Your website product configurator should work for you, not against you.
By providing an easy-to-manage, flexible, centralized solution for managing how products can and should be sold, businesses can accelerate their GTM agility, reduce system administration costs, and increase selling effectiveness across channels with Logik.io
Why is Logik.io's Commerce Logic Engine for Product Configuration a Game-Changer?
Flexible & Intuitive
Give your sales reps the tool they need to deliver a quote for products and services that fit exactly what your customer needs. No more picking through part numbers and product lists. Let Logik.io guide every seller to the perfect solution.
Maintain a Single Source of Data
Logik.io enhances the "C" of Salesforce CPQ, and is built directly on the Salesforce platform and within the Salesforce data structure, so you can still leverage all your product data in one central place. Logik.io works right alongside your existing system.
Lightning Fast Speeds
Logik.io adds a proprietary solving engine to Salesforce CPQ built to handle advanced product configurations with split second speed speed for sales reps to produce quotes faster for every product, for every customer, every time.
Table of Contents
Section 1 Website Product Configurator
Website product configurators have seen a huge rise in adoption since the beginning of the pandemic.
As in-person purchases were swapped for online shopping by consumers, businesses had no choice but to go where their customers were. This caused a rapid shift to digital commerce methods.
As shopping trends moved further and further toward personalized and custom items, many businesses across industries decided to give people what they want. Customizable items became near-ubiquitous online to meet consumer demand and remain competitive. This new eCommerce landscape made online configurators all but a necessity.
So, what is a website product configurator, AKA online configurator? Well, the answer can be found in the original product configurator meaning. A product configurator is a type of business software solution that allows products to be tailored to the needs of the customer. It's been around for a while now, and it has evolved quite a bit over the years.
Traditional product configurators were first used in brick-and-mortar retail stores as well as by sales reps to create a product that exactly matches the customer's requirements. A website product configurator is just a product configurator adapted to eCommerce. You can think of it as the software that puts the "C" in CPQ.
As the software advanced, new features and capabilities were added, making it much more useful. Online shoppers are much more reluctant to go through with a purchase than in-person shoppers due to their lack of contact with the items. The inability to see or interact with products before a purchase — especially custom items which wouldn't look exactly like the product photos — made them uneasy.
The implementation of a 3D product configurator elevated the online shopping experience by showing customers real-time 3D product visuals to help assure them that their product would be exactly what they wanted. Product configurator websites are a great source of information to learn more about website product configurators. They also often provide helpful usage and implementation tips like product configuration best practices.
Section 2 Product Configurator Examples
Product configurator examples can be a great way to better understand how online product configurators work, the various types of configurators available, and the incredible value they provide.
For some businesses, especially smaller and newer businesses just starting out, a simple product configurator will do just fine.
However, many businesses — like those with a large product catalog, complex configurations, and sophisticated logic rules — need something more powerful. Another thing to consider when deciding on the right software for your business is the product configurator UX (user experience) that you want to provide. User experience is a huge factor in crucial KPIs like customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and customer retention.
An interactive product selector uses guided selling to walk customers through every step in the most logical and optimal order. The 3D and/or 360° visuals also allow customers to have much more interaction with the product images. They can move them to see every angle, zoom in on details, and even get additional product information from interactive hot spots. It's the gold standard in product configurator UX.
If you're looking for a great example of a more complex online configurator, Mercedes has a comprehensive 3D, 360° configurator at the core of their eCommerce experience. It walks you through every step of the customization process starting with the vehicle type and model. Then it moves to the exterior features like the color and wheels.
After that, it moves on to the interior options and custom add-on elements. The entire process is made fast and easy. You can see every angle of the car as you make changes, and they use dynamic pricing to update the price with every selection. You can even switch between night and day to see what it looks like in different lighting conditions.
If that seems like overkill for the kind of products and configuration options you offer, then you might be better off going with a simpler option. The 3D product configurator for WordPress is a good example as it starts off basic and allows you to choose only the add-ons you need.
Section 3 3D Product Configurator Software
3D product configurator software helps bring dynamic renderings to life.
When users can tailor products to their needs, they're much more likely to make a purchase and be satisfied with the outcome. The 3D visuals allow them to see the product as if it were right in front of them. This level of interaction makes people much more confident in their purchase decisions.
The benefits that come from adding an online product configurator to your eCommerce website are numerous and impactful. The guided selling functions help to decrease friction in the buying process to keep shoppers from getting frustrated and abandoning their carts. The infinite options and combination possibilities you can add also keep them on the site longer and make shoppers more engaged.
The process can be a lot of fun and help ensure that the product they end up with meets their needs as closely as possible. All these elements create an incredible experience that customers love! A website product configurator is the perfect way to get more sales and keep customers coming back for more.
Many businesses choose to start by dipping their toes in the water via a 3D product configurator plugin rather than going with a full system solution. The best 3D product configurators tend to be from companies with years of experience in the industry like our partner Threekit.
However, things change rapidly in the world of business technology. It's possible that by the end of the year, the list of best 3D product configurator software of 2023 might be filled with new options that have yet to emerge but take the sector by storm. We'll just have to wait and see.
Section 4 How to Build a 3D Product Configurator
Many eCommerce architects are wondering how to build a 3D product configurator.
3D configurator software exists to address all types of products, scales, and levels of complexity. It's important to have the right option for your business, products, and configuration options. It won't be possible for most businesses to achieve the right fit with a homemade option.
It's possible to get a 3D product configurator free online. However, they won't have anywhere near the capabilities of the top options created by experts with years of experience. There will always be those who are determined to figure out how to build a product configurator that does everything the most comprehensive paid options can despite this being nearly impossible.
The top online product configurators were purpose-built by dozens of eCommerce, 3D visualization, business technology, programming, and CPQ experts. Plenty of people dead set on doing it themselves have learned how to build a product configurator in Excel, and some have even been able to teach themselves to code an option from scratch.
However, an individual who isn't an experienced professional can't match the results of an entire company of experts collaborating for years. This kind of complex technology takes time, effort, and resources to build. That's why they're so amazing at what they do. No free or DIY software option will be able to come close.
Companies like Logik.io are working from years of trial and error with the proper funding for research and development, the best hardware and software options, and the ability to hire experts in several related fields. The idea that just anyone who decides to try making a configurator could compete with that isn't realistic.
Section 5 3D Product Configurator Open Source
While the practice of using a free 3D product configurator isn't the right option most of the time, it does have its uses.
Finding a 3D product configurator open-source option can help new small businesses to get a leg up when they can't afford and don't need a powerful solution with any of the bells and whistles.
They can also be a gateway for businesses to try out configuration before committing to a particular solution. Finding the right online product configurator takes time and at least some understanding of how they work and what the different features do. A free website product configurator can help businesses learn the basics and see what features they may need.
There are many different types of 3D product configurators online for free. Some of the most common options are built using some variation of Java. To find options like this, try searching for "JavaScript product configurators" or "Three.js product configurators." GitHub is a great place to start looking.
SHARE