With every new modern technological development, there is always the initial fanfare and wonderment, before the technology eventually becomes commonplace. We saw this when Artificial Intelligence (AI) was emerging and many researches spent time explaining the ins and outs of the technology and how it differed from existing technologies. Only a few years on and AI systems are commonplace and embedded in solutions we use every day.

A similar thing is happening with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), two technologies that are becoming more popular by consumers and businesses alike.

AR involves placing digital objects into a camera view of the real world. The most obvious example of this is the Pokémon Go phenomenon that took over the world only a few years ago. Since then AI has taken off and there is great promise for it’s potential in the future.

VR on the other hand immerses people into a fictitious digital environment. Video games often use VR to make experiences more realistic and life like.

AR and VR will be crucial for business moving forwards as they have the potential to enable them to build engagement with customers that can lead to long-term relationships. There are three factors that can lead to successfully implementing an engagement strategy:

1. Multi-sensory engagement
2. Intellectual engagement
3. Emotional engagement

Deep Dive on Augmented Reality

Both AR and VR can help with the above three factors. AR and VR are both becoming crucial for businesses across the entire buyers journey, from initial sales encounters through to customer support.

An example of AR in action is seen by certain furniture applications that can digitally display what different types of furniture would look like in a customers house. Buyers use their mobile to see what different rooms in their house would look like with different furniture styles. This can be used in factories too, where managers can see how certain types of equipment can fit into their workflow. The new manufacturing process can be visualised as the manager walks through the factory floor.

The manufacturing industry is a good example of how AR can help managers understand how certain solutions can help their business.  Through AR, they’ll be able to identify troubleshooting overlaid onto a physical solution their currently working though. This can lead to less downtime and improved productivity.

Deep Dive on Virtual Reality

VR applications have the ability to immerse people into a digital environment. This can be used across a variety of industries to display how certain solutions work and help users understand and learn how to use products in different scenarios.

For example, VR could be used in the IT industry to enable users to visualise how IT transformation could occur through various solutions. Through VR, you could provide unique experiences that help create a solid understanding of a product or brands value proposition. VR can help train workers before they operate dangerous machinery, similar to how pilots currently use flight simulators.

These types of solutions are becoming more common and in some instances are losing the technology focus and instead becoming a core feature of the larger solution at play. Consumers and businesses are becoming more aware of VR capabilities and are often expecting brands to provide this type of immersive experience.

Final Thoughts

When looking at ways to better engage customers and build long-term relationships with them, AR and VR are crucial components. The good news is that oftentimes you don’t require separate tools to implement a VR or AR strategy. With an AR experience, consumers can simply use their smart phones which have the technology inbuilt. Similar with VR, while VR headsets can be difficult to deploy currently, there are many developments occurring which will see consumers using their mobile devices to get the best from VR experiences.

This continued evolution will see businesses across all industries implement VR and AR applications that create excellent customer experiences. If you’re not currently including AR or VR in your engagement strategy you may want to rethink this or risk falling behind the competition.