Communication to the customer: A Virtual Reality usage
By Aditya Abeysinghe
Virtual reality (VR) is a concept which simulates an environment using hardware and software. VR is used by many for different uses, and this has made VR a growing tech in the domain of simulations. The use of VR has rapidly increased in the past few decades due to low-cost hardware required and the ability to use VR devices with minimal knowledge. Use of VR for various activities in marketing is on one such use.
Use of VR in marketing communications
Traditional marketing communications involved communicating with the customer using an advertising medium. Digital and printed media were used along with in-store and indirect selling methods. Different methods of selling products sprung with marketing using the Internet. Emails, digital advertisements, and mobile applications are the most used marketing platforms today. Along with Internet marketing other methods are used by sellers to market products. VR is such a tech which is used for marketing along with other methods. The use of VR in marketing varies according to the domain in which it is used.
For example, the use of VR in tourism marketing allows providers of tourism services to make users visit tourist destinations and get an understanding of what can be seen in those places. This allows providers of tourism related services to market their services using a real view of tourist destinations to users rather than posting images or videos of these places. Similarly, VR used in marketing of expensive items allows users to get an understanding of the lifestyles of people who use these brands. This allows sellers to provide a view of these brands which otherwise is often disregarded by users to even simulate.
Advantages
The main advantage of using VR for marketing is its ability to provide quality visualizations. Rather than sharing a video or image of a place or item, users can simulate the environment in which they visit or the product they like to buy. Therefore, users can get an understanding of the service, product, or place virtually rather than directly buying a product or paying for a service. This induces users to buy a product or pay for a service which increases sales for a seller.
Another advantage of VR for marketing is the ability to get a simulation of a product or service at low cost. Users must pay to visit a place or buy a product and the cost and the effort to purchase or visit a place to visualize them is higher compared to using a VR product to simulate. Also, many users opt not to buy a product or service because of language barriers, difficulty in travelling and other reasons. VR can provide simulations at low cost, effort, and with minimal obstacles for those users who cannot visit a place or purchase a product.
Disadvantages
As with marketing with mass and printed media, developing marketing software for VR is often costly for the seller. Marketing using VR also requires teams with technological knowledge and other marketing methods to provide the VR simulations to the target users. Also, VR marketing is not suitable for users who do not have the ability to purchase VR devices due to cost and import restrictions.
Another disadvantage of VR is the inability to simulate outside what has been included by the seller. For example, users can only visualize about the details provided in the simulation if a tourist service provider has marketed a VR simulation about a destination. They cannot reply to the seller or discuss queries with other users which makes it a more isolated approach.
Image Courtesy: https://martech.org/
