Visual Experience Tools for Complex Products
It’s time to give your product designers access to what they deserve: access to visual experience tools that deliver convenience, personalization, and custom options that help improve sales. If your business builds complex products for the furniture industry (including To the Trade), health and life sciences, tech, automotive, or the equipment industry, you understand the value that designers, engineers, and contractors bring to your business.
Look around and check out the competition online. You will find that many of your competitors are already providing these tools instead of plain, image-based product catalogs. An online product visualization tool puts designing and configuring in the hands of prospective clients 24/7, on any device. If you’re considering a new visual experience portal, choosing the right software will give you benefits and advantages to stay ahead of your competition. If you’re already using a product visualization tool, make sure that it delivers a complete visual experience that not only benefits the designers, but it also benefits your business.
Benefits of Visual Experience Tools
Market Share
The visualization and 3D rendering software market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.6% by 2026, according to Reports and Data. A key market for this growth is in the product visualization space, building and construction, and healthcare and life sciences. For example, a recent eMarketer report, sales of furniture and home furnishings represent the fastest growth among product categories in eCommerce. If you’re a brick and mortar distributor, it’s important that your potential customers have access to the same tools available through online-only retailers. As companies like Wayfair and Amazon edge into furniture sales, your company needs the latest technology to remain competitive.
Project Management & Documentation
Visual experience tools within a portal will create an organized workflow for all projects. Designers, engineers, and sales teams will be able to organize and group similar projects, coordinate design elements, and identify unique ideas within the portal. With the right software, they will be able to access projects on any device, making editing a breeze in real-time.
The best visual experience tools give not only give product options, customizations, and other data capture; it will push the information from the product configurator to your CRM or integrate with other software tools.
Custom Products
Users will be able to configure custom pieces specifically to their client’s requests online, at any time. Unique requests can be sent in and implemented upon request, eliminating time-consuming back-and-forth and review meetings. Built-in pricing rules will help automate pricing, even with custom options.
Custom Quotes
A visual experience portal combined with a pricing configurator is a powerful tool, shortening sales cycles, increasing win rates, and providing overall higher ROI than traditional methods. Digital innovation will not only benefit your prospective clients, but your sales team will notice a measurable boost in closed deals. If you have a large product list with prices for customization options, you can build the visual experience into your CPQ software.
Preferences
Visual experience portals enable users to save preferences, not only for ease-of-use, but to enable future orders without much interaction from your sales team. Users who have a seamless experience within your portal are going to be happy customers, and happy customers become repeat customers.
Communication
Building a communication feature within your portal will save your team, and the customer, valuable time. You can opt to use a chat feature, messaging that triggers an email alert, or incorporate a FAQ page. Giving your customer service or sales team the ability to look at designs while answering questions will enable them to provide even better service to your potential customers.
Ordering
Your portal should include an ordering option, especially for repeat customers who are ordering an existing product or a product with minor changes. Ordering within a visual portal works just like an e-commerce site, complete with a shopping cart and a secure check out process.
Status Updates
The days of making phone calls to make an order or check on the status are over, and your prospective customers know it. Automated status updates for custom quotes, orders, and inquiries are a must when it comes to the features available within the visual experience tool. A Dealer Portal will enable communication between vendors and designers, providing clear status and order updates.
Visual experiences for B2B2C is no longer just an option; they’re an expectation from your target market. A custom software option will serve salespeople, distributors, partners, and automate your sales cycle. If your company offers unique, custom products, a visual engagement tool such as a visual product configurator, a product visualizer, or a CPQ platform can be customized to improve both user experience and sales.