Boosting Your E-Commerce Conversions With Phenomenal Product Photography

Table of Contents

• Hands-on tips for great product photography

  • 1. Use big high quality images

  • 2.Consider website performance

  • 3. Uniform look and style

  • 4. Hire professionals

  • 5. Think ahead

• Conclusion

The number of people who shop online is growing rapidly, and so is the number of e-commerce stores. It is estimated that there are currently between 12 and 24 million online stores out there, and new businesses pop up every day.

This makes e-commerce increasingly competitive, which is why strategies to boost website conversions have never been more important.

The standard conversion rate is around 2% which, frankly, is not a lot. Convincing your client to make a decision in favour of your product should thus be your main concern. Let’s face it: setting your product apart from all the others by providing detailed descriptions most likely won’t do. 

Most people won’t bother to read more than they absolutely have to. Instead, the most effective way to make the most of your client’s short attention span is great product photography. 

Shopping online deprives your customers of the experience of physically touching and feeling the product they are interested in, which can be decisive when it comes to purchasing. 

In order to convert your traffic, you’re going to have to create an online experience that comes as close to a positive offline experience as possible. Great product photography is absolutely vital in doing so. Here’s why:

• Product photography makes your brand more memorable. An outstanding visual style will set you apart from other businesses and allow it to live rent free in your customer’s head, making it more likely that they’ll return to your business for their next purchase. 

• Great product photography shows the product in context. It is self-explanatory and will demonstrate how your product is supposed to be used. It anticipates a client’s concerns and questions and elegantly solves them visually, making the product more appealing and desirable. 

• Product photography guides your customer. Strategies like the “hero shot” will show a person looking in a particular direction on the website where your customer will need to click to make a purchase. Including a satisfied and content looking customer on a website’s landing page has shown to increase conversions by a staggering 102,5%.‍

• Product photography gets your client emotionally invested. Just when shopping offline, people strive to make positive experiences. After all, most purchases are made because of emotional reasons. Great visuals tell a story and appeal to your client’s emotions. Getting them emotionally invested will strongly boost your conversion rate.

A study by Justuno even suggests that for a staggering 93% of consumers visuals are the key factor influencing their decision to purchase a product or not. However, in order to live up to that potential and generate the most conversions from your traffic, there are a few basic guidelines you should be aware of.

Hands-on tips for great product photography

1. Use big high quality images

When shopping in a physical store, a customer will turn a product in all directions, hold it up to examine it from close and far, and observe it from different angles.  None of this is possible when shopping online. Your customer is thus deprived of a vital experience influencing the decision making progress.

The best way to recreate this experience as far as possible is by providing large high quality images of at least 1,500 pixels. Make sure they show the product in full from different perspectives.

If you have the budget, you can even consider creating 360° images or videos showing the product in all angles. This will allow your customer to know exactly what they are purchasing. They will know from the get-go what exactly they are dealing with. No unpleasant surprises due to wrong expectations  will also save you the hassle of customer complaints.  

2.Consider website performance

Although large high quality photos are vital, remember to constantly monitor page load time and image load on your website. If images either load slowly or not at all due to their image size, you will definitely lose traffic. JPG files are ideal for most e-commerce platforms like Shopify, but if you are not sure, consult a website developer. 

3. Uniform look and style

Ideally, your product photos are similar to each other in style and look. A messy, chaotic collection of heavily edited visuals is confusing and off-putting. Instead, a consistent pattern of background, lighting, image placement strategy and modelling will provide a more coherent image of your brand. Remember, consistency is professional and makes a customer feel more comfortable and safe. Inconsistency, on the other hand, is distracting and unsettling.

4. Hire professionals

Unless you are an experienced photographer yourself, you might want to think about hiring a professional photographer or agency. Experienced creatives have spent years training their eyes and know exactly how to make your product look fantastic. After all, quality always outdoes quantity, and investing in high-end images will definitely be worth it. 

5. Think ahead

Before actually taking photos of your products, take the time to review its most frequent  reviews. What kind of feedback is most common? What do customers complain about? Why has the product been returned? Anticipating problems customers might have will help you avoid ambiguous and misleading product photos.

Conclusion

If done correctly, great product photography is the most effective tool to make your products look the most appealing to your customers. Keeping the above principles in mind will most definitely increase the number of conversions and take your business to the next level!

If you are looking for photographers to help you make your products shine, check out Beazy’s pool of creative artists who are eager to collaborate with you on your next big project.