3D configurators and all kinds of visual sales systems have become more popular among e-commerce sites and businesses. That's because these digital tools can show your products off while allowing your customers to interact with and customize your wares to their heart's content. Giving them this 360° view of what they're looking to buy helps them get a better idea of what you're offering and how they can modify it to their tastes.

More people are likely to purchase from a business that can display its customizable product (and accompanying customization options) in real-time and in 3D—which makes for a more engaging experience, and it's an attention grabber for sure. A 3D configurator empowers customers to tailor-fit the product to their liking, which makes customers happier and more engaged, and happy customers lead to sales. Removing the guesswork makes it easier for your customers to know what to expect.

Once customer satisfaction shoots up, loyalty will, too. Customers will make repeat purchases and even leave a good word or review. I definitely scan through testimonials and reviews first before committing to a purchase, and your customers likely do the same to see if there's anyone loyal to your brand so they can develop this sense of trust. Who wouldn’t be more loyal to a brand after they’ve designed their own tailored product with a configurator?

More loyalty and trust mean your sales will increase as well, as people are far more likely to spend their money on a business with a proven track record.

For example, in the tiny home industry, this is especially true.

Homes are extremely personal, emotional, and significant investments that often involve many psychological factors that influence your decision. You don't just purchase a home willy-nilly, especially one that takes up much less space than a traditional house and has to be built in a very specific way. The deliberate decision to become a tiny homeowner requires a lot of forethought and option exploration, so you want to make sure your customers have no doubts about the home they'll end up getting!

3D configurators are game-changing—let's explore how.

How Does a 3D Configurator Work?

3D configurators work by displaying interactive 3D models in a 3D space. Your customer can rotate the object, zoom in and out, and even check the interior and exterior of what you offer, depending on how complex the 3D configurator is.

With this range of displays, your audience can eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth with you since they can see the product in its entirety. Gone are the days of simple 2D renders or 1-star reviews that say, "It didn't look like the picture." This type of 3D technology is especially important for complex products or products that have a ton of features.

What your customer sees is what they'll get—and they get to choose every step of the way instead of having to ask if it comes in different colors and wait for your customer service to get back to them.

A 3D product configurator is a more convincing way to show off your product, as there's less doubt on your customer's end. Each facet of your product is shown in real time, easing your customer's worries and allowing them more informed decisions. Customers have been burned in the past with their online sales transactions—trust me, those product listings can be deceiving—and they want to know what they're getting into before handing over their hard-earned money. This is why it's important to find the best configurator for you that displays your type of product best.

Think about it: If you were trying to shop online, what would you pick—a site that provides stills, traditional 2D images, and photos or the closest thing to real they can get?

In the tiny home industry, a 3D configurator is a tool that can elevate your business. It helps you close the gap between expectations and reality and deliver the home and the product designs that your customers will truly enjoy.

Are They Easy to Use?

If you're worried that a 3D configurator may be difficult for your customers to use, don't sweat it. They're actually super simple and straightforward. Think about brands like Adidas and their jersey customizers or a Tesla car customizer—that's a 3D product configurator at work!

While the idea of 3D visualization may sound confusing (especially for those who know nothing about developing these kinds of tools), a configurator is really not unapproachable at all. Good configurators are designed with a simple and straightforward user experience in mind. After all, even someone with no technical knowledge should be able to click a few basic buttons to configure their product.

So yes, they should be very easy to use, and your customer doesn't have to worry about not knowing how to maneuver one. They're made to be as simple as possible, so you can just plug and play for your personalized product offering. Usually, the configurator provider takes care of setting the entire configurator up for you, so you can start selling easily!

How Can a 3D Configurator Boost Sales?

When it comes to boosting sales and increasing conversion rates, a 3D product configurator will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Here's how:

1. Increased Customer Satisfaction

Customers won't always like every aspect of a product—maybe the color isn't to their taste, or certain elements, etc. Plus, they won't always know if that's exactly how the product will turn out (some websites even put disclaimers about how the lighting may affect the color, while others may state that measurements may vary from product to product).

This can be frustrating for customers who are trying to buy, especially for more significant purchases they need. Unfortunately, not everyone can fork over a huge amount of money and be fine if what they buy doesn't live up to their expectations, so you have to make sure you hit the nail on the head.

How Does a 3D Configurator Increase Customer Satisfaction?

