Compelling Storytelling using Exploded View in Product Presentations

Relevance of Exploded View in hardware-based products

You would probably say that a $799.99 price point for a vacuum cleaner is out of budget and overkill. But Dyson’s V15 was listed as one of the best in the market by various websites and people who have bought it are quite happy with their purchase. The same can be said about Apple’s AirPods Max with a $549 price tag. Yet, people are buying the product and would vouch for its sound quality every single time. These pricey yet mindblowing hardware products have two things in common, they are great in terms of hardware build quality and use storytelling techniques to educate users about why it’s so expensive. Let’s look at how exploded views add to the storytelling for premium hardware products.

The only reason consumers would buy an expensive product that is more than 2–3x above the market rate is that the output quality is superb and has a negligible recurring cost. This and sometimes when the product is highly recommended by a friend then it adds to the decision-making process. The cost of premium products on the market is increasing, consumers are looking to reduce their spending, and marketers have to do a better job of convincing the customers what they should buy.

Hardware products today have to use compelling storytelling techniques to educate and convince customers about their highly sophisticated products. For hardware products, it becomes even more important to do that because consumers are unable to see the internals of the product.

Let’s take Dyson’s Vaccum Cleaner as an example. For a $799.99 or $949.99 price tag, several things can be conveyed to the customer to convince them to make the purchase.

1. Build Quality: The overall quality of the product is based on material, finish, ease of assembly, and sturdiness.
2. User Maintenance: If the product needs cleaning and how easy it is to perform maintenance. This doesn’t take more complex maintenance that needs to be done by professionals into account.
3. Recurring Cost: Recurring cost is an evaluation of the constant investment you’ll have to make to keep efficiently while using the product.
4. Storage: The space it takes when stored, and if it provides features that help with storage.
5. Parts in the Box: Everything that’s included in the box, including the product itself.
6. Dirt Compartment Specs: The part of the vacuum that contains all the debris.
7. Range: The range of the vacuum, taking into consideration the length of the hose, the wand, and the cord.
8. Portability: The portability, is based on the vacuum’s weight, but also if it has a carrying handle.
9. Battery: The battery performance, since it is powered by a battery.
10. Quality of Life Features: The different quality of life features that the vacuum offers.
11. Tool and Brushes: The different tools and brushes included in the box and the features of the brush roll, if any.
12. Performance: The vacuum cleaner’s performance when vacuuming on different surface types.
13. Suction: The vacuum’s suction power.
14. Noise: The vacuum’s sound profile and overall noise.
15. Maneuverability: The vacuum cleaner’s ability to reach and clean different scenarios you might encounter while cleaning around the house.
16. Air Quality: A vacuum’s ability to keep the ambient air clean while it picks up debris.
17. Physical Automation: The vacuum’s physical automation capabilities. These include buttons, type of navigation algorithm, and maintenance automation (auto-recharge, auto-empty).
18. Companion App Automation: The extension of the robot vacuum’s automation features via a dedicated application. This allows for room tagging, and placement of no-go zones and virtual walls once the vacuum has mapped the full home. This also allows you to schedule cleaning at specific times during to week, set it to repeat, and get cleaning reports and various statuses from the vacuum.

This is a long list and not everything can be gauged by the customer by simply following through the marketing materials or tutorial videos. Some things need to be experienced firsthand and seen by the customer. But there are things that the company can do to make a compelling reason why a product needs to be taken a second look.

Build Quality & Parts in the Box

How is the product built and what comes in the box? The total package size and parts that are packed in a box also inform the portability of the product. One simple way to communicate the total build quality and various parts that make up the product is by marketing the product using its exploded view. An exploded view is also famously known as the dissected view of a product.

See below how the evolution of cyclone technology is communicated by Dyson over the years starting from 1993 to 2013. Although I highly doubt that every customer buying the product would understand the nitty-gritty of cyclone technology, showcasing the exploded view portrays the company as transparent and open in its communication.

The incredible fact is that the exploded view can be used to showcase a vast variety of products from Moka Pot to an Office Chair. Further, for technological products that are highly sophisticated and patented, they can go into detail and assure customers of a high-quality product that won’t disappoint them post-purchase.

Apple has a 394.3$bn revenue so far in 2022. It sells so many influential hardware products that are always groundbreaking and challenging the norms in the tech industry. We cannot discount Apple because of this reason. The company, usually, sells its products at a premium price and so people often ask questions like —

• Where is the fan in the laptop located?
• How many speakers does the device have?
• Which chip does the product have?
• How big is the battery?
• How is the product architected for repair?
• Is the product waterproof? What has the company done to ensure that?
• How soft or hard is the mesh? Is the mesh quality durable to sustain usage over a long time?

There are more of these questions that come with every new product that the company releases. To communicate its product’s superior build and output quality, Apple does these two things —

1. Takes very high-quality, close-up photos and videos. These make the consumer feel as if they are almost close to touching the real product via a video or a photo. Example — AirPods Max.
2. It builds internal imaging shots and aligns them one after another using a dissolve and fade animation. As the user scrolls through the page, they see each of the critical parts of an Apple product and the part’s description. This way of presentation ensures that the consumer is not overloaded with information and they can understand each bit of the info shown to them.

Below is a shot of the AirPod Max’s internals, specifically, the dynamic driver and the driver’s dual-neodymium ring magnet motor. Apple delivers a magical product presentation experience every single time.

That’s the end of this short yet hopefully insightful read. Thanks for making it to the end. I hope you gained something from it.

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