SXSW Dispatch, Part 2: Touching Me, Touching You

Sweeeeeet Caroline... oh, sorry, got carried away for a second there.

As we alluded to in yesterday’s post, today we’re going to talk a bit about touch. Specifically, where touch is at, where it’s going, and why it’s finally relevant in-store at the point-of-purchase.

Oh, and why it may be inherently obsolete.

In one panel, hosted by some digital agency named Sharp Flounder or Cutting Shark or something I can’t remember, the participants considered the way that today’s touch interfaces are creating more engaging in-store experiences. By now, we know the obvious benefits to the consumer; in a world where Immersive Sensory Experiences are the norm, the consumer has come to expect this level of engagement. However, the panelists made the great point that these experiences improve the experience for the salesforce as well.

When the immersive experience makes the selling process more enjoyable for the consumer, the interaction between the consumer and salesperson becomes collaborative (to find the right solution) instead of combative. The presenters gave the example of a car dealer working with the Microsoft Surface, guide the customer through the normally complex buying decision via a show-not-tell virtual experience. (Here’s an example created for Audi.) Furthermore, consumers now demand both customization (requiring enormous choice) and simplified shopping (requiring cultivated choice), which a standard brick-and-mortar retailer (and especially a car dealer) cannot realistically address this with their on-hand inventory. Instead, the customer can get all the tech specs from the internet (which they’re increasingly doing anyway), while the salesperson can focus on addressing the customer’s concerns and unanswered questions.

But, that’s not all. It also helps the bottom line. Take consumer electronics, for example. The category happens to be plagued with a lot of buyer’s remorse, as people realize they just spent hundreds of dollars on a product that’s bound to be obsolete/dropped/soooo-not-cool in a matter of months. Returns ensue, and everyone loses. But, the presenters discovered that they were able to significantly reduce buyer’s remorse (and thus, returns) by enabling consumers to personalize the products before they even entered the store. Using a touchscreen kiosk elsewhere in the mall, consumers could walk themselves through the entire shopping and customization process before they even set foot in the store; see the video below for more.

Then again, touch is “today.” Tomorrow, is touch-less.We’re starting to see this already with augmented reality, which is sort-of-almost touchless at this point (since most applications require you to hold something in front of the camera – although that’s about to change, too). We’ll dedicate a whole post later, but the LEGO video at the top of this post should be enough to get you thinking about how the point-of-purchase experience can be seriously augmented (pun intended) with these services. How engaging is the process of picking up a box of LEGOS, looking at the picture on the front, and maybe shaking it around a bit? Not much. But, seeing the completed project in 3D (and with live action) brings to life the true potential of what’s in the box. (Should we mention that it’s Delighting the Consumer with a Hidden Surprise? Yeah, we should.)

But, no, tomorrow won’t require you to hold up a marker to a camera. Tomorrow will be gesture-based. Gesture-based experiences are right around the corner (expect Project Natal to hit sometime in the next twelve months and change everything), and will inevitably be more intuitive and user-friendly because they mimic typical human movements. Without going too deep into the future, we can see how this will work with a current technology: RFID tags. RFID-enabled products are now capable of being reactive, as demonstrated by the Sniff dog (shown in the video below). When different tagged objects are placed near the dog, he (I assume it’s a he?) responds in a variety of different doggy-dog ways. And this, folks, is a simple illustration of where interactive, immersive, engaging experiences are going. There’s no intermediary (a computer screen, a kiosk, etc.) coming between the user and the immersive experience, engaging the consumer in unprecedented ways.

Man, the future’s gonna be cool, isn’t it? More to come tomorrow.