get to feel an emotional connect.
B. It enhances practical elements of personalised marketing, sales and customer support.
C. Influences the buying decisions immensely.
D. Drive customer loyalty and ensure customer satisfaction & indirectly sales.
Now with the rapid growth of AR, it is pretty clear along with its benefits it can turn into a huge convenience for start-ups. With a substantial amount of leverage, start-ups can witness Customer Boost, User Interaction as well as hyper local advertising which can very much pervade in what way the customer looks and relates with the brand. Augmented shopping/Virtual Shopper Experience is the next big thing that will pick up in the next few years in India amidst COVID 19.
No matter what lies ahead, Customer segmentation will be the key for experimentation. Customer relationships are changing dramatically & Brands have recognised the game-changing abilities of introducing AR into their branding & sales operations.