The Online Experience

Picture this…

You’ve just found out your teenage son used the garage door as a catcher’s mitt for his car. Seems he tried to back out of the driveway using first gear instead of reverse. So now you find yourself looking online for a replacement — for the garage door, of course.

You’ve found a couple options: One on a site you’ve never visited, with no reviews and one picture, but cheap.

The other is a company you know and is well reviewed. Not to mention the several high-quality pictures, a demonstration video and an infographic highlighting the best features. But it’s more expensive.

Assuming they’re both within your budget, you will probably choose the more expensive one, because it’s a much lower risk. The cheaper option may turn out to be poorly-made, it may be missing features you didn’t know to look for (unless you buy garage doors regularly) and you don’t know the retailer. With the second option, though, you know what you’re getting. That level of comfort ultimately sways your decision.

The more information the customer has access to online, the more comfortable they’ll feel about buying your product. Some basics that customers look for are:

Description.

The more detailed the better.

Picture(s).

Aim for high enough resolution to see details, and good lighting and composition.

Reviews.

However, for some products, a few pictures just won’t do them justice. Thanks to the advent of virtual and augmented reality technologies, creating a visual landscape of your current reality with the new purchase is possible.

With virtual reality, you can invite your customers to take a spin inside the cabin of a top-of-the-line combine harvester, or immerse themselves in a relaxing vacation spot.

With augmented reality, customers can see your furniture in their own home or see what your jacket looks like on them. The more the customer knows about your product, the lower the risk.