The business case for succesful 3D Configurators
3D configurators are becoming ubiquitous. The technology is more accessible than ever before: countless 3D viewers, WebGL engines, and rendering solutions make it possible to set up a visual experience in no time. This creates the impression that building a successful 3D configurator is a straightforward process. But the reality is more complex. Technology is rarely the issue. It is the surrounding process, implementation, integration, adoption, and alignment, that determines whether a configurator truly adds value.
Too often, 3D ends up being just a novelty. An interactive toy on the website.
This white paper explains why many “quick” 3D configurators fall short and how Go Eve transforms 3D configurators into robust, commercially viable platforms.
3D itself is no longer the challenge.
Many businesses still perceive 3D technology as inherently complex. In the past, this was the reality: heavy models, browser plugins, long load times and limited support.
Today’s technology, however, has changed the game:
Numerous open-source 3D viewers and frameworks are readily available.
WebGL is natively supported by all modern browsers.
CAD data can be efficiently converted to lightweight formats such as glTF or USDZ.
Given these advancements, it’s not surprising that many configurator vendors capitalize on the appeal of 3D and deliver a “working” tool quickly.
But a configurator that merely looks good is not necessarily a good configurator.
The complexity lies not in displaying a 3D model, but in everything that surrounds it:
Product structure and business rules: A configurator must adhere to both technical and commercial logic. What options are combinable? What exclusions exist? Basic configurators often lack this flexibility.
Backend integration: Without connections to ERP, CPQ, or CRM systems, a configurator remains a visual gimmick. Synchronization of customer data, pricing, and bills of materials is essential.
Maintainability: How are models, rules, content, and output kept up to date? A proper configurator offers tools for internal management. Not one that requires vendor assistance for every update.
Production-ready output: The configurator adds true value when its output supports downstream processes such as manufacturing, procurement, or logistics (e.g., JSON, Excel, EPS, PDF, or BOM files).
User experience and adoption: Sales teams and customers must find the tool intuitive. Poor UX or performance can negate even the most accurate 3D model.
Manufacturers with complex products often turn to 3D configurators to better serve customers and sales teams. By visually representing configurable products and allowing users to explore options interactively, these tools can bridge the complexity gap. However, without a structured approach, many configurators remain surface-level tools. A gimmick rather than a robust digital sales tool.
This white paper outlines the core organizational and commercial challenges of implementing 3D configurators in manufacturing environments and offers strategies for overcoming them.
A successful 3D configurator operates as an automated sales tool that integrates product configuration, pricing (CPQ), and visualization. It can digitally unlock the entire sales process, guiding users from selection to quote. We examine key pain points, system integration, sales adoption, and manageability alongside best practices to turn a configurator into a strategic asset. We also show how Go Eve addresses these challenges, enabling businesses to move from gimmick to enterprise-grade sales tool.
Challenge:
Large manufacturing companies often deal with complex products that feature a multitude of variants, options, and configuration rules. This makes building a 3D configurator a content-intensive challenge. All relevant options must be made transparent, incompatible combinations must be excluded, and ideally, every valid configuration must be visualized correctly. The risk lies in underestimating this complexity. A simplistic configurator that cannot accommodate all variants will frustrate both sales teams and customers (“Why can’t I select option X?”).
Additionally, maintaining all that product data and the corresponding 3D models requires continuous effort. A robust management environment for administering product configurators is therefore essential.
Complex go-to-market models can further complicate matters: for instance, selling through dealers often demands a different approach. The configurator may need to support dealer-specific pricing, product options, or multilingual capabilities.
Delaying the implementation of full configuration logic until later stages can be time-consuming. That is why it is crucial to look beyond the initially enticing interactive 3D experience and consider the long-term implications of managing the solution.
Approach:
Prepare product logic thoroughly, make complexity manageable, and choose a solution that allows for smart adjustments over time.
Strategic foundation: Begin by mapping out the full product logic and core characteristics, and link these to defined business objectives. This provides essential insight into what your 3D configurator solution must be able to support.
Select suitable software: Not all configurator platforms can handle thousands of options or model complex dependencies. Select a proven solution capable of dealing with the level of complexity your products require. Look for features such as support for flexible dimensions or nested configurators (i.e., the ability to manage sub-configurations within a larger configuration).
Also, carefully assess the management environment of the configurator. Will every product update require a team of developers, or can updates be made in-house with minimal IT expertise?
Optimize 3D models: To ensure a seamless user experience, the loading and rendering of 3D models must remain fluid, even for complex products. This may require reducing visual detail or using smart level-of-detail techniques.
Test the configurator across multiple devices, Complex machinery configuration must still display smoothly on an average laptop, smartphone, or tablet. A slow configurator negatively impacts both customer experience and sales performance. Balance detail with performance using level-of-detail techniques; test across devices.
