Sales increase through product configurator

Author: Walter Burgstaller

You want more sales? Then it is important today to think about using a product configurator. Many customers first find out about products on the Internet before they approach a company. The ability to configure products individually can increase the conversion rate. With a product configurator, customers can put together and order the desired product directly on the website, which can lead to higher customer loyalty and subsequently to an increase in sales.

If a company uses a product configurator, this can lead to an increase in sales of about 10%. Yes up to 20%, 30% and even more - this is how the manufacturers of platforms for product configurators advertise. We at Combeenation also advertise this. These figures do not come from us, but from our customers. So where do the sales increases come from and how reliable are these figures? Well, one important aspect is certainly that a percentage figure alone says little or only a part of the whole picture. So if a startup sells 11 products a month instead of 10, that's 10% more. If it sells 13, that's a plus of 30%. You can see what I'm getting at. If a company is already one of the top 3 manufacturers in its industry and country and sells 100,000 products per month, a 10% increase in sales will already be a big challenge and plus 30% will be utopian anyway.  Often these percentages refer to a single product and not to the entire turnover of the company. So a percentage figure in itself only says something to a limited extent.

We explain below which factors need to be taken into account in order to achieve the desired increase in sales using the product configurator.
 

More leads and customers for increased sales

One of the most important prerequisites for successful configurators and the associated increase in sales is to generate appropriate traffic on your website. For small, unknown companies - such as startups - this is usually the first hurdle. If no one knows that you exist and no one visits your website, the configurator cannot generate more sales. Therefore, invest in traffic first or at least at the same time. You can't skip this step. Traffic also means brand awareness. But now it gets more exciting. Because a configurator naturally also helps brand awareness. Nowadays, consumers do most of their research on the Internet before they contact sales staff. This is true not only in B2C, but also in B2B. And here we all hardly differ. Enter the search engine, visit the first hits. If the respective website delivers exactly the information we are looking for, we stay. If it's just a small thing that bothers us, we're gone, don't come back and keep searching. This is exactly where a product configurator makes the difference. Visitors can individualize and experience the product. This experience is an important factor - spending time with it, using a personal background image, setting the scene for the product or placing it in its own environment using AR.
 

UI and UX for increased sales

An often underestimated aspect is UI and UX. UI refers to the design and visual layout of user interfaces, such as buttons, menus, and icons. UX refers to the overall experience a user has when interacting with a product or service. This is where often seemingly small changes can make all the difference. What is the goal of the configurator? Keyword selling additional options. Who is operating the configurator? Keyword personas. Unfortunately, mistakes are often made in the basic approach, especially when the inside view defines the design of the user interface and user experience and little to no consideration is given to the needs of the users.

Everything done right - and still no increase in sales thanks to a product configurator?

Was everything done correctly, enough traffic, enough visitors to the configurator, UI/UX are right, product was added to the shopping cart and there is no additional sales? Yes, even with a product configurator you can still lose customers. You have to ask yourself the question: Who sells? The configurator or the store system?

Then the answer is clear: the configurator sells. The store system is solely responsible for the shopping cart and smooth checkout. And yet, a lot can be done wrong here as well - there are many statistics and articles on this on the Internet.

Here are a few examples, without going into detail:

• the desired payment system is not offered 
• the delivery costs are too high 
• delivery is not made to the desired country 
• the return conditions are too restrictive  
• or in the worst case, the payment is simply not possible

This is frustrating - for everyone involved. These examples make it clear that the best configurator and the most website traffic are of no use if crucial mistakes are made in the check-out process. Even our hands are tied here.

How now more sales?

Let's take our customer Vespa. Maida Turkic from Vespa puts it in a nutshell: "The crucial thing is that the configurator sells." That's right, that's what it's all about. Vespa has had 6x (600%) more online orders since using the configurator and thus a total increase in sales of 10%. Without knowing the absolute numbers in Euros of Vespa, one can imagine that the increase in Euros is correspondingly high and the configurator pays off.

Or B+N Industries in the USA, which sells high quality system furniture. They don't have a shopping cart, so the check-out is a "simple" email request. CEO Brad Somberg says: "The configurator delivers what it promises, more customer inquiries". And up to 30% as he told us. Also B+N Industries is not a small company and serves companies like Bank of America, Mc Donalds, Starbucks or Disney. So again, the revenue increases are significant in absolute terms. We can continue the list of successes. More about this in our case studies.
 

Are all configurators now automatically successful?

Of course, we also have customers with little or hardly any increase in sales. Always when too little traffic is generated or the product itself is no longer in demand. No configurator in the world can help. Some B2B customers believe, for example, that the configurator does not have to run on a smartphone. A brief consultation with your marketing department will tell you how high the smartphone user share is on your website.

The configurator is not always used with the aim of increasing sales. In B2B, the aim is very often to simplify complexity for the company's own sales staff, to be able to create an offer more quickly, and to create fully automated data for production and assembly.

Conclusion

If you have a configurable and/or customizable product for which there is a demand and you take care of sufficient traffic on the website and have a smooth checkout (store system), you will also make more sales with a properly implemented product configurator. Is there a guarantee? Of course not - just like in real life. However, the probability is very high.
 

Essential factors for more sales with product configurator

In order to be successful and generate more sales with a product configurator, you should be able to answer yes to the following points:

• I have a configurable or personalizable product
• There is a demand for my product on the market 
• I have sufficient traffic on my website or product page (be careful with startups or unknown companies)
• I have a clear goal that my configurator is pursuing (for example, increasing sales or supporting sales) 
• The UI/UX is right for the users of the configurator (personas are created)
• I take care of a consistent and constant adjustment and data maintenance of the configurator (like new products, options, prices, ...)
• I guarantee a smooth checkout (store system, email request, ...)

You want to increase your sales? Contact us, we will help you calculate the profitability of a configurator and tell you how to get a successful configurator for your product.