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Why Your Online Business Needs Professional Product Images?

Research compiled by an American multinational conglomerate, 3M, revealed that we process pictures 60,000 times quicker than text.

Now, imagine the impact of the visuals on the e-commerce shoppers who surf online to buy your products and services, and this is what every marketer and retailer should understand as they bring their assets (products, services) online.

When you are pondering to make your online presence robust, you need to make sure that you create a unique and peculiar image in the minds of your potential customers and the audience. It all happens with the first impression, which must drive them to click on the “buy button,” and if it is striking, then it is highly likely that the viewer is convinced with the product.

Whether you are a beauty-driven marketplace like Nykaa or an e-commerce giant like Amazon or eBay, or for that matter any small or big online marketplace, all you need to do to attract the viewers is to use the latest image-driven trends in the online shopping spectrum. Online is a place where the visual representation is more influential than your prolix explanations. Whether you make it creative or dull – the show is yours to make an impression.

Image quality is important

Ask yourself a question: what is it that drives buyers to purchase a product online without having first-hand experience of the product?

It certainly is the visual representation (product images) of the product that customers experience online. The pictures and description of the products and services allow them to reach a conclusion of buying the product.

When we are looking out for something online to purchase, we see the product through the pictures given in the listings. Since we can not feel the product online or even experience it, we make our assumptions based on what we see – and it is the product images that make a buyer reach a decision of buying the product.

According to a study revealed by Shopify, only 0.52% of online consumers prefer to see one product image, 33.16% want to see multiple product images, and about 58.03% prefer images that will allow them to have a 360-degree view of the product. Surprisingly, some reports claim that the product images with 360-degree vision increase conversion rates by up to 50% and reduces return rates by 15% to 50%.

It has encouraged online businesses to use multiple pictures to chase down the return rates. As reported 22% of online product returns are due to an item that they purchased looked different than the photos. So, this is why online retailers and lifestyle businesses use multiple pictures of the specific product to give a better experience to the customers.

It is the reason why online fashion brands like Myntra, Jabong, Snapdeal use around the axis pictures of the product. They also use real humans or models in lieu of mannequins to make the products appealing and striking. It is one of the effective techniques to foster the product and create a benchmark as models wearing those clothes is tangible proof that the image is attainable.

It also becomes imperative for all the e-businesses to have the best quality and high-resolution images that best represent the product. High-quality ecommerce product images add a layer of prestige and paradigm to your webpage and the product you are selling. Professional photos of your products are the key elements of engagement, conversion, and retention of your potential customers. The product images help you enrich your content and deliver your message to your audience effectively.

Beauty is the key component to online businesses that sell lifestyle products like clothing, footwear, cosmetics, etc. And building a brand that convinces buyers to purchase the product not by the product itself but by its visual representation is one of the challenges faced by online retailers. Even for the retailers who sell products such as electric home appliances and electronic gadgets, the use of pictorial representation of the product that emphasizes what they look like is inevitable. The professional photos of product images you use must be bright, clear, and high resolution. Despite using two-dimensional representation, you must capture the product across the axis (360 degrees), which will help the buyers to have a quick look around the product.

For instance, to cut down the return rates of the lifestyle products and increase the conversion rates, the UK and Delhi-based online fashion marketplace Koovs gives customers a 360-degree experience by posting videos of the products to showcase the lifestyle products.

Not only does it drive viewers to purchase the product but it also increases the sales and establishes a unique brand image in the minds of the customers. Using professional photos of your product helps them to rely more on the product, which eventually creates an unbeatable standard.

Here are some basic professional image specifications that you must keep in mind while choosing the deck of pictures to represent your product online.

Clear and large images

It is the pictures that help you sell your product. So, use high-quality professional photos for the best visual representation. Clear, clear, and large images will make the products look impressive and attractive. Ensure the size you use for the image should be more than 1200 pixels. It will ensure the zooming and enlarging of the picture, giving a perfect view of the product to your buyers.

For example, an e-commerce Indian company, Snapdeal, allows the buyers to use ‘Hover to zoom’ on a picture apart from using multiple images to get a better vision of the product. The buyers can zoom into the picture and experience the quality of the item.

Source: Snapdeal

Multiple Images

None of us gets satisfied by a single picture if we are anticipating buying something online. Online businesses, besides quality, need sufficient professional photos to display the product as customers like to see the product from various angles and alignments before purchasing it.

Before launching any product online, research about the Best Business Photoshoot Ideas, make sure you shoot multiple images of the product, then select the best ones that best define the product and then post them. Keep this in mind that buyers prefer to see multiple product images before purchasing it.

Unique Background

It is the color that defines your brand. Select a particular color for your background to display your products during the Product Photoshoot. For example, Amazon and eBay have perpetually been using the White Background for product images, which is likable among most of the clients, gives a striking text format, and offers you the best display of your product.

Out of box

Some retailers are picking up a new trend of displaying the product through product images, which explicitly shows a hand bearing the product coming out of an elegant box. Using a ‘rule of thumb’ to aligning a subject in a peculiar way that creates more tension and interest in its arrangement than solely centering it, the product image drives the attention of the buyer towards the ‘Point of Interest’. Hence making it appealing and convincing.