Establish a data maintenance process: Managing complexity requires discipline. Establish a clear internal process: with every product change or new option, the configuration team must be able to implement updates quickly and efficiently. This demands a strong management interface and sufficient resources for ongoing maintenance.
Customize by channel: Account for the different go-to-market channels. For example, a simplified configurator with fewer technical options might be appropriate for end customers visiting the website, while internal sales teams or dealers might benefit from a more advanced expert mode.
This type of segmentation helps keep complexity manageable for each target audience. Also, consider multilingual support and regional variants if your company operates internationally.
By not underestimating, but instead proactively managing, product and process complexity it can evolve into a powerful tool that makes even highly advanced, custom-engineered products clear and accessible for all stakeholders involved.
Challenge:
Implementing a 3D configurator is not merely a technical initiative, it is a transformational process. Employees must adapt their way of working. Sales teams accustomed to traditional quotes or in-person consultations may be hesitant to adopt a digital tool.
A 3D configurator can fail if the front line, the sales representatives, do not embrace it. This is a specific change management issue: sales professionals may struggle to incorporate new technologies into their routine, especially if they have been successful for years using conventional methods.
Some may fear that a self-service configurator will diminish their role, or they may find the tool cumbersome during customer interactions. The risk is that sales reps will look for workarounds, reverting to spreadsheets or handling quote requests outside the system.
This is not a hypothetical risk. Research shows that 76% of companies cite poor adoption of sales tools as a top reason for missing sales targets. Underutilization also leads to wasted investment, on average companies waste hundreds of thousands per year on unused sales software.
Approach: To foster adoption by the sales team, the 3D configurator must be positioned as a support tool, not a burden. Consider the following strategies:
Ease of use and training: Ensure the configurator’s interface is intuitive for sales users. Offer training specifically tailored to demonstrate how the tool can be leveraged during a sales conversation, for instance, co-configuring with a client during a meeting or using a shared screen. The smoother the experience, the more likely it is to be embraced.
Position as a partner, not as a competitor: Reinforce internally that the configurator does not replace the salesperson, it supports them. By automating routine configuration tasks, the salesperson gains more time for value-added activities like personalized advice and relationship management. Position the configurator as their digital assistant.
Feedback loop: Actively listen to feedback from sales users and improve the tool iteratively. They may request missing features or clearer quote outputs. Quickly addressing these points makes the tool more aligned with their needs and fosters a sense of ownership, which in turn boosts adoption.
System unification: Sales professionals are often overwhelmed by a patchwork of tools (CRM, quoting software, product databases). Integrate the configurator seamlessly into the existing workflow, such as through CRM access or single sign-on. The less fragmented the tool landscape, the lower the tool fatigue. It is well known that sales reps faced with too many disjointed systems tend to ignore them. A streamlined, integrated solution lowers the barrier to use.
Early stakeholder involvement: Engage sales, marketing, and engineering teams from the design phase onward. When employees feel heard and have influence over the configurator, such as input on features or product rules, they are more likely to adopt it later. Assemble a project team with representatives from all relevant departments, with clearly defined goals and regular check-ins.
Invest as much in people as in technology. Show sales teams how the configurator helps them sell more, faster. When sales professionals clearly see the added value, faster quoting, fewer errors, and more impressive customer presentations, they are far more likely to adopt the tool.
This makes adoption a critical success factor in turning a 3D configurator from a flashy demo into a powerful, high-impact sales tool.
Challenge:
A common pitfall is viewing the 3D configurator as a standalone tool. In reality, it must be seamlessly embedded within the existing IT landscape, ranging from CRM to ERP systems, from pricing databases to production platforms. Without proper integration, duplicate tasks and data errors arise.
For example, if the configurator calculates pricing or generates a bill of materials (BOM), but that data does not automatically flow into the ERP or quoting system, someone has to manually re-enter it, introducing a high risk of errors. Similarly, if the product data within the configurator is incomplete or not aligned with the rest of the organization, valuable efficiency gains are lost.
In short, a non-integrated configurator frustrates users and delivers minimal operational benefit.
Approach: Make seamless integration a foundational requirement from the outset. The chosen 3D configurator must be technically compatible with the systems already in use within the organization. It is critical that the configurator platform can integrate effortlessly with existing platforms such as ERP, CRM, and e-commerce environments.
Here are several concrete recommendations:
API-First and standards-based architecture: Prefer configurator platforms that offer modern APIs or connectors to enable system integration. Support for open standard data exchange formats (such as JSON, XML, etc.), significantly streamlines the integration process.
