The landscape of digital advertising continues to broaden with the introduction of newer, better, and more immersive solutions for audiences. One of the latest marketing tools is Augmented Reality. Brands are massively embracing it due to its significant impact.
AR has the potential to offer customers convenient and accessible, immersive, and personalized experiences. The tool goes a long way in helping companies enhance their value and boost engagement with their audiences, primarily through mobile devices.
So, what’s augmented reality (AR)?
AR is an emerging marketing tool that overlays visual, sensory, or auditory information to an authentic audience. Its main goal is to create an immersive and interactive experience for users allowing them to get personal with a company’s products.
Many companies have embraced this promotional tool in the recent past to sell products and services. As a result, they receive a positive return from this marketing tool. Customers also benefit from AR and continue to embrace it as part of their buying process.
AR technology got invented in 1968 at Havard. A computer scientist, Ivan Sutherland, developed an AR head-mounted display system. Later, university laboratories, national agencies, and companies modified and advanced the technology for digital displays.
This guide explores AR’s potential in digital advertising. So, you’ll learn the current applications of augmented reality in digital advertising and the potential benefits of this technology to marketers. You’ll also know the challenges and limitations of AR in digital advertising.
Augmented reality fits into various sectors, taking digital advertisement to a higher level. Companies embrace it mainly because it enables customers to visualize the appearance of products in different environments. That’s after hovering mobile devices over products.
Here is an overview of current AR applications in digital advertising.
Consumers can now try products virtually before purchasing, thanks to AR. That’s helpful since many companies struggle with restricted movement and store access. In addition, consumers can now enjoy product demonstrations and try-on using this cutting-edge technology.
The best part about AR is that you can use it on your company’s website or social media pages. It allows potential customers to know the sizes of your products and how they feel and look. They can do that at home by tapping the “Try-on” option.
The “Try on” option can automatically activate mobile devices’ cameras and demonstrate products. Unlike other digital marketing tools, AR doesn’t require downloads; you’ll love its user-friendly experience. Companies that use AR technology confirm that it increases sales.
AR technology offers a 3D experience that saves consumers from annoying advertisement pop-ups by allowing them to interact fully with a product or image on billboards and displays. So the user can spin or customize a product within the advertisement.
Additionally, they can use augmented reality to move the product to their environment. AR ads are compatible with Android and iOS devices, thus making it easy for the technology to be feasible by several applications.
Social media platforms take the lead in marketing. Luckily, AR has social media applications, including ads, games, filters, and try-on accessible through social media features.
In eCommerce, AR builds stronger customer relationships; hence you can use the technology to win and engage more consumers and generate sales. So, to cope with the trend, integrate this technology into your social media platforms, and witness massive user engagement.
AR marketing is the new trend for customers across the globe, especially those who don’t have time to visit stores for product sampling. Customers can now use AR to try products virtually through virtual reality headsets or smartphones.
The technology helps them feel like they are in a store sampling the products or experiencing how they will look in their homes or bodies if it’s a fashion product.
Trying the products and gauging their sizes and suitability significantly influences a customer’s decision to purchase your products. Besides, it saves them time and transport costs since they enjoy the in-store experiences and window-shop from wherever they are.
Your marketing strategies can make or break your company. So, it’s critical to embrace systems that enable you to reach customers and turn them into a community that generates sales. That’s why AR is an outstanding option in the present times–it will help you beat the vast competition.
Here are the benefits you’ll reap from using augmented reality in digital advertising.
AR greatly helps brands to get recognition in different platforms by building and recalling them and encouraging customer interaction. It first increases a brand’s visibility and allows them to reach out to potential customers through mobile devices.
Since AR technology brings images into real life, customers can understand everything about your product. Moreover, AR is versatile; hence you can use it online and on physical marketing platforms. As a result, this boosts customer engagement, interaction, and product interest. If you use this technology properly, you can make your brand recognizable among millions of users.
Companies that have embraced AR technology get insights into the performance of their AR advertising campaigns. In addition, the technology’s analytics, such as engagement rate, impressions, and dwell time, enables brands to measure the impact of AR on their customers.
AR analytics features plenty of metrics that brands can use to measure the accuracy of their AR campaigns. The metrics include an immersive ad, an enhanced product page, or a social media filter. As a result, it enables brands to establish if AR is beneficial to them.
We’ve mentioned that AR encourages interaction and engagement with customers. As a result, the experience transforms customer relationships and how they view your products or services.
But how exactly does AR enhance customer experiences and brand loyalty?
AR focuses on a better customer experience because that’s the only way to build trust and attachment between customers and brands. In addition, by paying attention to customers’ experiences, brands can improve their products and services.
Since customers can try your products before purchasing, they become more confident that buying them isn’t wrong. Whenever a person buys what they have seen and liked, there is a high possibility that the product won’t disappoint them; hence they remain loyal to your brand.
The other way that AR enhances customer experiences is by allowing customers to customize a product into different versions. Customers will return when they realize they can create more versions of what they want from your product.
Moreover, AR is fun to use. Modern-day customers are going for brands that offer joyful shopping experiences. AR is a favorite tool for many since it boasts an easy-to-use interface.
AR brings about customer satisfaction which directly elevates a company’s reputation. That’s very important in today’s competitive environment. Additionally, the technology eliminates customers’ indecisiveness and gives shopping confidence, thus translating to more sales.
AR is the significant platform shift affecting business models after PC, web, and mobile. So, incorporating AR in hardware sales, eCommerce sales, ad spending, and mobile data could drive over 80 percent of all AR revenues. So, invest in AR to increase new revenue streams.
As much as AR is taking the digital marketing industry by storm with its many benefits, it has challenges and limitations. Keep reading as we navigate through some of them.
Any software application has a standard mode of operation. That helps balance the contribution and compatibility of the development of a particular technology, and AR isn’t exceptional.
However, setting the standard for AR is still in progress because the technology is still in its infancy. Therefore, its hardware and software are yet to get figured out.
So what’s exactly the challenge?
The lack of standards isolates every project related to augmented reality from other projects because it’s incompatible. As a result, this makes unifying solutions challenging and slows technology development since not everyone is on the same page.
Moreover, implementing a technical standard takes time, and adopting it will signify the last step of defining the technology as a real deal.
AR is inconsistent in its programming, raising a lot of concerns in terms of security and privacy. Therefore, you can get into trouble without knowing. That’s because the augmented reality environment has no regulations defining what is allowed and what is prohibited.
Its free-pass nature can cause serious security issues. Some people may also use it with the wrong intention of blackmailing or defaming you. Other malicious activities include account hijacking through the manipulation of AR content.
Moreover, the developers of this technology are reluctant to safeguard it and prevent these issues from happening, thus increasing security and privacy risks.
Besides the technical issues, AR has social challenges related to its acceptance, adoption, and penetration hence a poor reception.
Despite being a popular technology, the AR audience lacks a long-term perspective. Most of them download the app out of excitement, use it to their satisfaction, then drop it.
AR technology causes digital fatigue like other digital marketing tools. That happens when users spend much time on their mobile devices or laptops.
The app doesn’t have a practical ad-blocking ability; hence, users must view many ads. But since the technology is still evolving, there is hope that the developers will tackle these issues.
AR is a game changer in digital advertising thanks to its immersive and engaging user experience. When used correctly, this technology creates buyer awareness, allows customers to personalize with your products, and helps them to make purchasing decisions quickly.
As years go by, the AR market will continue to expand, especially as more customers enjoy access to technology. As a result, many businesses will adopt AR technology. So don’t hesitate to use augmented reality in your marketing strategies. It will go a long way to increase sales.
