Boost Customer Satisfaction With Configure Price Quote Tools

Need an easy and affordable process for your sales team to save time generating quotes for complex configurable products? Look no further than Configure Price Quote (CPQ) tools. These software systems are designed to accelerate your sales process by automating slow, arduous tasks and reducing the workload of under-pressure teams.

In this blog, we'll explain the benefits of CPQ tools and the advanced features to look for. We’ll also look at how augmented, and virtual reality advance your way of doing business. 

By the end of this blog, you will clearly understand whether your company would benefit from a CPQ tool and, if you already have one, how to ensure you fully utilize its capabilities.

Keep reading to learn more!

What Does Configure Price Quote Tools Mean?

Configure Price Quote (CPQ) tools are sales tools that help businesses quickly and accurately generate quotes for configurable products. These tools typically include features for configuring products and services, calculating prices, and, as mentioned, generating quotes and proposals in a variety of formats. 

CPQ tools are flexible for various industries, providing delightful value to manufacturers of complex, configurable products. These companies frequently offer hundreds of thousands of technical options, attributes, and components, so they find it hard to provide a smooth customer experience. Price is tough to get right since there are so many moving parts, and developing quotes, estimates, and proposals takes a long time. 

Some basic features of CPQ tools include:

• Product configuration:  It allows users to select precise options and features to examine quoted products. Instead of relying on pen and paper, they use an intuitive graphical user interface. The software's product rules guarantee that each setup is error-free and optimized for the customer.
• Pricing estimation: CPQ calculates the pricing in real-time for the set product based on the chosen features and options.
• Quote and proposal generation: CPQ automatically creates estimates and proposals with a professional appearance depending on the configured good or service and the calculated cost.

Many CPQ tools include features that allow multiple users to work on a quote or proposal simultaneously, making it easier to collaborate and get approvals. They also integrate with other business systems, such as CRM, ERP, and eCommerce platforms, providing seamless workflows. 

The Benefits of CPQ Tools

Here are some ways a robust CPQ tool can improve your business:

1. Faster Sales Cycles: Time-consuming sales procedures are automated by CPQ software, making the sales process more efficient and simplified. Providing customers with quotes can take weeks for manufacturers using traditional methods, but with CPQ, quotes take seconds,
2. Greater Accuracy: The potential for human error is decreased, and most of the back and forth that creates delays is eliminated. Guaranteed accuracy at the configuration stage removes engineering bottlenecks. 
3. Enhances Customer Satisfaction: CPQ quoting solutions produce precise quotes and proposals in a second, simplifying client lives and fostering better bonds and loyalty.

Transforming Your Manufacturing Technology Through CPQ 

Manufacturers of configurable products should consider installing a CPQ system with additional features beyond the previously mentioned to maximize efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance the customer experience. The critical feature to look out for: is 3D product configuration. Let’s find out why.

Key benefits of 3D Product Configuration

CPQ system 

As we already discussed, CPQ enables customers to customize items through a graphical user interface (called a configurator). It’s a big step up from the napkin sketches on which many salespeople still rely. However, 

CPQ configurators vary significantly in how they function from a user perspective. And some perform far better than others. The best are visual.

Visual product configurators enable users to configure products by interacting with lifelike 3D models. They can drag and drop to assemble their perfect configuration–tweaking materials, colors, and dimensions as they go–until they have the optimal design for their use case–at the right price.

While selecting a CPQ tool, aim for one with the most powerful visual features. You don’t have to use them right away. However, as customer expectations rise and you struggle to set your products above that of your competitors, you’ll soon wish you had prioritized visual product configuration over anything text-heavy.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are the most potent visual technologies on the market and are included in some CPQ tools. This is how they work:

Augmented Reality (AR) 

AR provides users access to view 3D models of configurable products on their smartphone or tablet. Content is linked to specific locations in the real world using a technique called “marker tracking.” When a user observes a real-world location using their device's camera, the digital material is superimposed onto the image of the actual world. This creates the illusion that the digital image is a part of the physical environment, enabling users to see how a configurable product will look in situ. 

Virtual Reality (VR)

VR allows users to experience and interact with a simulated environment as if it were real. It’s typically accessed through a headset that covers the user's eyes and ears and sometimes includes hand-held controllers that vibrate as users interact with the world around them.

Manufacturers can utilize VR to create complete virtual showrooms containing products buyers can examine and use. Salespeople can “meet” with customers virtually, wherever they are in the real world. Like AR, VR configuration experiences can be delivered entirely online.

An Overview of Visual Product Configuration

Is visual product configuration a worthwhile investment for your company? Here are the core benefits to help you decide:

1. Incredible Customer Experiences: An engaging and transparent purchasing experience is provided by letting users use interactive 3D models to design and customize their products. Adding AR and VR makes the experience fully immersive, attracting new customers, helping you stand out from the competition, and marking you as a manufacturer on the leading edge of digital transformation.
2. Boost Win Rates and Market Potential: It provides access to transparent and entertaining buying journeys, allowing users to design and customize their own products using interactive 3D models. Visualization adds clarity. Showing customers their finished products before they order builds trust and confidence.
3. Cut Cost:: By providing customers with a visual representation of their customizations, manufacturers can reduce the risk of poorly-optimized products or misunderstandings, leading to fewer returns and refund requests. 
4. A Larger Total Addressable Market:  The ability to sell complicated products online expands the market size, enabling manufacturers to break out of the confines of their local customer base and reach a global audience.

Wrap-Up

Configure Price Quote tool is a perfect solution for businesses that sell complex configurable products. It can help in improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. These systems streamline product configuration, pricing calculation, and quote and proposal generation, automating them and reducing the risk of error. 

Manufacturers can enhance their customer experience and extend their sales process with cutting-edge features like 3D product configuration and augmented and virtual reality. Moreover, these features encourage customer engagement, accuracy, and revenue.