Augmented reality is no longer just a gadget reserved for e-commerce giants. It's a marketing lever that redefines the user experience. By enabling visitors to visualize a product in their own home, test a look in real time or follow an interactive tutorial directly from their mobile, AR reduces doubt, increases engagement and boosts conversion.
Brands such as IKEA, L'Oréal and Sephora have understood this. And if their strategy works, it's not because of a wow effect. It's because they're using AR to meet a real expectation: to see better, to understand better, to choose better.
At if/else agency, we don't sell false promises. We know that a well thought-out experience, connected to your marketing tools, can transform a simple site into an intelligent conversion channel. This is exactly the role that augmented reality can play in your HubSpot ecosystem.
Why augmented reality is becoming a business issue?
The evolution of online user expectations
Today, scrolling down a product page or reading a description is no longer enough. Users want to see, test and manipulate. And above all, they want to do it right away, without friction. AR meets this need for instant projection.
Immersive mobile applications are exploding. Scan a QR code, point the camera and the object appears in the real environment. No need to download. No need for imagination. The user visualizes, understands and decides faster.
This need for personalization and direct interaction is becoming the norm. And in this context, AR is no longer a bonus: it becomes a clear response to well-established expectations.
What AR changes for the customer experience
Augmented reality transforms a passive visitor into an active user. It's no longer simply someone consulting a page. It's someone who interacts, who tests, who appropriates. The emotional impact is immediate. Attention is captured. Doubts are removed.
AR introduces a break in the often linear and uninvolving purchasing process. A powerful, useful, memorable experience. This is what creates real differentiation. And what, in concrete terms, turns a simple interest in a product into an intention to buy.
Real-life use cases that boost engagement and conversion
Virtual fitting and product projection
This is undoubtedly the best-known and most effective use case. IKEA has understood this very well: allowing users to visualize a sofa directly in their living room, to scale, in just a few seconds. The result: immediate projection, fewer product returns and a faster purchasing decision.
And IKEA is not alone. Eyewear brands are using AR to test a frame on the face. Cosmetics companies offer to apply lipstick virtually. Decoration sites let you visualize a painting on a wall or a lamp on a table. Each time, the same logic: make the purchase more concrete, more intuitive, more reassuring.
Tutorials and augmented visual assistance
In a B2B or B2C context, AR can also provide support, training and guidance. Users point their smartphone at a product and see assembly instructions, maintenance instructions or gestures to reproduce.
This is particularly relevant in technical or industrial sectors, where paper instructions are often complex and errors costly. But it works just as well for consumer appliances, connected objects or DIY. A fluid, clear, visual experience... and one that reduces calls for support.
Immersive campaigns and interactive storytelling
AR is also a powerful creative lever. Some brands integrate interactive experiences on their landing pages: simulators, games, quizzes or scripted journeys.
An example: a user scans a packaging, discovers a scene in AR, interacts with the elements and ends the experience by receiving a personalized offer. The aim is twofold: to create a strong memory and capture valuable behavioral data (time spent, actions performed, preferences expressed).
It's no longer simple communication, it's a controlled and measurable immersion.
What are the marketing benefits for brands?
A more engaging experience
Augmented reality transforms a simple visitor into an active participant. By soliciting visual and gestural attention, it mechanically increases the time spent on the page. Users click, test and explore. The result: soaring interaction rates and a memorable experience - a rarity in an often linear acquisition tunnel.
Enhanced conversion
When users can visualize a product at home, handle it virtually or better understand how it works, they hesitate less. This explains the drop in product returns observed among brands using AR.
But the effect goes beyond e-commerce: in the case of complex products or services, AR becomes a simplification tool. Users understand the offer better, project themselves more easily... and convert faster.
Exploitable CRM insights
Every interaction in an AR experience can be traced, measured and linked to a contact. Which products were tried? How long did the user stay in the experience? Did they click, scroll or click again?
This behavioral data enriches your CRM and opens the door to personalized nurturing scenarios. When integrated into HubSpot, they can be used to adapt campaigns, refine scoring and trigger automated follow-ups with high conversion potential.
How to integrate AR into a HubSpot strategy without complexity
Accessible tools for initial use
You don't need a 3D studio or expert developers to get started. Platforms such as ZapWorks, Vectary or Aryzon offer accessible WebAR solutions, often no-code or low-code. They enable the creation of simple experiences (product visualization, mini-simulation, interactive animation) that can be exported in iFrame or via a simple link, making them perfectly compatible with the HubSpot ecosystem.
On-site integration scenarios
In concrete terms, where should AR be integrated? Where it can make a real difference to decision-making:
- On a product page, to project a piece of furniture or an accessory in a real space.
- On a pricing page, to make a complex offer more tangible.
- On a blog post, to illustrate a concept or guide a manipulation.
These experiences can be integrated via a custom module in HubSpot CMS, or simply added in the editor with an HTML block. It's fast, fluid and doesn't cost the earth.
Simplified marketing tracking and follow-up
Every AR interaction can be exploited as a strong signal in your marketing strategy. Launching an experience = score +10. Clicking on a fitting button = triggering a workflow. Time spent in animation = behavioral segmentation.
HubSpot lets you save this data in the contact's timeline, automatically update personalized properties, and even trigger targeted marketing sequences. You're not just creating an animation: you're opening up a new channel of engagement that can be tracked, measured and activated.
Why if/else agency is interested
An active watch on immersive, high-performance uses
As HubSpot experts, we don't just follow trends: we test them, deconstruct them and assess their real potential. Augmented reality is no exception. We regularly explore new immersive formats to understand how they influence attention, engagement, product understanding or decision-making.
And above all, we look at how these experiences can fit into a HubSpot strategy: tracking, segmentation, nurturing... AR that doesn't provide data is just for show. That's not our approach.
A business-first, ROI-oriented posture
The wow effect is good. Measurable impact is better. We're not interested in free animations or out-of-context immersive gadgets. It's about augmented formats that solve a real marketing problem: improving reassurance, shortening a sales cycle, transforming a product page into a conversion point.
This is the logic behind every AR integration: as an additional activation channel, connected to your data, your tools, your business objectives.
What if augmented reality became your next conversion lever?
Augmented reality doesn't replace your content, it enhances it. It gives them a new dimension: more visual, more interactive, more memorable. And when well integrated into a CRM journey like HubSpot's, it doesn't just amaze. It engages, it reassures, it converts.
See better, understand better, decide better: that's exactly what your prospects expect. And that's precisely where if/else agency comes in, with a hands-on, pragmatic, results-oriented approach. Because transforming the user experience isn't a special effect. It's a strategy.
Crédit : Photo de David Grandmougin sur Unsplash
