Lookr (AR Tryon Solution)

Lenskart, a leading eyewear e-commerce and retailer with 400 stores and a revenue of $50 million (2.5 million units), faced challenges with its 2D Virtual AR Try On feature. Despite being a promising feature, it showed low retention rates (2%) and high drop rates (70% users dropped midway). As the Lead Product Manager, my role at Innovation Labs involved managing a team of seven and tackling these issues head-on.

Lookr (AR Tryon Solution)

Lenskart, a leading eyewear e-commerce and retailer with 400 stores and a revenue of $50 million (2.5 million units), faced challenges with its 2D Virtual AR Try On feature. Despite being a promising feature, it showed low retention rates (2%) and high drop rates (70% users dropped midway). As the Lead Product Manager, my role at Innovation Labs involved managing a team of seven and tackling these issues head-on.

Lookr (AR Tryon Solution)

Lenskart, a leading eyewear e-commerce and retailer with 400 stores and a revenue of $50 million (2.5 million units), faced challenges with its 2D Virtual AR Try On feature. Despite being a promising feature, it showed low retention rates (2%) and high drop rates (70% users dropped midway). As the Lead Product Manager, my role at Innovation Labs involved managing a team of seven and tackling these issues head-on.

Lookr (AR Tryon Solution)

Lenskart, a leading eyewear e-commerce and retailer with 400 stores and a revenue of $50 million (2.5 million units), faced challenges with its 2D Virtual AR Try On feature. Despite being a promising feature, it showed low retention rates (2%) and high drop rates (70% users dropped midway). As the Lead Product Manager, my role at Innovation Labs involved managing a team of seven and tackling these issues head-on.

For:

Lenskart

Role:

Product Manager

Year:

2019-20

For:

Lenskart

Role:

Product Manager

Year:

2019-20

For:

Lenskart

Role:

Product Manager

Year:

2019-20

For:

Lenskart

Role:

Product Manager

Year:

2019-20

Problem Prioritization & Data User Personas


Inventory management was a major problem area for Lenskart. Real-time stock location was not available, leading to a 15% sales loss as stores had to close to map inventory. We also had a high dependency on offline stores, which constituted 80% of our staff strength and 30% of our spend was on real estate. To prioritize, we used a criteria based on problem impact, customer experience, scalability of solution, and cost.

User personas were divided into three categories:

  1. Offline Tryers (30%): Prefers in-store trials and constitutes 70% of offline revenue.

  2. Online Tryers (20%): Prefers online shopping due to time constraints.

  3. Hybrid Tryers (50%): Try online first and buy offline. Highly impacted by online user experience.

Based on the user journey and personas, we decided to focus on improving the online AR Try On experience.


User Pain Points


We identified several pain points for the users:

  1. Multistep entry and required actions from users.

  2. Improper face detection.

  3. Difficulty in browsing through 1000+ frames.

  4. Lack of intuitiveness and wow factor in the 2D AR experience.

  5. High loading time of the output.


Solution Designing & Versions


To address these issues, we developed three versions of the AR Try On feature:

V1 - Swipe & Tap: A design upgrade that introduced gamified browsing and easier comparison through tapping. We learned that design needs to be more than just scrolling a list.

V2 - 3D AR: A technology upgrade using AR Kit and AR Core for a brand new AR experience. Despite the high loading time and need for a separate app, this version taught us that technology research should be ongoing.

V3 - SDK Integration: The new AR was incorporated into the existing flow for both Android and iOS. Despite the manual building of 3D files and heavy 3D files management, this version taught us that a small team can indeed do wonders.



Success Metrics


The new AR Try On feature showed significant improvement:

  1. Retention on the feature increased to 70% from 2%.

  2. Conversion increased from 7% to 16%, a 150% growth.

  3. Daily active sessions reached 150k, constituting 40% of total sessions.

The new AR Try On feature was a key technology proposition that helped Lenskart raise $350 million in funding and became a centerpiece in marketing campaigns.



Key Decisions/Challenges Faced & Summary


In the design phase, the swipe feature, tap-tap feature, and one-page app were key decisions. Technical decisions included using AR Kit and AR Core, SDK development, and zipping of 3D files. From a product perspective, SDK building, reducing the 4-step to 1-step process, and prioritizing 3D try-on were crucial.

Despite the challenges faced, the successful transformation of the AR Try On experience showed the importance of continuous prototyping and metrics-based decision-making.

The Lenskart AR Try On case study is an excellent example of how empathetic product management, constant iteration, and thoughtful application of technology can significantly enhance the customer experience and drive business growth.


Key Learnings and Future Direction


Throughout this transformative journey, several critical learnings emerged:

  1. Understand your User: It's vital to invest time in understanding user personas and their pain points. This understanding serves as the bedrock for all subsequent product development efforts.

  2. Iterative Design and Development: The three versions of the AR Try On feature (V1, V2, and V3) demonstrated the importance of iterative design and development. Each version offered an improvement over the previous, incrementally enhancing the user experience and addressing user pain points.

  3. Leveraging Technology: The effective use of AR Kit, AR Core, and SDK integration showed how modern technologies could be leveraged to provide a more engaging and intuitive user experience.

  4. Performance Metrics: Regularly monitoring key performance metrics helped us gauge the effectiveness of our solutions and make necessary adjustments. This data-driven approach ensured we were moving in the right direction.

  5. Teamwork: This project reaffirmed that even a small team, when focused and dedicated, can produce significant outcomes. The successful transformation of the AR Try On feature was a testament to the concerted efforts of a talented team.


Looking ahead, we had planned to further refine and expand the AR Try On feature. We aimed to reduce the manual effort required in building 3D files and address the issue of size fit. We had also foreseen opportunities in expanding this feature to include other products beyond eyewear, paving the way for a more immersive and extensive online shopping experience.