How to write product hotspots and 3D annotations

A 3D model on a product page shows the shape of the product, the back, the underside, the proportions, the way a leg meets a frame. It doesn't explain what the shopper is looking at. Someone can spin a chair for twenty seconds and still not know that the seat cover unzips, that the joint is a mortise and tenon, or that the felt pads are included.

Hotspots add that explanation. They are small markers placed on the surface of a 3D model, and each one opens a short label when tapped or hovered. A good set tells the shopper why the product is built the way it is while they turn it. With a poor set the shopper sees a scatter of dots, closes the first one and ignores the rest.

This is how we handle them on the models we build for furniture, stove and home brands.

What deserves a hotspot

We use one test. A hotspot is justified if it points at something the shopper can see in the model but can't interpret, or at something they'd otherwise have to look up in a spec table.

These pass the test:

• Materials that differ across the product. A chair may have an oak frame, a wool seat and a steel foot. The shopper sees three surfaces, and the hotspot says what each one is.
• Construction details, such as a visible joint, a welded seam or a reinforced corner. If your product is better made than a cheaper one, say so on the exact spot where it shows.
• Things that move or open. Zips, hinges, a removable cover, a cable exit or a height-adjustable column can't be seen in a static render and are easy to miss in a 3D model until they're named.
• Included parts. Shoppers often assume that feet, glides, fixings or a remote cost extra.
• Care and cleaning where it's surprising. A cover that machine washes at 30 degrees is worth a hotspot on the cover. A general "wipe clean" line isn't.
• Dimensions people use, like seat height, worktop depth and the clearance under a frame. The full set of dimensions belongs in the table.

Not worth a hotspot are the product name, the price, the brand story, marketing adjectives and anything already in the first line of the description.

How many to use

Three to five for most products. Our default on a chair is three.

Hotspots compete with each other for attention. A shopper will open one marker on a clean model. Nine markers look like work, and a shopper who opens two and learns little skips the other seven. If you have eleven things to say, put them in a specification table and use three hotspots for the three things the table can't show.

Some products carry more. A complex machine or a modular sofa system attracts shoppers who are already researching in detail. Group the hotspots in that case too; two on the frame and two on the upholstery are easier to follow than four spread across the model.

Writing the label

The writing is where most hotspot projects go wrong.

Keep each label to one or two sentences. People read hotspots in a small panel on a phone, often with one thumb while scrolling. Anything that needs a paragraph should be a section of the page.

Start with the noun. "Solid oak frame, finished with a hard-wax oil" works better than "Beautifully crafted from the finest materials", because the oak and the oil can be compared with a competitor's chair, and the second line could sit on any product in any shop.

Add what the fact means for the buyer, so "Seat cover unzips" becomes "Seat cover unzips and washes at 30 degrees, so a spill does not ruin the sofa".

Use the shopper's units and words, and write "depth" in full where a spec sheet would say "D". If your trade has a term the public doesn't know, explain it in the same label or leave it out.

Don't repeat what the shopper can already see. A hotspot labelled "Armrest" on an armrest tells them nothing.

Placement, open states and the drag

The marker should stay anchored to its point as the model rotates and hide when that point faces away from the camera. A marker that floats over the back of the object looks broken.

Give it a clear open state. A dot that changes colour and opens a small card works better than a tooltip that appears on hover and disappears before it has been read. Phones have no hover, and many of your visitors are on a phone.

Hotspots are interactive controls, so they should take keyboard focus, open on Enter and be readable by a screen reader.

The marker shouldn't block the drag. If it sits under the thumb during rotation, shoppers open it by accident. Keep markers small, and let a drag that starts on a marker still rotate the model.

What stays on the page besides hotspots

Hotspots don't replace a specification table or good photography. A shopper comparing three sofas in three tabs reads the tables and doesn't tap dots, so keep both.

They also depend on the model being right. If a label describes a joint the model doesn't show, a shopper who looks closely sees the mismatch. Once a part has a hotspot, that part of the model has to be accurate.

Where to start

Pick your five best-selling products. For each one, ask whoever handles customer service which three questions they answer about it every week, and use those as the hotspots. That list comes from what shoppers couldn't find on the page.

Contura uses hotspots on wood-burning stoves, where the details that matter are clearances, flue position and glass size.

We build the first model free and write the hotspots with you; send us one product. What we build after that is on solutions, and the prices are on prices.