Visualizing customization: The impact of product visualization modalities on user-friendly description in online configurators

This study investigates the influence of various product visualization modalities on the user-friendly product space description capability of online sales configurators (OSCs). As the possibility for customers to self-customize a product becomes more and more common in e-commerce, understanding how different visualization techniques affect OSC users’ comprehension and decision-making is important. We examine ten visualization modalities, including 2D and 3D visualizations, augmented reality, and virtual try-on, across four aspects of user-friendly product space description capability: comprehensive presentation, balanced description, adaptability to user expertise, and versatility in highlighting product capabilities and structure. Using data from 516 evaluations of different OSCs, we employ regression analysis to examine the effectiveness of each modality. Our findings reveal that static and semi-interactive modalities, such as 2D visualization and virtual images, consistently enhance user-friendly product space description capability across all its considered aspects. In contrast, more complex modalities, such as 3D walkthroughs, show mixed results. We also explore the impact of visualization timing and gender differences, finding that end-of-configuration visualizations generally outperform real-time updates. These insights contribute to the optimization of OSC design, potentially improving user experience and decision-making in digital customization environments.