“Assembly required” is a phrase that can trigger feelings of intimidation, fear, and frustration – sometimes all at once. With the exception of a few gifted individuals who love to assemble products (and who therefore become their family and friends’ go-to person for any variety of DIY projects), most people do not enjoy reading cryptic instruction manuals that may as well be written in another language.

BILT is an app that re-imagines the “assembly required” experience for both consumers and manufacturers. Assembling something with BILT is like having an expert by your side. An interactive 3D model of your product lets you see exactly what you’re doing; and audio-guided instructions tell you what to do step by step. Each step in the instructions features a simple animation showing all the pieces come together. You can zoom in to see any details, rotate to get the angle just right, and walk through the assembly process at your own pace. Compared with paper instructions or even YouTube videos, people using BILT make significantly fewer errors. This means happier consumers and fewer costly returns for the manufacturer – it’s a win-win.

With BILT, manufacturers get far more insight into the people who are actually buying their products. We make registering a product so quick and easy – a simple click instead of dreaded paperwork – that people are much more likely to follow through. This allows manufacturers to connect and build relationships with their consumers that were never possible before. Not to mention, consumers who use BILT feel a profound sense of accomplishment by successfully assembling something on their own, which means they are more likely to promote a manufacturer’s brand to their friends and family.

BILT is currently available for phones and tablets running iOS or Android.

From idea to prototype to release, we employed design thinking principles to craft an experience that solved a real problem most people can relate to, through an app that’s simple, intuitive and a joy to use. The design for BILT is clean, simple and friendly – these principles can be seen in the illustrations we use, the colors we selected, and the tone of voice in our copy.

We designed the visual language of BILT to be expressive and intuitive. We stripped the registration process down to the basics so people could get warranty coverage for their products quickly and easily. We made sure the 3D models in BILT were clear with easy-to-follow instructions. We constantly tested our assumptions and improved our designs based on user input.

As part of our research, we observed participants assembling a variety of products using only our app. At the end, the sense of accomplishment people feel is unparalleled. “It feels good to say that I did it myself. There’s no way I would’ve attempted this before!” is something we hear a lot. This is reinforced by the satisfaction ratings we gather within the app – 90% of users rate their experience as satisfying.

BILT has been received with a tremendous level of excitement by both consumers and manufacturers. Manufacturers appreciate the delightful experience we offer their consumers, as well as the insights they can gather from the analytics we provide – some have seen their product registration rates almost triple, from 3–5% without BILT to 10–15% with BILT. We have also found that people who assembled a product with BILT were 20% more likely to recommend the product to others, compared with people who used paper instructions.

The variety of manufacturers and products already available in BILT shows just how widely impactful our app can be. We completely re-hauled the assembly experience into a simple and beautiful package that leaves people feeling empowered and excited.