Wondering how to use a Virtual Showroom in your marketing plan?
The Virtual Showroom is a versatile marketing asset with innovative uses across the digital & physical world. Here are 6 ways they can add more power to your marketing arsenal:
1. Add it to your website – A virtual showroom is a great way to increase, retain and convert website traffic. The 3D interface of a virtual showroom is engaging, informative and entertaining- all at once.
2. Replace boring presentations – A virtual showroom makes a great presentation with the exciting engagement opportunity it offers. Screen-share during meetings or present at online exhibitions.
3. Steal the virtual show – Do you attend virtual events but feel constrained by the standard booths? Invite attendees to your exclusive virtual showroom and boost customer engagement.
4. Use as a 3D catalog – Showcase the complete range of products you offer even at in-person trade shows, events and exhibitions, where it’s logistically impossible for you to carry all your products.
5. Integrate with digital marketing – A virtual showroom can go along with your social media campaigns, email marketing, search engine strategy, chatbot marketing, PR and everything else.
6. Promote with a QR – Customers can immerse themselves in your brand’s digital experience anytime, anywhere. Publish a QR code on catalogs and ads to take buyers to a specific product or zone.
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Many a times, Virtual Showroom are confused with Video presentations. However there are distinct differences between both these mediums.
A virtual showroom is a 360-degrees immersive experience that offers 3D product displays and rich branded spaces. In essence, a virtual showroom is a digitally simulated version of a physical showroom. It includes product displays, details and other interactive touch points.
The experiential nature of virtual centres makes them popular. Virtual centres drive conversions from customers who prefer the comfort of their space and yet want to explore.
Who is this for?
A virtual showroom can enhance the experience of your customers in potentially any line of business. In B2C, use cases span from apparel to jewellery, accessories, clothing, electronics, home furnishings and automobiles.
While in the B2B sector, a virtual showroom can display engineering products, machinery of any scale, architectural products, software & IT solutions, etc.
Any business that offers products can leverage virtual showrooms as a modernized way of connecting with their buyers.
THE POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS
IN A VIRTUAL SHOWROOM
Immersive experience
A virtual showroom’s experience matches none other. A customer can easily navigate the entire experience and use touchpoints to interact with your reps. Customers can even engage in a negotiation in the moment.
The experience in a virtual showroom simulates and even exceeds that which you can offer in person. A virtual showroom is accessible to the customer through a digital device of any size. That makes it convenient for the potential buyer to browse through your entire product catalog. Interested buyers can even make purchasing decisions from the comfort of their home.
Navigate the experience at ease
A virtual showroom experience differs from a video experience of your showroom. The customer enjoys navigation control so that they can choose to skip over certain products and look closely at others.
With this customer-centricity, a virtual showroom becomes an important marketing and sales asset for any organization.
Take a close look
Customers can view products through 360-degree imagery and a life-like experience. But they can also leverage the augmented reality-powered ‘Try-on’ feature to, well, try on products. This is especially lucrative in industries such as jewellery, accessories and clothing.
There is little that can’t be simulated in a virtual showroom experience. Since customers can immerse themselves in the shopping environment and make informed decisions, a virtual showroom increases conversions.
Chat with a rep in real-time
Buyers often need assistance while shopping. And that’s what a virtual showroom simulates with the real-time chat option. Customers can raise questions, negotiate, or interact with your representatives with a single touch.
Real-time chat features are also available in messaging apps such as WhatsApp. That ensures that the customer stays in their comfort, both physically and digitally.
Augment the experience (with a presentation, booklet, pamphlet, PDF)
A virtual showroom experience can be augmented with assets such as a video presentation, booklet or PDF. These assets can explain complex machinery parts or workings of a complex product.
What more your customers might need to see before purchasing? Make that information available in a preferred format, further easing the buying process.
The Possibilities for You
A virtual showroom establishes trust and credibility in your brand through an outstanding experience. At VirtuLab, we create virtual centers keeping your brand front and centre. We ensure that the experience blends into your brand and becomes memorable for buyers.
Not just that, this is a chance for you to stand out in the market and get ahead of the competition. A virtual showroom can prove that yours is a modernized and digitized company- ahead of others.
Marketing takes on a whole new meaning with a virtual showroom. Your customers can get a feel for your brand. They can check out your products and establish a line of communication with you. And, they do it all through an exceptional experience. Also, what usually stands out for our customers is the low-cost setup of a virtual showroom instead of a physical one.
Finally, a virtual showroom can build brand trust in your prospects when they witness your offers in a standout fashion. You also have the opportunity to create an exceptional buyer journey using analytics from your virtual showroom. Data and analytics from the showroom can also power other marketing channels and strategies, reducing guesswork.
