Augmented reality (AR) has revolutionized the marketing landscape, making once imaginative ideas a tangible part of brand strategies. While AR is often associated with Snapchat filters or Pokémon Go, today, it’s at the forefront of innovative marketing techniques, offering brands new ways to engage their audiences. Beyond customer-facing applications, AR is proving to be a vital tool in marketing research as well.
This blog explores how AR is reshaping the way businesses gather insights, test ideas, and engage with customers during the research process. Whether you’re a marketer or a business professional eager to stay ahead of industry trends, this deep dive into augmented reality in marketing research offers valuable lessons and actionable takeaways.
Redefining Marketing Research with Augmented Reality
Augmented reality takes traditional marketing research methods and adds an interactive layer that engages consumers like never before. Instead of relying solely on focus groups, surveys, and historical data, AR allows businesses to immerse participants in scenarios to better understand their perceptions, emotions, and purchasing behavior.
What is Augmented Reality?
AR overlays interactive digital content onto the real world using a device such as a smartphone, tablet, or AR glasses. It bridges the gap between physical and digital experiences, enabling users to interact with digital elements in real-time environments. For example, customers can virtually try on a pair of sunglasses through their phone camera or visualize how a piece of furniture looks in their home.
When implemented in marketing research, AR allows brands to run stringently controlled tests and experiments that simulate actual customer experiences.
Why Use AR in Marketing Research?
- Deeper Insights – Traditional methods might offer surface-level answers, but AR allows researchers to explore customer behaviors in real-time and under real-world-like conditions, extracting profound insights.
- Higher Engagement – Interactive AR scenarios make participants more engaged and likely to provide constructive feedback.
- Cost Effectiveness – AR eliminates the need for setting up physical environments or hiring space, which can reduce the costs of traditional research.
Applications of AR in Marketing Research
1. Virtual Product Testing
Imagine a cosmetics brand launching a new lipstick. Traditionally, they would rely on distributing samples or conducting product trials at expense-heavy physical locations. With AR, customers can now “try on” the lipstick shade through their phone camera.
AR applications like this empower brands to test the marketability of products while gathering real-time feedback at scale. Data from these virtual tests can reveal which colors are most popular or whether customers would suggest improvements. Tech-savvy brands like Sephora and L’Oréal are already leveraging this capability.
2. Packaging and Shelf Placement Research
Packaging holds immense power in influencing a buyer’s decision. Instead of extensive studies requiring physical shelves and stores, augmented reality enables marketers to set up digital shelf simulations.
Marketers can test variables like the color, shape, and size of packaging, or observe how a product performs when placed at eye level compared to the bottom of the shelf. Real-time head tracking in AR ensures businesses gather reliable behavioral data rather than relying on self-reported outcomes, which could be biased.
3. Location-Based Analysis
Brands harness AR technology to simulate how customers interact with products in different locations. For instance, AR apps can track how customers engage with digital advertisements or shop displays in a mall. Businesses can test beacon technology or AR overlays to see which messages resonate better and inspire purchases.
Geolocation-based AR tools, like Niantic’s ARDK, add another advanced layer, allowing brands to test consumer patterns in specific areas without being physically present.
4. Enhancing Focus Groups and Interviews
Now, focus groups don’t just have to be people sitting in a room discussing concepts. AR can allow focus groups to have immersive hands-on experiences with products or services while providing their feedback.
For example, a sportswear company testing a new line of running shoes could use AR to invite participants to “run” in different simulated environments, such as a treadmill or rocky terrain. This allows researchers to gather rich data on customer feelings, which would be hard to capture via traditional interviews.
Case Studies Pushing the Boundaries
IKEA
IKEA’s AR app has been at the forefront of customer-driven insights. By allowing customers to visualize furniture in their home settings, the company has not only enhanced the shopping experience but has also optimized its marketing research. IKEA frequently analyzes customer preferences regarding furniture dimensions, materials, and placement to enhance its collections.
Pepsi Max
Pepsi’s famous AR bus stop ad was a marketing success, but it was more than a creative commercial stunt. By using the AR setup at bus shelters, Pepsi tracked user reactions to different AR concepts, like aliens invading. The insights helped them fine-tune later campaigns and better understand what captivated their audience’s attention.
Beauty Industry and AR Trends
Brands like Estée Lauder have partnered with companies creating AR apps, helping users “try” thousands of makeup looks digitally. Not only does this enhance the buyer’s confidence in actual purchases, but provides niche customer insight to tailor collections to regional preferences.
Challenges and Ethical Considerations
While AR in marketing research offers groundbreaking solutions, it isn’t without hurdles.
1. Accessibility
AR technology often requires modern smartphones or devices, which might limit participant pools in certain demographics.
2. Privacy Concerns
AR applications collect data in real-time, raising questions around the collection, storage, and usage of such information. It’s crucial for researchers to remain transparent and adhere to privacy guidelines to build and maintain trust.
3. High Initial Investment
Implementing AR can require significant upfront costs for development and testing. However, as AR tech becomes more accessible, these barriers are gradually diminishing.
Future of AR in Marketing Research
The evolution of AR is well on its way to becoming a staple tool in marketing research. Its ability to deliver immersive experiences ensures that deeper insights are always within reach of brands. Additionally, as hardware advances and AR becomes increasingly interoperable, its potential impact will skyrocket.
Businesses that integrate AR capabilities today are not just staying ahead of their competition; they are future-proofing their approach to consumer insights.
Take Your Research to the Next Level
Augmented reality isn’t just the future of marketing research; it’s the present. From enabling virtual product testing to revolutionizing packaging studies, AR transforms how brands tap into their customers’ psyche.
If you’re ready to leverage AR for gaining deeper customer insights and driving long-term success, don’t wait. The time to innovate is now.
