3D product visualization: how it helps eCommerce business

You have a product you're proud of and a digital platform to display and sell it. It may seem, what else does one need for a profitable business? And there's sense to it, almost. Since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, people have massively turned to online shopping, which now has transformed into something between a habit and a default option.

But here is a pitfall.

While eCommerce is in its prime and is going strong, so is the ruthless competition. It's estimated there are 12 to 24 million shopping websites worldwide. 

It's no longer about just building a digital platform to sell products online. Now is the time to level up your game and put extra effort into a wow factor that would channel prospects to you.

"How exactly to do that?" — you'd ask. Well, let us tell you.

3D product design is one of the powerful solutions to win in eCommerce competition, boost online shopping experiences and increase sales conversions. It's a tool with a whole set of opportunities, from welcoming users with an eye-catching 3D logo on a homepage to showcasing your product in all its glory.

3D design provides photorealistic images with a 360-degree view of an item's color, pattern, or texture, forming an overall interactive experience that inspires users to engage with the product, perceive its value and more importantly – buy it. There is even a new way of shopping powered by the use of 3D product visualization called 3D commerce.

Keep reading to learn how employing this technology can turn your business around.

3D product visualization attracts customers’ attention.

Creating 3D eCommerce website gives you a significant upper hand in the competition arena. While your target audience can be used to conventional 2D product representation, you have a chance to deliver a fresh approach and win over customers' attention.

3D rendering opens a new level of opportunities to showcase a product using the design rule: show, don't tell

{{Andriy Gaday}}

3D models are easier to update

Photo and video shoot of a product is a meticulous process that demands perfect lighting and positioning with further color correction or retouching. But what if you upgrade your product or need to make some changes to it? Chances are, you'll have to go through all of it again. 

3D images are more flexible in terms of alterations. Let's imagine you want to change the position of light on a 3D product image. Not a problem — a professional will make some tweaks. When it comes to photography, it can be tricky because you'd need to redo the photo shoot to get that natural light or turn to photoshop, but there is a chance your image won't get the level of realism it deserves.

3D product visualizations level up shoppers' engagement and retention

3D design creates a satisfying shopping experience and positively influences user experience that immerses customers into your product. Instead of static two-dimensional images or plain text, your audience is in for an interactive experience they wouldn't want to leave. For example, users can rotate, zoom in and out a product or play with an item's patterns, colors, size, etc. It's a next-level personalization that makes a website come alive and can elevate customer engagement by 66 percent.

We see the world in 3D while the Internet keeps offering us flat images. So when browsing a website, our eye catches three-dimensional visuals with elaborate textures and natural-like light — our attention is automatically drawn to it

{{Kyrylo Lopushynskyi}}

3D design minimizes product returns

You can imagine that with online shopping, customers take a tiny leap of faith in how a product would look when delivered. They might not fully grasp its dimensions or appearance in a particular setting. So what do they do when it doesn't meet their expectations? They return it.

3D visualization helps solve this challenge by potentially dropping returns by 35 percent. With three-dimensional visualization, customers feel more in control when online shopping as they can view an item in close detail from a variety of angles.

3D product presentation nudges shoppers toward purchase

3D design is a powerful tool to convey the very essence of a physical product through the screen, close enough to real-life experience than 2D images could ever do. The latter is a great and conventional choice, but with 3D product modeling, we bridge digital magic and the physical world. Customers get a feel of a product, can visualize using it, and grow more confident to make a purchase. With an increased certainty about an item and its value 3D provides online shoppers, your sales can grow by 40 percent.

With an increased certainty about an item and its value 3D provides online shoppers, your sales can grow by 40 percent.

3D visualization in action. NODO case

We have broken down key benefits you can derive from three-dimensional modeling. Now, let's explore the power of 3D product visualization with Lazarev. agency's real-life case.

Please welcome our client — NODO Film Systems. These guys thought it was time to bring something fresh to the movie industry. So they embarked on a journey to change the filming scene with cutting-edge camera controllers featuring circuit-board motors — Inertia Wheels Max. This type of technology was previously available in military applications, but the NODO team reimagined it and came up with a brand-new solution in cinematography. 

Leveraging the product, video and movie makers connect it to a camera, rotate and spin the latter and create various simulations for breathtaking shots with just fingertips.

On our end, we offered 3D product design services and advised the NODO team to create an interactive website design hosting 3D models or 3D commerce, in other words. The challenge was to showcase NODO's unique value proposition, present the wheels in all their glory, highlight their benefits and elevate audience reach. 

So we outlined the direction to move in — to deliver an immersive digital experience to build an emotional connection with potential customers and engage and empower them to learn about the product's features.

And here's where 3D product design plays its central part in eCommerce business. The choice landed on this tool as it rocks at conveying the ins and outs of physical items and grabbing website visitors' attention. 

To show the product's aesthetics and characteristics, we went for a three-dimensional model welcoming potential customers right on the top of a web page. People can check out the device, including its texture, buttons and display, and have a feel of using the wheels even through the screen.

Also, our goal was to let customers discover every inside detail of the NODO Wheels by just scrolling a web page. Such an approach allows them to look beyond the wheels' exterior, helps shape their minds about the very essence of camera controllers, and provides a playful experience that users enjoy.  

As you can see in the visual below, Lazarev. designers used 3D modeling to the maximum. They broke down the product's construction for the audience to see the work of one-of-the-kind circuit board motors that bring the whole thing to action. And the beauty of the three-dimensional visualization is that to show the product's internal mechanism, there was no need to disassemble the actual wheels. Why? Because modern animation technology and our skilled 3D artist took care of it, none of the real camera controllers were brutally damaged. That's the magic of the digital world.

What do we have in the outcome? A combination of interactive 3D, eye-catching animations, and horizontal scrolls that dives customers into a NODO offering and inspires them to explore its features and website overall. People can see the product even from the inside and be more confident about the value it presents. It's a win-win situation if you ask us.The proof of a successful work is an 8% email list growth in the first month after the website launch.

Closing remarks

And there you have it. What can you take from this blog post apart from the lucrative benefits of three-dimensional visualization? 3D commerce is not a new black in web design yet, but that's what makes it business leverage. 

Customers' expectations of online shopping will likely continue evolving along with growing market competition. 3D product visualization can help you keep up with the demand and even exceed it, as well as to be ahead of the market race and set a new standard of online customer interaction. 

Are you eager to bring your product representation to the next level with 3D modeling? Go ahead and connect with us.