SVS takes augmented reality into the wild resulting in big financial win
INTRODUCTION
SVS rumbled onto the audio scene to challenge the status quo of over-priced, underperforming “high-end” speakers in 2001. Their mission was to bring thrilling and immersive sound to more people than ever and re-energize the desire for awesome sound by bringing passion, fun and expertise into the mix.
Based in Youngstown, Ohio, SVS is said to be the top subwoofer brand in the world and one of the fastest growing speaker manufacturers. How? SVS maintains a uniquely direct relationship with its customers and community by engaging over the phone, via email, chat, social media, at events – any way audio fans want to connect. They listen to feedback, have meaningful conversations, and only develop products that surprise and delight in every way.
Everything SVS does is geared towards making truly immersive sound available to audio fans of all ages, budgets, and interests.
THE CHALLENGE(S)
RETURNS! SVS covers the cost of shipping and returns for their customers, but helping customers determine if the speakers or subwoofers are the right size and shape for their space is actually the most important challenge SVS wanted to conquer. They believe that once a customer has to go through the process of returning a speaker or sound system, they may never come back, so getting this right from the start was top-of-mind for the eCommerce and marketing teams.
Providing a great experience for their customers before the actual purchase had to come first.
Overall results
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“Once a customer makes a return, they may never come back, so providing every chance to get it right the first time was key for us. Letting someone see the visual impact of a subwoofer or speakers in their home is beneficial for both placement and lifestyle decisions, especially since SVS makes products of all shapes and sizes. We also love that the AR tool is fun to use and provides real value as part of the shopping experience.”
— Nicholas Brown,
vice president, marketing
“When we started our research into AR, we loved that these virtual products would take up real space. We knew that in order to get the executive leadership team onboard they would need to be able to visualize this forward-thinking technology, otherwise we’d be dead in the water.” –
— Keenan Davis,
senior director, marketing
THE SOLUTION
Since SVS is constantly leading the charge and innovating – while the competition sits back and watches to see if SVS succeeds – they were ready for something out-of-the-box. The marketing director read some research on emerging technologies and how it was impacting eCommerce – the company’s bread and butter for selling. They discovered that AR was helping shoppers see products that would take up real space and this seemed to be something that the company wanted to try – after all, it fit right in with the company’s product design philosophy of “like-being-there.” Of course, visualizing this forward-thinking plan would take some convincing for the executive leadership team to be seen as more than a gimmick.
THE RESULTS
SVS is seeing amazing results – a conversion lift of 258% and a revenue per visit lift of 382% for shoppers who engaged with 3D & AR on their site. Just as importantly, adding AR experiences has reduced returns by just over 12% when comparing YoY eCommerce conversions since the tools have been live.
While they are seeing great results in the 8 months since the launch of 3D & AR experiences, SVS worked hard to ensure their customers knew what AR was and how to use it. Once implemented, they sent emails to their customer-base, educated the in-house customer support team so they could help walk customers through using AR, and added a landing page on their website to thoroughly explain AR. But, they really got their customers engaged by running an AR contest among shoppers. #SVSInTheWild put the AR shopping experience on the map. SVS and their customers really had some fun with this one!
LOOKING AHEAD
Just as importantly, adding AR experiences has reduced returns by just over Already, customer support is making a big impact: taking phone calls and walking customers through how to use the AR technology. So, their next step is to add video consultations for customers. This will provide a visual example of how to use the experience. They’ve already implemented a “try it for yourself” landing page, so enhancing this by adding a homepage banner is an immediate next step to keep the momentum going.
Try it for yourself
Select any of the images below to launch a SVS commerce experience.