The Positioning of Virtual Showrooms Post-pandemic
When the world is wary of travel and customers still looking for solutions, a virtual showroom can help you bridge the gap. Offer your customers the same (or better) experience with specialized virtual showrooms built uniquely for your brand.
Ensure the safety of your customers by giving them a channel of interaction and purchase like none other.
What’s more:
A virtual showroom can save time and resources for your customers even when they are willing to visit your physical showroom or centre. With 24/7 access from anywhere, a virtual showroom leaves no gap in making it convenient for your buyer to purchase.
For businesses looking to cut down on costs post-pandemic, a virtual showroom can replace expensive marketing. Moreover, it can lead to a higher marketing ROI, given the engaging experience.
Finally, in an unprecedented time like now, a virtual showroom can sustain for a long time. And you can relax, knowing that there’s a standout way for your customers to reach you.
Invest in a virtual showroom to build brand credibility, trust, visibility and a high-touch experience for your customers to engage with you.
To understand whether a video or a virtual tour will be better for your marketing, it is essential to understand the differences between both these options.
As both of them are a “visual display”, the differences may not be so apparent right away. However, there are many fine differences between the user experience of a Video & a Virtual Tour.
Let us look at some key differences in a video & a virtual tour as below:
Playback Speed
In a video, the information is displayed at a predefined playback speed. The user control is limited to play, pause, forward & rewind – or skip. Essentially, it is a preset experience where content is played at a defined pace & sequence and for a predefined length of time.
In a Virtual Tour, there is no pre-defined playback speed. The user chooses the time they want to spend at each viewport in the virtual tour. Navigation is also possible organically i.e. user can often choose which section they want to see or travel to after the current section.
Control Over The Camera
In a video, the presenter controls what the user can see. The video editor or presenter can choose to exclude certain parts of the product or place from the reel. Or, highlight or focus on specific parts or information.
In a virtual tour, the entire canvas is open for the viewer to look around in 360 degrees. There are no hidden or excluded parts. It gives the option to the user to review any aspect in closer detail.
Interactivity Quotient
A video is a linear & one-way piece of information where the visitor cannot control or interact with anything.
A virtual tour or virtual experience is characterized by interactivity where users can click on various hotspots to reveal more information, change the visual displayed on the screen, connect with the tour manager and many other similar actions.
Effort Level For A Customer
In a video, the customer has to make a minimum effort. Everyone knows how to watch a video & that’s all the customer has to do – watch the video playing out!
A virtual experience requires more effort from the customer as he clicks & navigates around and engages to discover & consume the information of his interest.
Innovation Quotient
It is often said the “Medium is the message”.
In that context, videos have been around for a long time & are no longer a novelty or innovative medium.
A virtual experience on the other hand is an innovative & new medium. This by default creates an interest & long lasting impression on the visitor.
Position In The Marketing Funnel
Many marketers like to use a mix of both video & virtual tours or experiences.
The video serves as the top of the funnel tool to get the attention of potential customer. And the Virtual Experience is the next stage of the funnel, to deliver comprehensive information through a deep & engaging customer experience.
A video could be good to “attract”; and a virtual experience can be great to “convince”!
Conclusion
Finally, both video & virtual tours have their respective benefits as per the scenario in which they are to be used. It would be incorrect to say that one can replace the other.
Videos have been around for decades now & you can find several examples on websites like YouTube & Vimeo.
Virtual tours are relatively new & being used in different ways like Virtual Showrooms, Virtual Experience Centre’s & Virtual Exhibition Stands.
Here are some interesting examples of Virtual Experiences across different industries.
Any company requires an interface to communicate with its customers or potential clients.
This engagement is the most critical aspect for any company to succeed in a competitive market because it develops perception and establishes confidence in the minds of customers.
New and creative techniques are being used to capture eyeballs in the modern internet age. The first step in getting a customer is to keep them engaged, informed, and eager to learn more.
The use of “virtual showrooms” is one such technique that accomplishes this goal. Brands that have incorporated virtual showrooms have seen a hike in their customer engagement & response.
What Is a Virtual Showroom?
Virtual Showrooms are digitally created 360° environments with a similar look and feel as well as functions of a physical showroom.
What Can Customers Do In a Virtual Showroom?
In a virtual showroom, visitors can browse through the products which are displayed via 3D replica models, access multimedia information at a single click, and connect live with the sales team.
Virtual showrooms simulate the real-life experience. Visitors can easily navigate and interact with various objects placed within the virtual space using click and drag via the mouse.
