One of the possible applications of AR is to make printed materials interactive and bring them to life. With AR, elements containing extra information about a product or organization can be added to printed media. One of these possible elements is the photo carousel. How does it work, what can you do with it, and what are the benefits?
Possibilities with Augmented photo carousel
Augmented Reality (AR) is the technology used to add digital information to reality. This information is made visible via an app based on image recognition. This technology therefore connects reality and the virtual world through augmented reality elements.
One of these possible elements is the photo carousel. How does it work? When the user scans an image with an AR app, a photo appears that is displayed ‘over’ the image in the print. By swiping, the user can swipe through countless photos starting from that single image. This way, you can display your entire assortment from a single image in print. Or all the different product types, models, or colors.
A unique aspect of augmented reality is its interactivity. This also applies to a photo carousel. This means that by clicking on one of the selected photos, the user can be redirected directly to a URL that automatically opens in the browser on the user's device. In this way, for example, the user is taken directly to the online shop for the relevant product for more information and can order it immediately.
Added value
With a photo carousel, you easily create added value to printed materials on three fronts:
– It enhances the customer experience
– More conversion through direct call-to-action
– Cost reduction through savings on advertising space
Enhanced customer experience
Customer experience currently ranks high on the list of marketing goals. Interactivity appeals to users. Additionally, a product is ‘experienced’ better when it is displayed exactly according to the user’s preference. Consider, for example, the augmented display of a specific outfit, where the user can choose the style, color, and pattern to their own taste and actually see how everything combines. You can take this a step further by even offering the user the option to view the chosen outfit on their own body type or shape. This enhanced customer experience has been proven to lead to faster purchases.
Call-to-action
Of course, it is great for users to be able to view products based on their own preferences. But with augmented reality, you make the step to actually making a purchase very small. After all, all individual photos in a carousel can be made ‘clickable’.
This means that the user can place the chosen outfit—to stick with this example—in a shopping cart with a simple press of a button. By adding a specific URL to each photo, the user can be directed to the online environment; the URL opens automatically in the web browser of the device being used.
Naturally, this is not limited to ‘landing’ in an online shop or directly in the shopping cart. For many products, it is desirable to offer the potential customer more product information. In that case, the specified URL can refer to a specific product page.
Cost Savings
Advertising space is expensive. With an augmented photo carousel, you can effectively showcase your entire product range using just a single image in the printed material! It is also highly suitable for the real estate sector; a home seeker can view the entire property presentation by swiping, starting from, for example, a single photo of a home. With the included call-to-action, the home seeker can then immediately find the asking price and further description on a website or contact the selling agent. Naturally, it is also possible to incorporate this information into the app itself. In that case, a new screen will open in the app with further details.
Significant savings can also be made on in-house printed materials; for example, by displaying the various models or versions of a basic product in augmented form. Here too, seeing a product in the color or version desired by the potential customer enhances the customer experience, which has been proven to lead to more purchases.
Finally
Augmented reality therefore offers many surprising, innovative possibilities to provide users with a positive experience. Which is in itself an important goal of marketing. But when implemented well in practice, augmented reality can also actually lead to cost savings and increased sales.
Of course, besides the photo carousel, there are all kinds of other possible augmented elements that can be displayed with an app, such as
Your own AR app doesn't have to be a huge drain on the budget. It is wise and entirely possible to start with a basic app to test what does and doesn't work for your target audience. Based on those results, you can decide whether to expand the app's functionalities and/or augmented content.
Do you find AR interesting and fun to use, but perhaps don't quite see the best solution for your company? Contact us; we would be happy to brainstorm with you!