Real-Time price calculation and CPQ integration: Incorporate pricing logic directly into the configurator. If your company uses a CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) system or maintains pricing tables in ERP, ensure that the configurator retrieves real-time pricing from these sources. This avoids the risk of maintaining duplicate pricing data.
Failing to implement such dynamic price integration is a frequent pitfall, requiring you to manually define pricing rules for each configuration option, which leads to errors and inconsistencies in quotes.
ERP Quote and order integration: When the configurator is used in a customer-facing environment (such as a website), it must be connected to the company’s order management platform. This ensures that quotes or configurations submitted by customers are automatically captured and processed within internal systems.
Single source of truth for product data: Ideally, the configurator should draw from the same product database used by other systems, such as a PIM (Product Information Management) or PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) system. This helps prevent inconsistencies.
For instance, an option that appears in the configurator but is not recognized as manufacturable in the ERP system, or vice versa, creates confusion and operational inefficiencies.
Go Eve is a comprehensive 3D configurator platform specifically designed for manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers that operate within high levels of product, process, or go-to-market complexity. The platform offers advanced capabilities for applying and managing both business rules and product logic within the 3D configurator environment.
But Go Eve goes beyond standard 3D product configuration.
Its personalization and business management features enable companies to serve global markets with localized rules for pricing, displayed content, and even market-specific configurators.
The power of Go Eve lies in its integrated capabilities:
A robust 3D engine delivering realistic visualizations
Business manager for independently managing products, configuration rules, and content
Shop-in-shop functionality for a global multi-store approach and dealer portals with tailored catalogs, dealer-specific pricing, and branded experiences
Deep integration capabilities with systems such as ERP, PIM, PLM, and CPQ
Rich data output directly usable for downstream processes like production, procurement, or logistics
Flexible front-end experiences, customized for end customers, dealers, or internal users
While many vendors stop at visual presentation, Go Eve goes further, providing a strategic sales and operations tool that enhances speed, accuracy, and revenue performance.
Building a basic 3D configurator is easy. Building a true 3D configurator that delivers real business value is hard.
Companies that choose a superficial “viewer-based” solution often run into challenges: high maintenance burdens, lack of system integration, and poor user adoption.
Go Eve proves there is a better way.
By emphasizing process, governance, and integration from the ground up, the platform delivers not just stunning 3D visuals, but also tangible, operational value in real-world business environments.
Don’t be misled by the illusion that 3D is only about technology.
Success depends on the complete picture, process, usability, integration, and business outcomes.
And that’s exactly where Go Eve sets itself apart.
With Go Eve, businesses can:
Add a state-of-the-art 3D configurator to their sales toolkit, regardless of product complexity
Sell globally while maintaining a localized market approach
Set pricing based on market conditions, product configuration attributes, and customer-specific data
Launch dedicated dealer and retail portals with tailored catalogs and branding
Independently manage the configurator and roll out to new markets with full control
Automatically generate output for downstream processes such as manufacturing and logistics, think print-ready EPS files, detailed PDFs, Excel sheets, and JSON exports containing full configuration data
Execute a complete sales strategy, from lead generation to the sale of an entire product portfolio
Integrate seamlessly with existing enterprise systems such as CRM, ERP, PIM, PLM, or production software
By merging visualization, business logic, and integration, Go Eve supports faster sales cycles and reduced time-to-market.
By unifying visualization, business logic, and data output, Go Eve empowers companies to:
Accelerate the sales process
Minimize errors in order entry
Shorten time-to-market
More information on the specific applications can be found under:
Implementing a 3D configurator within a manufacturing organization is a journey from “novelty to strategic digital sales tool”, provided the right foundations are in place.
The technical capability to configure products in 3D is no longer the limiting factor.
True success requires a balanced focus on people, processes, and technology.
This paper has outlined the key challenges, ranging from organizational readiness and user adoption to system integration and product complexity. Any one of these factors, if overlooked, can cause even the most promising configurator project to fall short.
But when organizations embrace these principles, a 3D configurator can genuinely evolve from an appealing gadget into a powerful digital selling platform.
The potential return is substantial:
Increased revenue
More efficient operations
Fewer errors
A modern, elevated customer experience
In fact, as research has shown, companies that successfully deploy configurators have seen sales increase by up to 30%, along with significant cost savings from reduced returns and shorter sales cycles.
With the right approach, a 3D configurator does not need to remain a gimmick. It can become a strategic asset in sales and marketing, perfectly aligned with complex product offerings and diverse markets.
The investments in change and integration pay off in the form of a future-proof sales strategy, where customer experience and operational efficiency go hand in hand.
In short: from 3D gimmick to indispensable digital sales tool, this transformation is entirely achievable by deliberately addressing the outlined challenges.
Let’s get in touch!
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