Augmented reality in marketing: a permanent service feature instead of a one-off campaign! ✅

The guide to sustainable customer loyalty

Every company wants to know for whom, what, where and how long-term value can be created for customers. The best way to do this is to set yourself apart from competitors and retain customers with your own brand in the long term. A marketing strategy is a long-term, targeted plan by a company to be able to identify and check exactly these points. Depending on the target group, objectives, brand positioning, budget and channel selection, various strategies are used. These can include classic measures such as print and event marketing, digital solutions such as content or social media marketing, or more unusual approaches such as guerrilla or ambient marketing. A mix of different strategies is usually used to optimally determine the communication and positioning of the brand.

What is the customer journey — and why is it so crucial?

The customer journey (CJ) is an instrument or tool for the operational implementation of the marketing strategy. With the CJ, companies try to understand which experiences and points of contact a potential customer has with the product or brand. It starts at the very beginning with the initial perception of the brand, goes from the purchase consideration and the conclusion to long-term commitment and recommendation. The customer journey therefore offers a deeper understanding of where and how customers interact with the brand. Once a company has achieved this understanding, it can target core elements of the marketing strategy such as target group, brand message, channel planning and budget distribution to customer touchpoints and plan relevant measures along the journey.

The phases of the customer journey

The costume journey is divided into various phases in which customers have contact with the brand. The typical phases in the model are:

1. Awareness: Users become aware of the brand or a product for the first time — e.g. through advertising or recommendations.
2. Consideration: In-depth information search and product comparisons — targeted content or tool support can be decisive here.
3. Decision (Purchase): The purchase decision is made — touchpoints can be online shops, stationary sales, checkout or discounts.
4. Retention (Usage): Good experience is important after the purchase — service, support and incentives ensure return.
5. Advocacy (Loyalty): Satisfied buyers recommend the brand to others — as an important source of recommendations and reviews.

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The benefits of an optimized customer journey

Specifically, with the help of the CJ, companies can see what makes their customers tick and where they stand. Not only in terms of sales, but also on an emotional level. They can identify optimization potential to eradicate weak points and avoid frustration among their customers. The resources are used in the right and important places. If everything is done correctly, an optimized CJ leads to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty and sales.

With technologies such as virtual and augmented reality (AR), the phases of CJ can be rethought and redesigned. They offer new potential to accompany customers on their journey with the brand. In the next section, we'll look at where AR is easy to integrate and why the technology is particularly suitable there.

AR along the customer journey

Augmented reality offers a new way in which products or brands are perceived and experienced. Advertising plays an important role in the CJ's awareness and consideration phase. In contrast to AR advertising, traditional forms of advertising, such as TV, print, or simple online advertising, are more two-dimensional and passive. A commercial on TV is played the same way for everyone, no matter where or how the person sees it. The experience with the brand remains relatively flat and simple. The temptation here to “keep zipping” or to switch off is great.

With AR, products can be displayed as three-dimensional models and simultaneously brought into the customer's environment. In addition, they can interact with the product, which, according to studies, promotes a significantly longer interaction (approx. 75 seconds) between customers and the product or brand. When it comes to advertising with augmented reality, the clients' own environment — or rather, the closeness that customers build up with a brand is also particularly interesting. With AR, psychological proximity to the brand is increased because the (virtual) product is in close proximity. A stronger sense of belonging is developed.

What ultimately influences the purchase decisions of potential customers is the subject of continuous research. In general, it can be said that higher customer satisfaction also leads to a stronger purchase intent. Augmented reality provides the potential to experience deeper, multi-sensory experiences and trigger positive emotions, which in turn leads to higher satisfaction.

AR as a service feature at L'Oréal

How AR is specifically integrated into marketing strategies is easy to illustrate in L'Oréal's brand strategy.

L'Oréal is one of the world's leading cosmetics companies with a variety of brands such as Maybelline, Lancôme and Garnier. The products are heavily dependent on consulting and visualization. In traditional e-commerce, this is a challenge: How do I find the right lipstick or foundation without physical testing?

As a solution, L'Oréal offers virtual testing of their products with augmented reality. Customers can easily test products such as lipstick, foundation, or nail polish on their own face or body. Thanks to precise recognition of approx. 63 aspects, the selected product is realistically placed over your own face. This makes it easier to select suitable shades without having to visit a corresponding store. Additional features, such as a before/after function or saving and sharing on social media platforms, offer further opportunities for interaction with the product.

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The journey along the customer journey with AR

And what is the customer journey along the customer journey?

Through social media campaigns or product pages with an AR function, potential customers become aware of the opportunity to try on. Testing the products with AR directly on your own face creates confidence in the purchase decision. The AR function is linked to the shop, i.e. just one click away from the “order button”. Anyone who finds the right product can buy it directly. After purchase, AR still remains relevant, for example when testing new combinations or sharing photos on social media.

And L'Oréal benefits in many ways: customers spend more time on their website or app, increased willingness to buy through higher satisfaction and trust (“I know that this shade suits me because I tested it with my skin color”), this results in lower returns, and new use cases can be added flexibly (e.g. testing hair colors).

Conclusion: A lasting feature and brand promise

The cosmetics company and other companies such as Ray-Ban or Adidias have understood that augmented reality can be used effectively not only for individual campaigns or as a gimmick. Instead, AR is established here as a lasting service feature and brand promise. Trust, conversion & brand loyalty — central components of a positive CJ — are increased by integrating augmented reality into the marketing strategy.

A look at artificial intelligence

Let's take a quick look at artificial intelligence. What role does and will AI play here in the future?

The facial recognition of L'Oréal's virtual try-on feature is already made possible by AI technology. The recognition of facial features and the environment is based on this. User behavior, preferences and context data are analyzed using AI, among other things, so that tailor-made content can be generated and customers experience personalized experiences with the brand.

Generative AI already makes it possible to use tools to easily create 3D models via text or voice input, which in turn means less effort (and costs) — i.e. easier integration of AR into the marketing strategy. It will also be interesting when customers can get personal advice from AI avatars, just as if they had a personal shopping companion with them.

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