If a picture is worth 1000 words then imagine what this might mean when converted into currency? The photography on your website, social media and product sales pages can make all the difference to your bottom line.

Increasingly time-poor consumers have been turning to online shopping as a way to ease the schedule squeeze.  A few clicks and your item arrives at your doorstep – saving all that time, expense and effort of visiting a bricks and mortar location.  That’s great news if you have an online business but it also means that you are in a competitive area and so you need to make sure your product images send the right message, and stand out from the crowd.

Product photography becomes particularly important where a product is new to a customer – your product photography then moves from just being an image to be recognised and added to a basket to being your online salesperson. Customers want to see all the details and so the pictures need to be of high quality to allow a comprehensive examination.  The addition of video can give a potential purchaser a lot of added information and the confirmation that this product really will meet their needs.   If in doubt, most consumers will abandon their carts and go in search of a more complete shopping experience.    If your item is hand made, decorative rather than functional, high value or brand new in the market, then you need to work extra hard with these elements to convince your potential clients that they want to make it all the way through the purchase process.

Generally people will take more information from pictures and video than they will from the written word so, while your product description obviously needs to give them all the relevant information, the images and video that you show will more likely receive more attention. They will also be the part that stops the consumer in their tracks to investigate further and spark the desire to purchase.  Your photography needs to showcase your product in it’s best possible light, conveying all the features and benefits that it has to offer as well as generating the desire for ownership.   You also need your products to stand out from the crowd to encourage social shares and Pinterest pins – all valuable tools for increasing your sales.

Good product photography will help to build your relationship with your potential buyers by offering all the information they need to make the decision to go ahead and purchase your item as opposed to something listed by your competitors.  When product photography allows them to examine a product in detail, a feeling of trust is engendered – nothing is being hidden from them and they are free to look at an item from all angles to ensure that it meets their needs.    This can be achieved through a mix of seeing a product in an environment (ie on a model, in a setting, in use), in video form to demonstrate function, but also in its simplest possible form.  The value of having an set of product images against a plain background that can be zoomed into by the viewer for closer inspection cannot be overstated.  In fact, having been stopped and encouraged to investigate further by a lifestyle shot of a product in an attractive environment, having explored features by watching a video, it is this plain image is likely to be the one that finally convinces the buyer that this is the item for them.  Creating this simple, high resolution uncluttered image means that you have faith that your product will stand up to scrutiny and also gives you an image that you can display across multiple platforms and for different purposes.