Frame’s Top 6 for E-Commerce Imagery
Written by Dr. William Carter
It’s no surprise that the top online retailers all have one thing in common – great product images. This is reflected in consumer response, with a 2018 survey into ‘what makes a good online shopping experience?’ finding that the most important factor (and by a big margin) is clear product images.
At Frame, We know what it takes to reach these high standards of e-commerce images. Before we look into what makes a good set of product images, we need to know why high-quality images are an essential tool in converting online shoppers into paying customers.
User Experience
When traversing the online retail space, the experience customers have on any particular site has a big impact on whether or not they are willing to part with their hard earned cash. Making the customers experience positive keeps their mood high, and happy customers are more likely to spend more. From start to finish, every step needs to be smooth, clear and easy. Product images have been shown to be the most important factor in this, with over 87% of online shoppers surveyed saying that clear images contributed to a positive shopping experience. This ultimately boils down to convenience. If a shopper has to put in a lot of effort to determine whether or not they want a product, the answer is more probably ‘not’. Good images are convenient and set the tone for the user experience.
Confidence in the Product
Parting ways with money requires us to have confidence that what we are getting in return is going to be worth the costs. Showing the quality of a product can reassure customers that they are indeed getting good value for their money. Unlike in-store, online shoppers are not able to pick up and inspect products to determine the quality of a product, and build the confidence that is required to decide if the product is worth spending money on. Good images can bridge this gap and help customers get an experience as close to being in-store as possible, allowing their minds to be put at ease so that they are happy to add the product to their basket and hit the all important ‘Check-out’ button.
Confidence in the Retailer
Not only do potential customers need to have confidence that the product is high quality, but they also need to be confident that you as a retailer are reputable and reliable. A major aspect in this is the product images. Poor images on a website can put online shoppers off, causing them to debate whether or not the company is trustworthy. After all, if a company is selling a product, why wouldn’t they be able to obtain high quality images for their website
Create Desire
A large part of why people buy is due to the desire to own something. If there is no need or want on the side of the shopper, then why buy an item? No matter how dull or boring an item is, if retailers can tap into the psychology of buyers to create a sense of desire, then they are half way to making a sale. This can be done emotively by showing customers a lifestyle that they could be a part of, showing how the product will make their lives better, and it can be done more factually by using logic to lay out the benefits of the product. Images are the quickest and simplest way to get this response from a customer, by laying before them images of satisfied users of the product which lets them know that they too could have the same lifestyle once they own the product.
Source: Bose
Communicate Key Information
For many products, the devil is in the detail. Customers often want to know the specifications, sizes, materials and individual components of the product. As an image can paint a thousand words, all this information can be quickly communicated with effective images, rather than forcing the customer to spend prolonged time reading descriptions or specification tables lower down on the web-page. The quicker the information is given, the lower the perceived risk is, leading to a better user experience and increased chances of a sale.
Source: Rolex
Outshine Competitors
Not only do retailers need to convince customers that they should want to own a product, but they need to convince them to own the specific product they’re selling, rather than buying an almost identical product from a competitor. Ensuring that products are displayed in high quality images with full information available is a great way to boost the performance vs competitors.
Part 2: What does a good product imagery set look like?
Now we’ve looked at the most important elements of e-commerce imagery. Now we will look at the reasons why these are important in Part 2