Is 3D the new normal for the assembly instruction manual?
If you’ve ever built a piece of furniture from IKEA (we all have), you know the pain and struggle it can be to get it right. Understanding the drawings, which sometimes seem more like a puzzle than a set of instructions.
Of course, one way to improve the experience would be to simply improve the drawings and try to fine-tune the written text on the paper. But it seems that a new and better solution is on the horizon: 3D assembly instructions.
What is a 3D assembly guide?
If you want to get the best idea of how a 3D assembly guide could work, look no further than LEGO. Not only has LEGO perfected (or at least come very close to perfecting) the building experience with paper instructions. They are also on the cusp of making the transition to digital 3D assembly instructions. Of course, LEGO sets still come with the iconic paper instructions that fans love, but more and more sets now come with digital 3D assembly instructions.
What are the benefits of a 3D assembly guide?
The 3D instructions have many advantages over the traditional way of building. You can look around corners, change angles and get closer to the part of the product you are building.
This tailored experience makes the building experience much easier for the customer. Of course, mistakes can still be made, but overall a 3D guide should reduce the error rate in the assembly process. Gone (almost) are the days of having a screw left over and wondering where it should go.
What are the disadvantages of a 3D assembly guide?
Depending on the digital assets you have available, it can be a costly affair to get a 3D production of all the elements of the product you are selling.
Depending on the industry and your target audience, it may also be a bit early to invest in digital instructions, as the target audience may not have adopted this new way of building.
How do I start building a 3D assembly guide?
Step 1 – 3D Files
The first thing you need to do is identify the products for which you want to provide a digital assembly guide. Once this is done, you should look at the digital assets you have at this point. Do you already have finished 3D files? CAD drawings? Images only?
Depending on what you have, you may need to obtain final 3D files of the products and individual elements (depending on how bespoke you want the experience to be). If you need help identifying this part of the process, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Step 2 – Implementation
Once you have the 3D files ready, you should incorporate the experience into your sales journey. One way of implementing the digital assembly guide could be to have a QR code in your normal manuals and in your help archive on your website.
Make sure that the solution you use for the 3D assembly instructions has tracking, so that you can check and analyse how many of your buyers actually use the digital instructions over the traditional manual (we would advise you not to replace the paper instructions until you are sure that the adoption of the digital instructions is high enough).
Step 3 – Adjustments and monitoring
Once the solution is live (as with all digital projects), you should monitor and analyse performance. What are the pitfalls clients are experiencing? Are you getting a lot of the same questions from support and can you implement a solution in the assembly guide? Should you extend the assembly guide to other products, or are there perhaps some of the products you are using it for that should be removed?
These are some of the questions you should be asking and answering to improve the customer experience.
Need help implementing a 3D assembly guide?
Want to learn more about how to implement a 3D assembly guide? At The Planner Studio we specialise in working with 3D on the web and 3D configurators. You can view some of our work here.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.
