8 Ways to Improve eCommerce Sales With Your Photography

 8 Ways to Grow Your eCommerce Sales

If you own an commerce site, perhaps one of the easiest ways in increase sales is to improve your product photography. Quality photos of your product are the link to your customers.

Most buyers are visual shoppers and the information conveyed by a good product photo can be priceless. When looking at identical sites, a prospective customer will usually buy from the online store with better product photos. In bricks and mortar stores, consumers can grasp, hold and touch the product, proving them with a high level of information. Online, the customer makes decisions based on a higher level of emotional satisfaction. Good photography will provide answers to your customer's questions; questions about build quality, color detail, materials, specifications and performance. With quality photography the emotional quotient is satisfied leading to enhance trust in making the buying decision.

Good quality eCommerce photography can reduce customer service inquiries.

By showing multiple angles, zoom-ins, front, back, and sides of products, customers will have less questions about the product before making a purchase and less returns after a purchase. If a product photo can answer a question the consumer has you will save countless dollars on customer service inquiries and return processing. Let the photos sell the product!

Why bad photography kills sales in eCommerce.

Look at the two photos below. Both photos are of similar workbenches. Both are sold on Amazon at similar prices. Both show the workbench product but one allows you to see it assembled and the other is a breakout view. The first one offers multiple product views including multiple angles, close ups and attractive lifestyle shots that engage you. However the other no additional detail. Which one would you buy?

Bad photos or a lack of multiple photos kill sales long before the shopping cart. Customer service inquiries increase because of ineffective product photography, both before the sale and after.

8 things you can do today to start improving sales

• If you have limited access to the product or a limited budget, start by enhancing the photos of your most important products first. Importance may be determined by profit margins, highest selling products, lowest selling products or some other factor. The key is to start and begin making improvements now. Keep track of you changes and monitor conversion rates or sales statistics.
• Take photos of multiple angles and product close-ups. Show the front, back, sides, and zoom-ins of each product. I recommend a 5 photo minimum, 7 is better.  360 degree rotations can be a nice option too. A great tool for producing professional level product photos is made by www.Ortery.com.
• Show different features or product uses. You never know what a buyer is looking for. Provide photos of different use scenarios or features in action. Example: if you are selling shoes, a buyer may be looking for a specific color, shape or intended use. Show photos of the shoe in all colors available. If its a running show, show a person using it in the appropriate setting for the intended buyer.
• Make sure your website is displaying the photos as large as possible. The photos in the search results, category pages and product detail pages should be clear and without distortion. Remember, your goal is to sell products, the website should not be more beautiful than your product photography. Zappos.com does a great job of this.
• Offer lifestyle photos. Often times a product is best seen in an environment, such as an outdoor action scene or interior design shot. Lifestyle shots prove an emotional response to a photo. If you are selling residential lighting, offer glamour shots of the lighting product in an upscale home. Often times people buy "hope" or believe that buying a product will provide for them what the lifestyle photo offers.
• Use simple backgrounds. The product detail page should have multiple product photos and these should be on a simple background, such as white, grey, black or some other color. Simple backgrounds allow for the product to speak for itself and don't distract from the product.
• Edit the photos for size, color balance, consistency, and layout. Photos should be shot at the highest resolution your camera allows but during the editing process you should export each photo to 72 dpi at its maximum size it will be seen on the website. Higher resolution images on the website will cause it to load slowly. If you have product zoom-ins, you may need a higher resolution, however, this should be tested for maximum effectiveness. If using Photoshop® or another image editing program, make sure you color correct all photos to the same color balance. Crop each image for the most effective presentation of the product.
• Hire a professional. High quality product photography requires a great deal of skill, time and equipment. While it is possible to do it yourself, you will need a good digital SLR camera, lighting, lenses, backgrounds, and the innate ability to capture that perfect shot. Professional photographers will deliver better photos, faster.

Looking for a professional product photographer? I recommend: Eclipse Studio in Columbus, Ohio. They do fantastic work!