A 3D configurator will mitigate customers' worries of not getting what they want by showing the product from several angles and changing it in real-time so you can better understand what the end product will look like.

This lets your customers ensure everything is to their taste and preference, making them happier and leading to more sales. This personalized shopping experience can show off your breadth as a business, and your customer can feel at ease knowing they can tailor things to their taste. Product visualization that maximizes every angle is sure to make your customers happy.

Not only that, but customer engagement goes up, too. Customers are directly engaging with the configurator and with their end product, making it more interactive and even satisfying. Positive customer experiences lead to more customer satisfaction, and having a hand in building your dream home can give you an elevated sense of ownership. Wouldn’t you want to buy something that you just “designed” yourself to your exact wishes?

Small tip: Better customer satisfaction also leads to customer loyalty, and it's more feasible (and affordable) to retain a loyal customer than to seek out new ones.

What About in the Tiny Home Industry?

In the tiny home industry, your customers can look through all the cladding offerings, layouts, etc., and find a house with a layout that really suits them, their lifestyle, and their aesthetic preferences. The sales process becomes quicker as they can pick and choose without having to hesitate because they don't need to worry it won't turn out the way they want it to.

The 3D configurations your customers end up with were put together by them, really giving them ownership of their design.

2. Understanding Customer Trends

Once you've figured out what's popular with your customers, you can adjust your product offerings or add elements to accommodate that. Some customers may be totally on-trend and riding the waves of what's the most popular and may not be satisfied if you don't make those offerings. Out with the old and in with the new, as they say (or maybe keep the old around still, just in case it gets popular again, haha)!

If you can meet the expectation of what's trendy, popular, and preferred, you're more likely to close deals. People like being on-trend. Alternatively, sometimes trends are timeless, so you may even have a long-term configuration that will be great for ROI.

Complex products like tiny homes may also go through changes depending on what's popular, so you have to take trends into consideration to stay on top of your game.

What About in the Tiny Home Industry?

Design trends and preferences regarding layouts (cabinetry, kitchens, etc.) may just clue you in on what people are leaning toward. This will be great for sales, as offering the coolest thing in the tiny home environment will attract more customers if you include them in 3D configurations.

When you're on top of what your customers are really liking—whether it's specific designs, shades of cladding, or even vibes—you put yourself at the forefront of the industry because you're the one offering these on-trend options via 3D product configuration.

Small tip: As we mentioned earlier, make sure you don't totally eliminate less popular options either. There are other potential tiny homeowners who may not necessarily like new trends. There's also the possibility of trends coming back around, and the old becomes the new again, ad infinitum.

You could create additional features that show off the more popular options with "what's trending right now" so they can catch their attention immediately. That way, you can still keep your wide range of options. It's a good experience for customers to find the trendy design they saw on Instagram right away while still having every other option available.

3. A More Engaging Online Shopping Experience

Shoppers engage way more (at least 50%) with 3D images and AR compared to photos and videos. Something interactive that encourages increased customer engagement also often performs better than listings that aren't, giving you a competitive edge.

With 3D product configuration, you get your customers' attention right away and can cater to their needs and wants. Not only does it stand out visually on your website (product presentation is always important!), but it also empowers your customers to explore product designs and options. This personalized experience may even catch the attention of customers who are naturally creative.

It's also enjoyable to put something together. Since configurators are such interactive tools, your customers will feel they really had a hand in making their dream product come to life. These types of immersive experiences only serve to make your customers happier and lead to a more enjoyable online shopping experience.

What About in the Tiny Home Industry?

A home is extremely personal. A lot of thought has to go into it, so giving your customers the freedom to figure out what they'd like to include is important. The more engaged they are, the more likely they will purchase.

An interactive experience like this may also help boost their creativity and encourage them to try out different designs and layouts. It can be akin to playing some home-building games, which some of your customers may have grown up with. It can be enjoyable just to design a tiny home and play around with what you can make during the configuration process.

4. Consumer Trust

When you spread the word about happy customers via reviews, case studies, and testimonials on your site or social media, you'll earn more consumer trust. This makes you stand out more in the industry, as people tend to seek out businesses with good reputations (those stars and ratings matter!).

When was the last time you felt totally confident buying something from a business that has no ratings whatsoever? Why do you personally seek out social proof that a business can meet your expectations? You want to make sure that they’ll deliver on their promise. When you meet customer expectations, you gain their trust. Better visibility and great ratings bring in even more customers

On top of regular trust building methods like testimonials, reviews and case studies, an interactive shopping experience using 3D technology also builds customer trust as you set up an in-depth, professional experience that customers can explore.

