How to Pitch VR/AR Projects to Your Customers

Augmented Reality: State of the Market

Let’s start by clarifying the influence AR is already exerting on a variety of business fields. It’s always best to understand the potential of the market to make sure the technology is worth chasing.

AR Market Overview

In 2016, the global AR market was valued at only $1 billion. By 2020, that figure had grown to $17,67 billion, and experts foresee a compound annual growth rate of 43,8% from 2021 to 2028.

The major driving factors of this growth are:

• The demand for remote assistance and collaboration;
• The need for better workflow management and optimization;
• The continuing penetration of handheld and wearable devices.

Because of these factors, companies are actively exploring ways to offer their customers customized and interactive experiences, as well as improve the way they work.

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AR streamlines workflows and offers new experiences in a variety of fields, including:

• Healthcare;
• Retail;
• Manufacturing;
• Entertainment;
• Logistics; and
• Real estate.

It’s not always the case that companies apply AR to their workflows on their own. More often than not, implementation is completed by a third-party vendor with relevant expertise.

Let’s talk about those vendors for a bit.

Competition in the AR market

Companies that provide AR solutions are dedicating a lot of time and resources to research and development; they continue to innovate, integrate new technologies, and build better AR software in hopes of gaining a competitive edge over other vendors.

To aid them in that process, bigger market players are striking deals with small participants such as startups that make major breakthroughs in developing the technology, primarily pitching AR projects.

Here are a couple of examples of companies investing in AR startups:

• Google: invests $14.5 billion in AR startup Blue Vision Labs in August 2020;
• Facebook: in October 2020 relaunches Spark AR Partner Network program, which helps AR creatives and brands connect to provide new experiences on Instagram and Facebook.

Among other big AR market players are:

• Microsoft;
• Apple, Inc.;
• Sony Corporation;
• Blippar Ltd;
• Infinity Augmented Reality Ltd.;
• Niantic, Inc.;
• Zappar Ltd.;
• Magic Leap, Inc.;
• Wikitude GmbH.

Opportunities in the AR Market

As smartphones continue to dominate the field, being the primary computing devices for most people, businesses try to offer new use cases for those devices using Augmented Reality.

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Demand for an effective UX design, hardware development, and growing interest from all kinds of fields make for a propitious investing environment, creating opportunities for further technology advancements and AR market growth.

But with more and more companies competing for the AR market, this raises some concerns.

Threats in the AR Market

As with any new technology, the use of AR can carry risk for both providers and end users.

It’s crucial to have a good understanding of those risks and threats in order to address them successfully.

Let’s take a closer look at the main issues:

• Privacy. The new technology opens new opportunities for hackers to deceive users and steal their data. If not protected correctly, Augmented Reality software can be prone to malware, social engineering attacks, network credentials theft, and damage through unreliable and unauthenticated content;
• Denial of service. A sudden loss of access to the information stream might not be as bad for a social media platform as in some other situations, but let’s not forget that AR is being relied on in all kinds of fields and situations. For professionals dealing with critical situations, being cut off from crucial information poses a real threat.
• Physical damage. Not only software but the AR hardware can also be easily compromised if no precautions are taken. Damaged wearables that do not work properly or have vulnerabilities can harm both the user’s privacy and physical health.

These basic factors should give you a good idea of the market size, potential, and risks involved in the AR field.

Now to the important part: how do you make your AR project pitch as appealing as possible to the client?

Let’s take it step by step.

Tips to Pitch AR/VR to Your Clients

So, you completely grasp the positive impact AR technology will have on your client’s business.

Here’s what you can do to articulate that well as you pitch an AR project.

Get some hands-on experience with AR

Video demos and reading just can’t replace the impact of the hands-on experience. Trying out the technology for yourself and studying it thoroughly will help you better understand its strengths and weaknesses.

That will help you clearly and vividly explain the value of AR.

It will also help you identify the AR use case that best suits your pitch to a particular client.

Make a SWOT

A great way to make your point more compelling is to validate it through some stress testing.

Be prepared to show the value of your pitch by clearly stating the strong and weak points of the technology and pointing out how various risks can be mitigated. Being aware of the weaknesses of your idea will prepare you to counter arguments against it effectively.

A SWOT analysis is helpful in organizing your pitch successfully. Here’s what you should consider:

• Strengths. Figure out the main advantages of your idea. Point out helpful use cases and try to articulate the exact benefits the technology brings;
• Weaknesses. Think about the challenges that could hinder implementation of the technology or affect the user experience. Include factors that are both in and out of your control, since all of them are essential for correct feasibility evaluation;
• Opportunities. Identify the opportunities that an AR project opens for the client that weren’t available before. Make sure to describe all the benefits and the opportunity they present to get an edge over the competition;
• Threats. For AR projects, threats are for the most part connected with the time and resources required. Be sure to analyze the costs for your intended AR implementation to come up with an effective rebuttal to any objections.

Make a point about the target audience and customer journey

Identifying your target clientele lies at the heart of successful business growth. Understanding the customer persona(s) who will purchase your product or service, and the problems they need to solve, is essential to figuring out the core value of the product or service.

Having experienced the AR for yourself, try to analyze the potential audience of the AR product and how the technology can enhance their experience.

Your analysis of the “customer journey” will help showcase how the interests of the customer and the business intersect. Try to figure out how your idea may help make the customer journey easier or more straightforward.

Demo the technology

For many people, “seeing is believing.” You can take advantage of that core idea to demonstrate the value of this technology in your AR project pitch by presenting a demo of AR technology on a particular situation.

Try to choose a use-case similar to that of your potential customer. Getting hands-on experience with AR as it’s used within the actual target customer journey will be most effective in helping the client understand the added value.

Show the potential of AR implementation with statistics

You know that a technology is onto something when big companies start investing in it.

As mentioned above, the Augmented Reality market is continuing to grow at a high CAGR. On top of that, demand has been boosted tremendously by the growing trend toward remote work and learning.

Be sure to demonstrate AR’s growing influence. Use statistics to show how AR is influencing nearly every industry, from retail to healthcare, and how much money is invested every year.

How HQSoftware is Helping AR and VR Startups Grow

Partnering with startups, HQSoftware takes responsibility for the technical part of every project and supports bright ideas with strong engineering skills.

Startups turn to HQSoftware for the whole range of software development services, from building MVPs to deploying enterprise-grade systems. HQ specialists conduct individual project estimates that help startups ensure that their project is viable and financially supportable.

One of our clients is a creative agency from Norway that pitches AR development to their clients in order to build modern interactive solutions that end customers will love. Partnering with this startup, HQSoftware provides AR MVP development services and makes thorough project estimations.

In one such project, developers at HQSoftware built a 3D model of an FPSO vessel for one of the largest power operators in Norway. Customers can use a mobile application to view the vessel in AR, in real or smaller size.

To sum up

Pitching AR projects to your clients may seem like a sophisticated task, but once you prepare statistics and arguments that prove the value of AR software in general, you can handle any pitch.

Using the information in this article, you can successfully explain the value of the AR/VR market and how it will grow in the future, describe the major opportunities and threats AR presents, and understand what arguments to use when pitching AR projects.

Have an AR/VR software idea and need a reliable technology partner? Contact us to discuss collaboration opportunities or get a free project estimate!