With so many choices for similar goods, it’s not always easy for consumers to separate the wheat from the chaff and find the best products to suit their needs. As a business, it’s your job not only to make the best products but to relate to consumers why they will benefit from choosing your brand.
In brick-and-mortar stores, you have the advantage of friendly and helpful salespeople who can make meaningful connections with customers, personalize the shopping experience, and compel sales. In the virtual world, you’re facing an uphill battle. Shoppers are on their own and they don’t even have the benefit of being able to touch and closely examine goods.
This leaves you and your branding services agency with the unenviable task of digitally convincing consumers to make purchases, and you cannot do it without presenting your products through photography. Why is product photography so important? Here are a few things every e-commerce operation should know.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Never has this sentiment been truer than in the world of online shopping. A product photograph can immediately convey a wealth of information to consumers. A photo can display not only what the product looks like, but how it fits in space, how it works, and what options it comes with.
Even with a thousand words at your disposal, your product description can’t adequately display the absolute glut of information that can be gleaned from looking at a photo for mere seconds, and most shoppers don’t want to spend long minutes reading inadequate product descriptions anyway. A captivating photo is worth more than a thousand words – it’s worth real money when it helps to make sales.
As your trusted Asheville branding and marketing team can tell you, online shoppers have short attention spans, and you need to grab them fast. The right product photography can accomplish this neatly, after which you can use your written description to briefly add necessary data like specs that can be hard to convey through images.
Create a Virtual Experience that Mimics Real-World Shopping
In virtual space, you face a marked disadvantage in that consumers can’t interact with products. They can’t touch fabric or pull a box closer to read the label. This means you have to provide opportunities to have the same experience in digital format, and product photography can go a long way toward making this happen.
You need to make sure you provide essential information with your photography. This means offering images that allow for the viewing of all angles, including close-ups and shots of the inside of a product if it makes sense.
Providing scale through setting, as with a coffee pot or toaster on a kitchen counter, can be helpful. Interactive, 360-degree views are becoming more popular, as well, since they give consumers control over how they view products.
Be Concise
A less is more approach is always wise when it comes to the design of your product photography. Remember, you and your Asheville branding and marketing partner want to highlight the product, not necessarily posh sets or attractive models.
While many brands are trying to sell a lifestyle, as well as a product, you have to be cognizant of the fact that ultimately, the product is what consumers are buying. In other words, shoot for simple, attractive, eye-catching layouts when planning product photos so as not to confuse consumers with clutter.
Create Value through High-End Images
Anyone can hang a sheet and arrange jewelry or put clothing on a mannequin and snap a pic. The entire Etsy community is based on this DIY aesthetic. As a company promoting a professional image and a trusted brand, you and your Asheville internet marketing partner need to do more.
Polished product photography can set you apart from competitors. It not only presents your products in the best possible light (literally and figuratively), but it creates a perception of value that elevates your products. In a very real sense, a product photo that outshines competitor pics of the exact same products could actually make your wares more attractive to online shoppers, compelling sales.
If you need help telling your story through compelling marketing images, contact the qualified professionals at Storypowered today to discuss your vision and improve your product photography.