Information-Desk
The first thing that someone in everyday life interacts with in order to seek answers is a reception desk. Based on the same analogy an info-desk can be incorporated to communicate with the guests using a virtual hostess.
The customer can be greeted here with a pre-recorded introductory message by the virtual host. This message can be customized based on what information you want to pass on to your customer.
This interaction would provide a human touch for consumers, getting their attention in the right away. Other information such as visiting cards, catalogues, and brochures can be made available to visitors in pdf format, which can be both downloaded and printed.
360° Product-Display
The visitor can directly navigate to a product using call-out labels or the viewport near it. This will take the visitor up-close to the product they are interested in.
Here customers can interact with the product using the 360-degree view option that loads the 3D model of the product. These models are designed to simulate the product down to the smallest detail.
These 3D models will enable your customer to zoom in & out, rotate and view a particular part of the product, and also interact with its features. The customer can also view the 3d product in his own environment through Augmented Reality option.
Video and Images
Customer may also watch product videos either playing directly on televisions screens or popping out by clicking on the video icon. Videos from YouTube can also be linked.
The consumer can also see images and brochures relating to the items, which are shown next to them.
Chat
Using the chat option, your customer can communicate directly with the company’s sales or support team for assistance regarding the product.
Other communication options, such as voice calls, video calls, and screen sharing, are also available.
Your Sales teams can effectively respond to customer queries using laptops or smartphones anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This gives them more flexibility in their interactions with customers.
Your customers can explore the virtual space even further after viewing the product. To maximize brand interaction, virtual socialization areas such as bars and lounges are built to better replicate real-world environments.
All in all, the virtual showroom or virtual experience centre offers a wholesome experience to the customer – one which is full of information, yet entertaining as well!
Conclusion
Every inch (or pixel!) of the virtual showroom can be customized to support your marketing & brand objectives.
These futuristic tools belong to the category of immersive web or experiential web and will help your business escalate its marketing program to the next level.
With every new unique idea, the level of marketing elevates one step higher, bringing more audience to your Brand and increasing visibility and sales.
Are you trying to bring something unique to your business that will separate you from the competitors? If Yes, then read on – Virtual Showroom is for you!
The introduction of the virtual showroom has opened new possibilities in the marketing world and the way people can interact with Brands online!
Surveys also suggest that virtual showrooms or digital showrooms can provide upto 3X more engagement than ordinary 2D websites.
There are various reasons how a virtual showroom creates an edge over 2D websites Let us discuss some major advantages:
Stunning 3D Environment
The 3D environment has a better impact and increases engagement. Ultra-real CGI & renderings can create unforgettable environments for users and offer an immersive experience while purchasing products.
The 2d website are not equipped to provide such 360° or life like experiences while the 3D virtual showrooms are highly immersive, emotive, and experiential.
The interactive environment displays the 3D replica of the product, providing better detail of the product. Users can check out the products by zooming in and out and rotating them.
Having a better look and analysis of the product provides more credibility to your product and brand and creates a buying preference, which eventually leads to sales.
3D Product Replicas can also be enable with Augmented Reality options, so that the user can simulate the product in their own environment & get more engaged with the buying experience.
Virtual Presenters
Virtual presenters help customers by guiding them through all the various aspects of the showroom and are a major attraction to all the visitors.
Presenters can be used to welcome the customers and also to guide them about important instructions and explain features of the products so the visitor can understand the products better.
These Virtual presenters can be videos of real people from the Brand team or 3d animation based avatars.
Walk Around Navigation
Even if the websites showcase several products, users are still restricted to 2D.
However, a Virtual showroom offers a real-life experience, users can navigate between different floors, check out 3D displays of products and enjoy the ideal in-store experience.
This walk around navigation is exclusive to virtual showrooms & creates a very intuitive & empowering experience to the visitors
100% Customizable
Our Virtual Showrooms are fully customisable, down to the pixel! This means that it can embody your Brand characteristics & storyline in great detail.
With unlimited design possibilities, Virtual Showrooms can be a visual treat for your customers. You can bring your Brand alive in 3D in really imaginative ways!
To be competitive enough in the market business owners need to have the best innovative and trending ideas. Switching to a 3D virtual showroom is the perfect method to elevate the brand’s marketing strategy.
Contact us to get answers to some of the most commonly asked questions like
● How to set up a virtual showroom? ● What are the requirements needed to create a virtual showroom? ● How long it takes and where will the showroom get established?
The world has reached a point where everyone is finding unique ways to showcase their work to promote their business.
