3D Sales Configurators have incredible benefits if your business offers customizable products. These benefits will be a gamechanger, no matter which industry your business serves.

Here at Tiny Easy our Configurator software solution is specifically built for the niche “small home” industry like tiny homes on wheels, container homes and ADU’s. 

So, I will discuss the benefits of Configurators from the point of view of a building company in the niche small home industry. 

While this blog article is tailored to this niche, it will give you invaluable in-depth examples of how Configurators could benefit your business, no matter if your business is in construction, manufacturing, e-commerce, furniture, apparel… The possibilities are endless..

 Enjoy!

As a business owner offering potential (tiny) homeowners the chance to create their dream product, you want to ensure they can envision the tiny home where they'll spend lifelong memories or host the perfect Airbnb. However, translating a dream home from vague features and Pinterest mood boards can be difficult, and your client may not end up with what they envision at all.

Your client probably has great ideas for their tiny home but can't always express how they want it to look or what they want the atmosphere to be like through words alone. This is why a 3D sales configurator may bridge the gap between your client's vision and the end product.

A 3D Configurator is a game changer if your business offers a range of pre-designed “staple models” with somewhat standardized options. This can include materials, finishes, upgrades, or even layout changes like kitchen variations, or different window placement and add-ons.

3D product configurators offer your client the complete product design process without having to leave the comfort of their homes or seek out physical samples that may not fit together in the end. With the 3D product customization experience, selling and building projects will be an absolute breeze, and the turnaround time from a build to a sale will be all the quicker. With this powerful tool, your client's online shopping experience when they’re browsing for their future home will be (tiny) easy and smooth sailing. It'll also ensure that they choose your business for their project

Your customer can design the tiny home of their dreams, no mess, no fuss. Customizable products like tiny homes are a breeze to put together with the help of a configurator, and the customization process is as simple as the click of your mouse.

Here are eight great benefits of a 3D sales configurator for your business.

1. Better Customer Engagement and Sales Process

The personalization and customization that come with a 3D product configurator are hard to ignore—your customers can enjoy a more engaging personalized experience and put together a house themselves in a seamless and guided process.

They can customize to their heart's content on their own. This interactive experience will feel a lot more fulfilling as they're adding their own personal touches in real time via 3D technology and seeing their design change right in front of their eyes. This is a lot more involving and visual than browsing your brochure of options, inclusions, and upgrades that you might have quickly slapped together to get up on your website.

They may have some ideas about what they want but lack the know-how and expertise about how the house may come together. Thankfully, 3D visualizations can mitigate this challenge. In fact, according to Google and their research into the online shopping experience, shoppers engage 50% more with 3D images compared to static ones, meaning that 3D configurators may just be the solution you're looking for.

An immersive experience at this level increases customer engagement, allows your clients to get exactly what they want (or even more), and increases your chance of making a sale or getting a highly qualified lead.

2. Design, Sales, and Build Move Much Faster

In the “Design & Sales phase,” your customer doesn't have to wait days or weeks just to see what their house might end up looking like. They can see it on your website and add, embellish, or remove as they see fit (within boundaries). Your sales team can even do this with them during a sales meeting. The quicker they finish the design, the sooner the deal will close, and the house can get built, making everyone's timeline more efficient. 

Nothing’s better to communicate with your clients than an interactive 3D model you can see in real-time with a wide range of options.

Turnaround time and the production process will move exponentially faster. Rather than designing a custom home for every customer, the client gets a personalized home made with repeatable, standardized options. This makes your production more efficient, saving crucial time on the production floor. Quicker client conversions & production make for a happy company. 

Because product development is sped up, your customer will have a key in their hands for their tiny home in no time.

The improved speed at which everything gets done may even attract other potential customers, boosting your business, accelerating the sales process, and earning client trust as you go along. Who doesn’t want a fast turnaround time?

3. Alignment with and Insight into Customer Preferences

Having a 3D sales configurator not only allows your customers to create as they please but also gives you a better idea of what trends are popular in the tiny home product sphere. Figuring out customer preferences can also help you adjust your marketing approach and create new models and staple designs that align with those aesthetic options, which can attract more potential customers.

Interactive shopping experiences like this can help you hone in on the market's trends, what people like, and what's rising in popularity. Once you've figured out that, for example, Scandinavian-style builds are in and more old-school architecture is out, you can adjust your product offerings.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of what's currently in demand is important so you can offer those styles to your customers immediately and help them customize to achieve that style. Knowing what your customers and what people in the tiny home circle are looking to experiment with or try is a great way to stay on top of what you can offer them.

Being customer-focused and paying attention to what they want or need is important, and 3D configurators with proper insights can help you build a product range that’s a step above the competition.

