Introduction
Even from birth we love color, shape, symmetry, and form. This only increases as we get older. Over the course of any day, we’ll spend hours looking at websites, online retailers and magazines. We pour over Instagram posts and Snapchats showing beautiful people with eye-catching fashions and products. Good photography captures every moment. A good photographer can uses shadow and light to highlight your products, your new clothing line, other designs.
So, it’s only natural that retail websites with quality, high resolution ecommerce photography that clearly and artfully displays the products being sold are more popular than ecommerce websites that are heavy on product descriptions and other website text.
1) Great E-commerce photography increase customer experience, help them see want what you want them to see
Globally , ecommerce sites are expected to see an 8% growth overall in sales through 2024, a dramatic increase partially caused by the pandemic.
This increase in online shopping means customers are more dependent than ever on the “quality” of information received from ecommerce retailers.
But though we’re more likely than ever to buy online—without ever seeing these products up close in person beforehand—that doesn’t mean our ability to learn more, to experience your products is gone.
2) Show customers what you’re selling
Though our other senses maybe gone…we may not be able to touch, feel, or taste before buying we can indeed see them—in photos or product images.
It’s up to you, the business owner, the ecommerce website, to give customers the information they need, both visual and text.
Beautiful imagery helps us imagine ourselves in that outfit, those shoes, that home, or using that product you’re trying to sell.
Though having product details like dimensions, weight, color, sizes, etc. are important, seeing the product itself is an experience that can’t be replaced.
A picture is worth a thousand words—and if you’re selling a product online, it may be worth more than a few dollars.
3) E-commerce sales are on the rise—again
For example, retail e-commerce revenue in Canada alone was 29.9 billion in USD in 2020, according to German market and consumer data website, Statista.
Meanwhile, Oberlo cited a recent U.S. Commerce report showing that “In2020, total U.S. ecommerce sales reached $759.47 billion, a 31.73 percent year-over-year increase from 2019’s $576.53 billion.” This amount was almost double the past record amount set in 2011 of 17.81 percent.
So how can businesses or individuals like you use memorable, eye-catching ecommerce photography to cash in on all that market growth?
4) Ecommerce photography makes your website easier for customers to browse
Everyone needs a little help looking good.
In fact, even people with strikingly good looks splurge for high end portraits for their business profiles, family photos, more.
The same should go for planning your ecommerce photography because there’s more to product photos than uploading a picture shot on your Android or Apple phone.
5) Stunning photos are memorable and fun
Ask the average person about a recent product they’ve seen online or in a magazine, one that stands out, they’ll probably mention something like:
· A particularly juicy-looking burger in an ad or commercial
· Or a jewelry ad that really glittered, featuring lighting that catches silver or gold tones, deep gemstone colors
· Maybe a clothing line ad that made a celebrity look even better than they normally look.
That doesn’t happen by accident.
If an ecommerce photographer has done their job, customers will not only see the product being sold they’ll remember it—associating the artistry of the photo with the product itself.
6)Photos and graphics make it easier to read/retain information from your website
Another, important reason e-commerce is so dependent on photos was highlighted in a widely cited survey from a few years ago.
The survey compiled by 3M, found that people understand stories told with pictures 60,000 times faster than when told the same story with words.
Every picture tells a story…but you better tell it quickly, with good visuals, or you’ll lose customers
As you know, you have only a few seconds to catch someone’s attention online before they’ll move to the next website.
Researchers using “eye-tracking” tests found that people tend to scan web pages and articles in a certain way: reading more of the 1st paragraph and other information on top, then less and less as they go further down the page—reading in an “F-pattern.”
To combat this scanning pattern, website writers and designers versed in web usability tend to write articles/product descriptions with shorter paragraphs, often a few sentences each and with the most important info on top.
And they use a lot more photos.
Photos help catch shoppers’ attention as they browse your website
Research says:
· Using lots of graphics and photos to explain your product’s story helps due to the brain’s ability to understand and process photographic information more quickly
· Photos are a big component to making websites more useful to shoppers/readers, and will help you match customers’ expectations of your website
So how can you use ecommerce photography to meet the needs and expectations of shoppers?
7) Photos help your website match consumer expectations and may increase SEO
So what are we talking about when we say retailers can match consumer expectations, have good website usability with the inclusion of high quality product images /ecommerce[mt1] photography on their sites?
Researchers have found that your shoppers expect web pages to look/act in a certain way.
When webpages match or exceed these expectations, consumers have a better shopper experience. They’ll spend more time on your site, increasing your overall value in the eyes of web companies like Google, increasing your SEO (which of course, brings more shoppers to your website.)
So, what are shoppers expecting to find?
· A website that’s structured in a certain way, with contact info/addresses/phone numbers easily found
· Products placed into relevant, intuitive categories: size, color, style, with filters so we can find the exact fit or look
And perhaps not surprisingly, for a website that’s selling products, we expect lots of useful product photos so customers can make their decisions.
8) Ecommerce photography can help with your mobile sales, social media selling
Mobile ready websites with high resolution product photos help shopper decision-making
Shoppers are increasingly doing buying research and actual purchasing using mobile devices like cell phones and tablets.
Your shoppers are much less likely to view/read text heavy websites on smaller screens.
But they will look at your product images. So having high quality photos on your mobile friendly ecommerce site may be the difference between having a shopper spend their valuable dollars with you or clicking to another site.
According to a report on eMarketer, “…83% of U.S. smartphone users surveyed by Field Agent in March 2018 found product images and photos to be "very" and" extremely" influential. By comparison, just 36% of respondents said they are influenced by video when researching to buy a product.”
In fact, ecommerce photography on retail sites was given as the number one feature shoppers used when deciding to buy, more important than: product videos, product details, product descriptions/specs, ratings, FAQs, and more.
9) Social commerce, also on the rise, needs product photography
Social commerce is the intersection between social media and online shopping as social media has become a large driver in online sales.
Businesses with the most appealing ecommerce photography on social media sites like Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and other social media attract more potential shoppers—and get more sales.
In fact, another eMarketer article reported on a September 2020 Shopify poll that showed, “22% of social commerce buyers in Canada ages 18to 34 said they had made a purchase via social media in the previous six months.”
The most common types of ecommerce photography for websites
· Individual products or groups of products–sell with photos showing your products separately or in a group (I.e., as a product line)
o Consider whether you want your products isolated on a simple white background (common product photo style seen on Amazon, other websites)
· Lifestyle shots –differs the “white background” photography style mentioned above, your product is shown in context or in action (like a jogger running while wearing your shoes)
· Closeup/insert shots—you may need these to help your shoppers see your product’s true scale, also to show details close-up, like fine stitching, patterns, colors, etc.
Don’t forget, product photography is about more than the photo taking process itself.
If you’re in the market for ecommerce photography, you’ll want to look for ecommerce photography businesses that include other services like:
· Styling your product at photoshoot
· Providing props during the shoot
· Retouching(including color corrections, deleting unwanted objects in your photo, other Photoshop fixes)
Ecommerce photography can help your business grow
Good ecommerce photography works in many ways. It can give you good photos to sell your products online, helps make your website more user-friendly, and gives you visual tools that can be used to sell on other avenues like social media.
Ready to learn how you can get some of the best product photography for your products? Contact us at Pophaus today for more information.