Virtual showrooms can bring your customers closer by means of basic personal devices such as mobile, tablets etc. This can solve the complication of publicizing your product without even opening a real showroom or store.
For every business, the two most important factors are time and money and Virtual showrooms will help save both.
Technically speaking every product that was showcased earlier through showrooms and exhibitions can be created and displayed using virtual showrooms.
Let us deep dive into their benefits of 3D Virtual Showrooms that can impact the business positively:
1. Saves Time
Virtual showrooms can empower your customers to make faster purchasing decisions without them having to visit a store or virtual exhibitions physically.
It will not just make it simpler but also convenient as virtual showrooms can be accessed through personal devices.
Your customers can be located in any part of the world and access virtual showrooms at their fingertips 24/7 throughout the year.
It’s a boon in disguise in the time of pandemic for customers as well as businesses.
2. Cost-EffectiveSolution
For business: The virtual showroom can be developed with minimal cost when compared to traditional showrooms which require additional manpower and resources.
Virtual Showrooms are a one-time investment. Since it’s virtual, the maintenance will also be limited but there are no limitations on the number of products that a business can showcase online.
For users: As one can access the virtual showroom from anywhere in the world, there is no cost of traveling and other expenses associated with it.
3. Unique
Virtual showrooms can provide your business with a competitive edge as it will make your business stand out from the crowd.
It is bound to add a “WOW” factor among your customers with its uniqueness and ease of usage.
Every business has to pull out something that the majority have not tried yet and the current situation is one big opportunity to try something out of the box.
In the present world of uncertainty setting up a virtual showroom for your business would be the safest option to progress.
4. Ease of accessibility
Electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, or PC can be used to navigate around the virtual showroom. They can even visit virtual Help desks and communicate to the sales team using Chat support that is integrated within the virtual showroom.
5. Provides a Realistic Experience
The virtual showroom provides a lifelike experience to your customers, they can move around the virtual showroom as if they are walking inside a real showroom, view their products in 360, zoom in and out to get a feel of the product features in detail.
In addition, they can even access the PDFs and videos if required for more in-depth information on the displayed products.
Virtual showrooms will also provide an option to communicate with the virtual sales assistant for help.
6. Timely Responsiveness
At any point in time, the customers can chat, call, or email the customer support team for any sales or product related queries for ease of communication and immediate responsiveness. There is an option to integrate Whatsapp as well.
7. No Technical Skills Needed
The virtual showroom development will be completely taken care by our team at VirtuLab hence brand owners need not possess any technical skills.
Your team needs to provide us with photos, videos, and other content related details of your products as per requirement.
Our team at VirtuLab will put everything together and design a stunning virtual showroom in a matter of 4-8 weeks.
Here’s a sample of 3d-interactive online showroom
8. Visitors analytics
Virtual exhibitions benefit also extend to robust data capturing & visitor behavior insights using Google Analytics. You can get information about every visitor to your booth.
Just tap into the analytics dashboard and know the demographics of your audience, where they spent most of the time, how long were they on your stand & more. Yes, this all is possible!
With all these insights you can easily take actionable decisions that are bound to make a difference in the bottom line of your business.
9. Longer lifespan
The virtual Trade show, showroom, and exhibition have a longer lifespan.
They can live for longer days which helps you directly in bringing as much as leads as possible across the year.
This results in a higher engagement rate resulting in more brand visibility converting to business opportunities. Think of the added virtual exhibition benefits as a 365 x 24 x 7 campaign!
10. Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate
A bounce rate represents the number of visitors who leave a website after seeing just one page.
Users visiting virtual showrooms will spend more time interacting with the engaging content, thereby increasing the time spent on-site and reduces bounce rate.
This helps in ranking your website above your competitors on search engine result page.
11. Available on multiple devices
Virtual showrooms can be accessed on mobile, tablet, and laptop/PC. This opens up a wide range of opportunities for a brand to showcase its products on various devices.
The major benefit of a virtual showroom is it can be accessed by mobile and there are currently 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide (Statista, 2019).
12. Early mover advantage
There was a time when all businesses didn’t have websites.
Similarly, today most businesses don’t have virtual display space. A digital showroom will help you stand out from competitors for your innovative thinking & approach.
Being an early adaptor of an upcoming marketing trend surely also rubs off well on your brand. This can go a long way in building brand image & credibility among your customers, peers & associates.
Virtual showroom will definitely bring out the best out of your brand and products. It will not just ease the marketing process but it will also make the business much more convenient to handle.
Need a 3D Virtual Showroom for your brand?
In conclusion, Virtual showrooms will enhance your business in a futuristic manner and help you reach your potential customers in a matter of seconds.
