How home24 increases conversions with room visualization

Summary

Founded in 2019, home24 is a leading pure play home and living e-commerce platform operating across continental Europe and Brazil. Initially focused exclusively on digital furniture sales, the company eventually began offering a range of private-label home decor and lifestyle products. This culminated in the establishment of several physical showrooms and outlets, an important step towards home24's ultimate goal.

"We aim to revolutionize and simplify how people buy home and living products, '' explains Gianluca Randisi, formerly Brand and Content Marketing Director, home24. 

As of early 2022, Randisi was promoted to home24's VP of Product. He continues:"A big part of that is meeting shoppers where they are rather than requiring them to drive to an outlet. Ensuring each shopper can find a product they love through an easy, uncomplicated service that provides the same experience online for shoppers as if they were in-store."

Challenge: Decreasing Returns through an Interactive Online Shopping Experience

Home24 faces many of the same challenges as any retailer that sells furniture and home decor online:

•  Higher returns due to limited product photography.
•  Buyer hesitancy due to insufficient product details. 
•  Inability for customers to match/visualize how a product might look in their space.
•  Concerns about product delivery and assembly. 
•  A costly returns process. 

Like most e-commerce companies, home24 experienced considerable growth during COVID-19. Although the impact of this growth was largely positive, it also further exacerbated the issues described above. 

"We frequently saw return claims from people who realized only after buying a product that it was too big, too small, or simply didn't fit their space aesthetically," explains Randisi. "We knew that the best way to reduce such claims was by making our product detail pages (PDPs) more interactive and informative. This would also result in both a better customer experience and increased conversions."

Enter Tangiblee: Recreating the In-Store Shopping Experience Online

A customer shopping in one of home24's physical outlets gets a firsthand look at what they're buying. They can compare the dimensions, color, and design of a product, allowing them to know for certain whether or not it's a fit. Home24 sought to provide online buyers with the same experience enjoyed by outlet shoppers.

This eventually led Randisi and his colleagues to Tangiblee. "We were evaluating three or four different vendors, but ultimately chose Tangiblee for both its simple integration and its collaborative approach to partnerships," says Randisi.

Before committing to a full deployment, home24 ran two limited pilots–one in March - May 2020 and the other in January - March 2021. After each pilot, Randisi and his colleagues compared products that used Tangiblee to those that did not. Specifically, they examined return rate and conversion rate. 

During the two pilots, home24 also ran a user lab, from which feedback was highly positive.

"Between the results of our pilot and feedback from our user lab, the benefits of Tangiblee became very clear," explains Randisi.

"Our customers were quite happy due to the improved user experience. And the pilot tests showed a broad reduction in returns and an increase in conversions."

Home24 initially integrated Tangiblee into the product pages of its largest, bulkiest items first before eventually expanding to furniture and some limited segments of home decor.

Results: More Customer Engagement, Significant Increase in Conversions

"The first thing I really noticed about Tangiblee was that we could integrate it without allocating too much time or too many resources," says Randisi. "Working with Tangiblee has also been an amazing journey. They've been incredibly supportive and collaborative." 

Since deploying Tangiblee to its German website, home24 has seen a broad improvement in returns across multiple categories.

Customer engagement time is already up, thanks to Tangiblee — with the average customer interacting with Tangiblee for 30 seconds or more. Overall, Tangiblee has helped home24 increase conversions as well as increase the number of products added to cart. 

"The implementation overall has been very smooth, due to continuous collaboration between home24 and Tangiblee," Randisi notes. "And it's had a very positive effect on engagement — people spend more time on a PDP when using Tangiblee."

"I'm always skeptical when onboarding a new solution, because salespeople usually set the bar much higher than they can deliver. I was pleased to see Tangiblee deliver exactly what they promised."

Final Notes: From Comparison to Fully Integrated Lifestyle Imagery

"Tangiblee is great at responding to feedback, and genuinely invested in helping us thrive. I really appreciate that we can build a business-oriented relationship that still has that human touch." 

Currently, home24 is exploring the possibility of expanding Tangiblee into other countries, and is engaged in an ongoing conversation with Tangiblee about lifestyle imagery. 

"We want to simulate the setting and environment of each customer as accurately as possible," says Randisi. "Lifestyle content has an important role in that regard, particularly where furniture is concerned. It's a natural next step from the improvements we've made to engagement — one more way we can improve the customer journey." 

Home24 also regularly confers with Tangiblee, sharing feedback on a recurring basis and working to create a roadmap for future implementation plan, while also leveraging Tangiblee's analytical and strategic expertise.  

"Ultimately, Tangiblee is exactly the kind of partnership I always look for," Randisi concludes. "To them, we're not just a client or a company, and to us, they're not just a vendor. We're both part of the same team."