How Augmented Reality Can Enhance Customer Support
Augmented Reality is one of the amazing technological discoveries of this century. It is a technology that finds many uses in different professions and industries, even in these early stages of development. As a business, it is crucial to find a way to integrate Augmented Reality into your processes and improve customer experience and your products or services. That is why we want to discuss how Augmented Reality can enhance customer support. Let's learn what Augmented Reality is and how it can find application in helping customers all around the world. Hopefully, this will be a valuable asset you can use for many years to come!
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented Reality is an innovative technology that places digital content, such as 3D images or videos, into a real-world environment. This process usually requires a smart device or smart glasses. The observer would feel like watching a real-life object, even though it is only projected onto a real-life surface.
It has many uses in different industries and professions, such as gaming, education, retail and packaging, advertising, industrial application, etc. Let's understand more about how AR works.
How does Augmented Reality work?
Augmented Reality relies on sensors, vision algorithms, and recognition technologies to display the virtual content in a real environment and synchronize it with the observer's perspective and movement. The process happens in five steps:
The AR device uses sensors to take input, such as location, movement, or visual data, from the environment.
Thanks to vision algorithms and recognition technology, it interprets the input to identify real-life objects and understand their characteristics.
Then, the system generates virtual content and overlays it onto the real-world environment.
During the process, the AR system considers factors such as lighting and perspective in order to create an immersive experience and realistic experience.
Finally, it displays the result that the observer can see through smart glasses or a smartphone.
This amazing technology obviously allows something that we never had before. Now that we understand that, let's see how Augmented Reality can enhance customer support.
Remote support options
When it comes to remote support, one of the more challenging elements is that there is no physical contact. While this does not present an issue in the case of troubleshooting software, if you want to drive a car to a mechanic, you have to go there yourself.
With Augmented Reality, you can now enable very realistic remote support for any type of business. A remote support agent can not only access the customer's device but also provide troubleshooting steps with more clarity. This is also a part of the direct marketing strategy that includes speaking directly to the customers, which can boost further sales.
Improved visual guidance
Have you ever tried to instruct someone over the phone to do something complex, and neither you nor they have a visual of each other? That can be a really difficult situation. When it comes to providing support that includes complex assembly or disassembly of products, Augmented Reality can provide necessary visual guidance.
You can use a real-life surface to project a digital example of the process. That way, the customer can see how to do the necessary steps in real-time. This is extremely useful if the process requires precision and it has a low threshold for mistakes.
Visualizing products to make better decisions
People often struggle when making purchase decisions, especially if they are shopping online. Even though customer reviews help a lot, some people like to see things with their own eyes before they commit to a purchase. That can really slow down your business.
However, with the help of Augmented Reality, you can provide more information to potential customers. Customer support agents can provide a more engaging experience where they can use AR to help customers visualize products before they make a decision.
This visualization also improves trust. Consequently, it has a positive impact on reducing returns or customer dissatisfaction due to a misunderstanding about the product and its features. You can create a mix of marketing strategies that can benefit from AR.
Provide interactive user manuals
Some products have detailed instructions on how to use them. While a regular booklet with exact steps is always usual, Augmented Reality offers more engaging options. People can see information in real-time and ensure the proper use of the products they purchase.
Furthermore, written instructions can often be misleading if they are not written in a clear and concise way. However, a visual representation showing an interactive process where a customer can even participate and make real-time changes increases the learning speed and improves the overall customer experience.
Personalized customer support
Each customer is different. With that in mind, you should have a different approach to customer support based on their preferences, location, culture, and many other factors.
Thanks to Augmented Reality, this is now possible. You can personalize the customer experience with advanced technologies by tailoring your approach to match their needs and requirements.
In the previous examples, we mentioned how providing visual guidance and interactive user manuals to customers is possible. Keep in mind that, when it comes to technical knowledge, not all people are equally tech-savvy. Thankfully, AR allows you to tailor the instructions based on their experience level and provide simpler or more complex explanations.
Also, let's say you have a customer interested in hiking gear. You can look at their purchase history and see they bought hiking boots and a waterproof jacket. You can now understand what equipment they did not purchase yet, and show it as a part of an AR presentation in their real environment. You can also consider weather conditions and simulate them to show the product used in a specific situation.
Augmented Reality can enhance customer support and improve your brand
As we have seen, there are many ways in which Augmented Reality can enhance customer support. This futuristic technology may be expensive now, but it definitely adds value to your business. If we consider that AR will only get better and more affordable in the future, it makes perfect sense to implement this strategy as a pioneer of AR services. Grab that piece of cake while it's still hot, and benefit from it in many years to come!