New Tool Lets Your Customers View Your Products In 3D

We recently learned about a 3D product configuration and augmented reality tool from Protex, and we were impressed:

• The tool gives consumers an easy way to visualize products on their personal vehicle
• The tool is fast and easy to use (and kind of fun too)
• There’s a way for consumers to view products in virtual reality too (no headset needed)

The best part? The tool doesn’t cost as much as you probably think it does. For the right application, it will pay for itself pretty quickly, in fact.

This is obviously something many parts and accessories manufacturers and retailers will have an interest in, so we reached out to Protex and spoke with company co-founder Noah Osborne. UPDATE: Protex was acquired by RealTruck in July 2024.

Can you describe your service as if we nothing about it?

The automotive parts industry is complex and difficult to navigate as a consumer. This decreases conversion rates, average order value, and customer satisfaction. Protex solves this problem by providing businesses with a better way to sell their products, a 3D Product Configurator that is easy to onboard, works with your existing e-commerce platform, and has a proven track record of driving revenue and return on investment.

While the market need for a tool like Protex has been understood for years, the technology has been unable to deliver the necessary user experience, until now. Our innovative web-based computer graphics and CAD model optimization software allows users to experience a full 3D Product Configurator in less time than loading a single high-resolution image. While this would seem like a service that would break the bank, it’s surprisingly affordable.

What’s your standard ‘elevator pitch’ for your company?

At its core, Protex is a tool designed to increase profits by simplifying the online buying process. It uses 3D and augmented reality (AR) technology to visually represent your products in an interactive, user friendly space, allowing customers to easily explore, modify, and confirm that products are the right fit for their particular vehicle. The result of utilizing Protex is twofold: customers find assurance and clarity in their purchasing journey, and businesses see a genuine increase in sales and order values.

Basically, Protex is about making things clear yet informative for everyone involved in the buying process.

What does it take to get a 3D model setup and running?

The exact details will be a little different for every company, but basically:

1. We’ll create 3D renderings of your product(s) from whatever CAD files you have
2. We’ll put these product renderings on renderings of relevant vehicles, and you can make sure they look correct
3. We’ll give you a simple to embed “widget” that you can add to your website
4. Your customers are now able to visualize your products on your website

We charge a fee to do the initial setup, and then a much smaller fee to provide hosting and support on an ongoing basis. Most of our clients see enough sales and revenue growth to cover the cost of our system in just a few months.

Can you tell us briefly about your experience in the auto parts industry?

Before starting Protex I operated a commercial manufacturing business where we ran into many of the same problems seen in the auto parts industry today. Customers had questions about fitment and configurability but more than anything they wanted to know how the products they were interested in were going to look in the options that they were exploring. And, like in automotive, product pictures alone often led to more questions than answers.

I’ve been an automotive enthusiast since before I could drive and growing up on a ranch I was always working on various builds with my brothers in the shop. We would daydream about having a tool where we could add all of the products we wanted to see on our trucks like a video game. So in 2020, with the pandemic slowdown, we finally decided to make this dream a reality and Protex was born.

What is your favorite part of the job?

My favorite part of working with new clients is reviewing the Protex conversion metrics a month or two after they’ve gone live with a Builder and hearing how excited they are about the outsized revenue that our tool is driving for their businesses.

Are there common misconceptions people have about your products or services?

People often believe that 3D product configurators are difficult to integrate onto their sites and that it will be incredibly expensive to get onboarded. With Protex’s done-for-you setup and our proprietary onboarding automation neither of these concerns are the case.

Another valid concern that we often hear is that a 3D configurator will drastically slow down their site, hurting SEO scores and negatively affecting site traffic. While this is the case with nearly every other 3D tool on the market, Protex is able to load a 3D builder on a web page faster than a high-resolution product photo. This means that our clients are seeing sizable SEO ranking lifts after going live with a Builder. This helps to increase site traffic, engagement, and most importantly conversion revenue.

What are the 3 most important things people need to know about your company?

1. Protex increases website conversion rates by up to 42%.
2. Builder pages increase average order values (AOV) by up to 52%.
3. The cost to get onboarded is much lower than most expect and we get most customers live within a matter of weeks.

How long has your company been in business?

We have been in active development since 2020 and launched the product at the start of 2023.

How do you see the market for your service changing over the next 5 years?

A shift is happening in the consumer economy. A digital shift. In a short five years, we are going to see the market for 3D Product Configuration and Augmented Reality become ubiquitous with the buying experience. Across marketing and sales, customer support and brand activation, companies are going to rely on this technology as a central tenet of their business. We are hoping to be a trusted partner to the automotive industry during this exciting phase shift.

Summing Up

Choosing to add 3D imaging and/or augmented reality options to your auto accessories and parts site is a great way to engage more visitors, see more conversions, and reduce product returns. Protex’s innovative web-based computer graphics and CAD model optimization software allows users to experience a full 3D Product Configurator in less time than loading a single high-resolution image. The company’s software automation and plug-in creates a seamless onboarding experience that can be up and running in a matter of days or weeks. You can interact with a live 3D demo here, or contact Protex for a demo of their augmented reality tool.