aUGMENTED rEALITY
Try-On Strategies

Key topics: Ensure realism in clothes, enable authentic representation of users through an avatar, build trust in the shopping experience through transparency & more natural displays, and make sure to create a seamless & coherent customer experience & user journey

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Usability Issues

• The model looks unnatural/unrealistic. Users may not feel comfortable with the avatar, may lose trust in the application, and may not feel well-represented with the digital tool. Quote from a user: "It seemed a bit like dressing a cadaver (off-putting)".

• Image rendering was of low resolution, which impacted customers' willingness to complete a purchase.

• A lagged loading time may also negatively affect the digital experience.

• It was not very intuitive to adjust the digital model to users' proportions, especially because people don't always remember all their metrics or may not have a measuring tool available to do so. This may lead to inserting wrong sizes, ordering the wrong products, and ultimately needing to return them, decreasing customer satisfaction. 

• The practicality of the tool needs to prove itself for the intended purpose, otherwise, customers may not use it. Quote from a user: "It is more like a fun tool than a useful one."

• The user journey seemed to be disjointed since options to select clothes, create an avatar, and try the pieces on it were not effectively well integrated. 

• It was not very intuitive for some users how to adjust the avatar once it was created. 

• Users could not rotate the digital model to examine clothes from different angles, reducing their interest and satisfaction in the experience.

• Some elements related to users' demographics were not considered to customize the avatar, e.g., skin color, body shape, hair color and length, and disabilities. 

Recommendations to improve usability

• Enable a technology capable of assessing customers' measurements from a live image or uploading a file to obtain users' measurements from an integrated AI functionality. Alternatively, provide users with instructions in an interactive way, informing them about the need for a measuring tool to have an improved experience. Also, provide a size guide to orient users on the clothes fitting sizes based on their measurements.

• Generate digital twins of customers to use them as models in the application or provide the option for users to create their own avatars. After customers have gone through the process of elaborating their own digital model, they may build the feeling of having a more authentic representation of themselves & build trust, which can help increase chances of purchase completion and customer satisfaction.

• Revise the customer journey to make the overall shopping experience more compact and cohesive, in a way that follows a meaningful flow and matches users' expectations/mental models of the steps needed to complete the purchase aided with an avatar and 3D renderings.

• Combine both icons and text (labels) to provide users with cues into what they can do in the interface and how they can progress in their shopping journey, and reduce scrolling and clicking around.

• Relevant affordances should be designed and placed at visible locations on the interface to give users sufficient control over the settings of the application.

• Clothed avatars should be also given the option to be rotated, enabling users to view items from different parts. In addition, it would be useful to consider dressing the digital models with basic clothing, to avoid displaying them naked on the screens. This aspect may be also influenced by different cultures or countries, where people may be more conservative or liberal.

• Customizable elements related to users' demographics & diversity representation need to be considered, e.g., skin color, body shape, hair color and length, and disabilities. 

• Make sure that the clothes on the avatar look realistic and not as a picture/3D image to foster trust in customers considering buying the product. Identify ways to enable users to have a more authentic perception of clothes fabric/texture.

• Enable users to save their preferences, especially body measurements, to avoid needing to resize the avatar on each session.

Suggestions to enhance the value proposition

• Enable the possibility for users to move the avatar to a personal shopping assistant for advice on styles, colors, and fitting options.

• Provide the possibility to share dressed avatars with friends on social media, to engage customers and enhance brand visibility. Also, enable getting feedback from friends on matching clothes, suitable colors, and designs, e.g., through a survey embedded in posts.

• Sell special/exclusive items as NFTs in addition to the physical versions, facilitating certain customer segments with digital assets that they can wear on various digital communities/environments. 

• Include social proof to provide evidence on the reliability of the fitting tool, e.g., success statistics on how well the tool has worked and sustainability KPIs derived from less transportation and returns. 

• Ensure transparency on the fitting and product quality, so that customers get realiable information on how the product will look like on them and what material they can expect.

• Provide more detailed exploration of the product from different angles and sizes, e.g., with zoom-in/out options, pictures of the real item in high resolution, videos, and descriptions of the materials. 

• Enable users to combine clothes with pieces they already have and help them find matching pieces, based on a certain style/personality they are looking for, e.g., combining products with other ones purchased at the same store or uploading an image of an item they have at home from another shopping experiences.