3D Product Configurator: 5 Key Elements to Keep in Mind for UX/UI
- jordanerichter
- Jan 14
- 5 min read
When it comes to designing a 3D product configurator, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) play a crucial role. 3D configurators allow consumers to personalize products in a unique and immersive way. To ensure the success of your configurator, it’s essential not to overlook certain key elements.
In this article, we’ll explore five essential aspects to consider for creating an exceptional user experience when designing a 3D product configurator. Whether you’re an experienced designer or a novice looking to enhance your skills, these tips will guide you in creating a powerful, engaging, and interactive tool for your customers.
Don't Recreate Your In-Store Customer Experience
Each channel has its own specificity. While it may be tempting to replicate your in-store customer experience online, it would be wiser to opt for a differentiated customer journey that caters to the specifics of the channel.
Indeed, where your in-store customer is guided from entry to exit, the online experience is much more solitary. Your customer’s attention won’t be the same as when they are accompanied by sales associates and immersed in the brand’s universe with a carefully orchestrated sales ceremony. This means you need to be much more instructive throughout the online product configurator journey.
In online experiences, you face an additional challenge: engaging your customers with a fun and interactive experience. User retention throughout the journey is key.
Therefore, it is necessary to think about integrating technical choices (e.g., measuring the dimensions of a bracelet) while keeping customers engaged in an overall entertaining experience (e.g., choosing colors, materials for each editable part, real-time interaction with the product, AR).
Is it more prudent to place these elements at the beginning of your experience, at the risk of boring potential customers, or should you integrate them more fluidly into the customer journey? Such questions might seem obvious at first, but it is essential to take a step back and ask the right questions before proceeding.
If you manage to offer a compelling experience, chances are your user will get involved and spend time selecting their ideal 3D configuration. As a result, they will tend to take ownership of the product, move more easily to the technical part, and visualize themselves in the purchasing act.
Prioritize the Mobile Experience
You are undoubtedly aware of the importance of the mobile experience. According to a study, 55% of online visits occur on mobile devices. Based on our clients’ experiences in the fashion and luxury industries, this often rises to 80% for interactive product customization experiences.
A good piece of advice would be to start designing your 3D product configurator with a “mobile-first” approach, meaning you begin the design process on mobile and then adapt it for desktop use. From a UX design perspective, it is easier to add space in a layout than to condense everything onto a mobile screen.
Limit the Choices You Offer Your Customers
You have a passion for craftsmanship, and nothing is too complicated for you to produce. You want to offer your customers a world of possibilities without any limitations. However, this isn’t necessarily the best approach.
Offering too many product combinations can ultimately confuse your customers and lead to a poor user experience.
So, what approach should you take when your product consists of numerous parts?
For example, designing a Globe-Trotter suitcase could involve more than 10 separate elements to choose from: the 4 wheels, the 4 corners of the suitcase, the handle, the metals, the interior fabric, the elastic colors, the two exterior straps, and so on. Selecting these elements one by one would be a long and tedious task.
We recommend that brands with a high level of product customization group configuration elements to simplify and streamline the experience.
Returning to the Globe-Trotter suitcase example, we advised grouping all the leather straps. Thus, when one strap changes color and material, the others change as well. This removes non-essential steps from the configuration process and offers a simplified and dynamic interactive product customization strategy.
Don’t Copy Your Competitor’s Experience
This point may seem obvious, but there is nothing more human than wanting to replicate an experience that works extremely well, or appears to for one of your competitors. We then say that we only want to draw inspiration from it, and before we know it, we end up with a product configurator mock-up that looks extremely similar to the neighbor’s.
Take a step back, keep only the features that seem essential to you, and then design your mock-up in your own image, highlighting what makes your brand unique.
Your story and your know-how belong to you, and it is up to you to showcase them to inspire others. Go off the beaten path, be creative, and never forget your brand identity.
What worked for others will not necessarily work for your brand. Every product has its own universe and its own set of possibilities. This product-personalization experience must breathe your brand’s DNA.
Ask the Right Questions During Your UX Design Process
The expression “Less is more” speaks for itself.
When designing an experience, always question the necessity of each feature.
Do we need this button if it’s already present higher up on the page?Do we really need this additional pop-up that might never be read?No one likes to be overwhelmed with visual information when opening an e-commerce page. To highlight the product as much as possible, you need to streamline your interface. It should be clear, with the most important information standing out and accessible with the fewest clicks possible.
It’s also important to ensure that additional features are available if desired. For instance, you could add a menu in the corner grouping secondary features or a chat service to better assist your users.
In conclusion, designing a 3D product configurator is a complex challenge that requires meticulous attention to user experience (UX) and user interface (UI). It’s crucial to create a distinctive online experience, avoiding simply replicating the in-store experience. Your configurator should be instructive, engaging, and entertaining for users, while addressing the challenges of online interaction. It should reflect what makes your brand unique, with simplicity and clarity being the guiding principles of your design.
By following these tips and keeping the importance of UX/UI in mind, you are on the right track to creating an exceptional 3D product configurator that will delight your customers and encourage them to engage more deeply in the purchasing process.
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