4. Increased Customer Satisfaction and Decreased Product Returns

Because your client is already customizing independently, they're more likely to be satisfied with what they've created with the interactive tools you've provided. It's something that they decided on, which decreases the likelihood of any dissatisfaction on their end since they signed off on the final design. This makes it a positive experience for customers.

You want your customers to be raving about their personalized home. The last thing you want is to get a disgruntled review six months later that your customized design doesn’t feel right anymore.

With such an engaging product experience that aligns with their needs and wants, their dream product rests on their imagination and what they deem necessary. Your customers will walk away happy with the design process and the engaging experience with the visual configurator and can look forward to living in a home of their own design. Effective product visualization is no sweat for a configurator.

Meeting customer expectations is one thing, but going above and beyond may secure their loyalty. Happy customers often spread the word about their satisfaction with your business, especially if it was a personalized shopping experience made all the better with efficiency and good customer service.

5. Brand Value and Customer Trust in Your Company Increases

Happy customers reflect positively on you and your brand, which can lead to good reviews, testimonials, and even word-of-mouth that can increase your brand value. Consumer confidence goes up, and you'll be known for successful project after successful project.

Homes are, by nature, conspicuous and easy to evaluate. Once other people see the end result of your 3D sales configurator and how your customers brought their dream home to life, they may seek out a tiny home of their own and look to you for their own customization process.

6. Self-Service Means Less Pressure on Customer Support and More Positive Experiences

Since your customers have the option to add and customize as they please or get your help as experts who can recommend certain features or builds, there's less pressure on customer support since most of the 3D visualizations and user experience are on the customer's end. 

Sure, you may be helping them if they ask for it, but constant calls, emails, and customer support tickets will be a thing of the past since they're getting things done on their own for the most part.

After all, you don’t ever want to be the tiny home builder who’s known for not getting back to inquiries.

Personalized products, even tiny homes, are less likely to receive complaints or require heavy intervention from the brand since the client is the one making the changes themselves within your predetermined options that you know will work. This minimizes long waits for customer help and support, as well as more positive experiences and a deeper connection all around for everyone involved.

7. More Upselling Opportunities

Even if your customers already know what they want and go through the complete product design process, you can take that opportunity to also show them or display other products or additional options that may complement their design. Your visual 3D configurator platform can suggest other customizations, additions, or options that your client may not have thought of.

This opens them up to more options and ideas, and can even have them change their design to accommodate upgrades or better customizations. Order value goes up, and your customers may be happy to know that there are more choices and alternatives they can choose from—ones they probably didn't even think were possible.

Your marketing strategies can include this option if you feel your customers may want something they didn't initially consider. As experts in the industry, you might also have an insight into what goes well with certain designs, so you can weigh in if you feel your customer may be willing.

8. Rising A Cut Above Your Industry

The tiny home industry, while still pretty niche, is gaining popularity with more and more builders popping up left and right, so you want to stand out from the crowd.

This is why differentiating yourself from your competition is crucial, and offering an engaging 3D configurator can set you apart. 

Think about it, what’s more engaging for potential customers? A basic website with some pictures and a standard “contact us” form, or a sleek, well-thought-out process, walking you through your designs in 3D in real time, inviting your customers to explore, play, and dream.

You might become your customer base's first choice only because you have such a service, and they can understand the complexity of tiny homes more immediately with your 3D visualizations compared to what your competitors may offer.

Product configurators with 3D customization options help you quicken the process, and a customer that can see what they've been dreaming of rendered quickly, accurately, and professionally are more likely to trust you with their tiny home dream.

So, Why a 3D Sales Configurator?

Ultimately, 3D configurators make the tiny home visualization and selling process quicker, granting excited tiny homeowners their wishes even faster. Complex products like tiny homes can be hard to envision, so a tool that shows them what they're getting immediately can only benefit you and the variety of options you may be offering your clients.

3D product configuration helps you get:

• More qualified customers

• More sales & revenue

• A faster sales cycle

• A higher average order value

• A more efficient production process

• Competitive advantages by standing out with an engaging experience 

• A way to tweak your product range to customer insights

Your customers can move into their new tiny homes within a fraction of the time they would normally with traditional design and build services or static models of products and with all the bells and whistles they've always wanted. E-commerce platforms and automotive industries love 3D visualization technologies because customers have a better idea of what they're getting.

Giving your customer the reins with highly customizable and sophisticated real-time 3D configurators will improve the process significantly for everyone involved. Your business thrives because of how effective the software is, your customer is able to personalize to their heart's content, and everyone is able to celebrate another step forward in the tiny home movement.

A 3D sales configurator is wildly helpful, and it's surprisingly pretty easy to add to your business website so you can share your expertise with your customers. It's a seamless integration, so you don't even have to worry about it looking clunky. 3D product configuration is ultimately a game changer—so make sure your business stands out!

If you want to learn more about how you can set your business apart with our 3D Configurator and experience all the benefits we discussed, give us a call, shoot us an email, or book a demo.