A business that spends time, care, and effort on its sales process looks and feels more trustworthy than some haphazard photos grabbed from the internet and slapped onto product listings. Simply put, a configurator is something untrustworthy e-commerce businesses wouldn't even consider, much less invest in, as their goal is not to build a business that builds positive long-term relationships.

What About in the Tiny Home Industry?

By investing in a 3D Configurator which creates a more professional process, you can enjoy an increase in sales because of consumer confidence in your tiny home designs, customizations, and business.

Your customers HAVE to trust you, especially with such an important purchase. If you misplace your customers' trust when it comes to the home that they will be living in, it may go south fast. So more trust in your business and making sure your customers have no reason to doubt you means higher conversions.

5. Shorter waiting time for customers means less frustration or hesitation

Immediate quotes and fewer exchanges between you and the customer where they have to clarify every little thing (is this color available? How about this kind of cladding? Carpeting?) make the process more streamlined. This means shorter waiting times and fewer opportunities to lose your customers' interest.

Think about it: you can get back to customers immediately when their purchasing interest is at its highest since the configurator is already there to meet consumer demand. If you wait a few days or weeks because they have clarifications you can't attend to right away (after all, a sales representative or customer service are not robots that can address customer queries immediately), their interest may fade, which may lead to losing the customer or having to warm them up to the idea all over again.

Additionally, some businesses miss leads altogether because their systems may not be the best. A configurator offers an automatic, engaging experience that cuts down waiting time by eliminating the possibility of businesses not getting back to their customers. This quicker turnaround helps you increase the conversion rate of your sales process.

This is also great for the sales cycle, as it will take less time from the first customer interaction until the closed deal, overall speeding up your entire sales process.

What About in the Tiny Home Industry?

When people make real estate decisions, they want to make sure they've got it right because it's such a huge investment. Having that freedom to customize and less anxiety, hesitation, and frustration since they don't have to wait around can speed up conversions.

We definitely believe that choosing a home takes time, but too much time spent rallying questions with your customer back and forth can become frustrating fast. It looks and feels way more professional to have a smooth, quick, streamlined process—and you'll seem more trustworthy as a business that looks like it's got all its ducks in a row.

Why a 3D Configurator is a Game Changer in the Tiny Home Industry

While tiny homes have been around for a while, they still belong to a niche industry that not many people know about, so they may not be familiar with layouts, how they're styled, or what to expect. They may not even know where to start when it comes to designing them!

This is why a configurator can make this process easier, less stressful, and more approachable. Designing a home is hard enough, but a tiny home has its own unique qualities, and many tiny home builders have a huge range of customizable options. A configurator removes the guesswork of what a fireplace might look like in tandem with other features in a much smaller house, and it just shows you what it looks like in real-time, which makes the process so much easier.

Additionally, while configurators have been making big strides for other industries (furniture, sheds, etc.), the tiny home industry hasn't quite caught up—so being one of the first to integrate 3D configuration can help you stand out and really boost your visibility and conversions.

It helps your business stand out, especially since a home is more than just a 2D photo or even blueprints. It's somewhere that will be lived in. Homes are personal, so customizing them to the homeowner's taste is very important. A configurator can ensure this while making the process smooth, easy, and uncomplicated

So, to recap, a configurator can boost your sales by:

• Increasing customer satisfaction

• Understanding trends and what's popular in the tiny home space

• Creating a more engaging shopping experience

• Ensuring consumer trust

• Shortening wait times for customers

Choosing to become a tiny homeowner is a deliberate decision—it means making the commitment to minimalism, being more eco-friendly, and understanding what you need. This shift in perspective lends itself to being more intentional about the tiny home you want to live in, what it looks like, and what kinds of features you think it needs. This is why a configurator can help your business empower your clients to achieve that dream and ensure they want to pick within your product range rather than running off to a competitor.

It's a win-win for everyone involved. Your customers walk away with exactly what they'd been hoping for, and you're able to boost conversions and overall sales, too. Your business thrives, and your customers get to cozy up in the tiny home they've always wanted.

If you're interested in learning more about how a configurator can help your business, give us a call or book a demo with our configurator. We'd love to help you out!