Author: Phil Potts, Marketplace Expert at Visualsoft
If you are not prioritising product photography then you could be leaving significant value on the table. Many retailers spend all their time and energy writing product descriptions, only to snap a quick picture of their product before getting it online.
It's true that product descriptions are massively important; laden with SEO keywords, they provide buyers with the ability to find your product out of the trillions of others online. What they don’t do, however, is contribute as much towards a buyer's decision to convert their find into a sale. That’s where product images come in.
Human beings are naturally visually stimulated and as a product retailer, this is an opportunity to take advantage of by making your images as informative, appealing and enticing as possible.
Studies have shown that we take in 80% of what we see, but only 20% of what we read. eCommerce buyers always look to save as much time as possible, and recent surveys in the industry have shown that 75% of online shoppers rely on product pictures when making a decision to purchase.
So if your description is great, but your photography is poor, you are only maximising your appeal to a very small proportion of potential buyers.
Your customers need to be guided and informed into making a purchase, and imagery is the best way to do this.
As well as helping to sell your product - ample, high-quality images also help to improve your returns rate by giving the customer a much broader perspective of the product they're buying.
Let's dive into some top tips for creating the perfect product imagery:
Use the right equipment
Photography doesn't need to be expensive or complicated. There are lighting fixtures and backdrops on Amazon that can be purchased for less than £100. And chances are, you have a modern phone with a camera that can be just as good as a £1,000 Nikon for this type of work.
There are popup boxes that can be purchased online, pre-fitted with LED lights, with a multitude of backdrop colours and range of sizes. Paired with an iPhone, these boxes are a powerful tool for producing pictures that will rival any professional setup.
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If you are using a larger lighting setup with softboxes, ensure the light is evenly distributed across the product; and try to eliminate shadowing. If your product does not stand out well from the white background, i.e. white products, consider using a dark or green background, although this may require some image manipulation.
Alternatively, you can try to use more light to overexpose the background, this can create a striking effect.
If you are using a digital camera, make sure you are using the correct lens. Unless your camera has any image stabilisation features, you will also require a tripod.
Fuzzy, dark, distorted and poor-quality images will be an instant turn-off for a customer; so take your time, check your lighting, steady your camera and don’t be afraid to make some tweaks to the final image with your editing software.
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Try to avoid anything except natural tones or white light. White/natural light gives the most accurate representation of colours and helps make the product stand out. When finalising your pictures, either via Photoshop or Lightroom, try to remember that different monitors display colours slightly differently. Before uploading, send the picture to a different device to make sure you are happy with the results.
If you find yourself editing lots of pictures, it is worth investing some time and money into decent software. If you are serious about selling your items, do not cut corners here as it can make the biggest single difference.
Adobe Photoshop is a relatively inexpensive and simple tool to use for manipulating images. Spend an hour watching a tutorial video on how to remove shadows and backgrounds from pictures, you will surprise yourself.
You could also consider outsourcing your photography. There are many companies out there (including Visualsoft) that specialise in getting it right. Send them a sample of your products and they will ensure the imagery is perfect, and then return the products to you.
Take the right pictures
We always recommend a minimum of seven images per product; more is often better. eBay’s “Best Match” algorithm, for example, takes a number of factors into account when deciding which listings should be top of the search results, and the number of images is one of them.
Your customers should be able to see a full 360-degree view of your product through your images, including the front, back, sides, top and bottom.
Include close-up (macro) shots of texture, material or special features of your product. Allow your customers to “feel” the product through the pictures.
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Remember, your pictures are a visual representation of your product and brand. Try to include your brand's image in the pictures and try to capture the lifestyle impact of your product/brand.
Are you a fun-loving make-up brand? Ensure your products are colourful and happy. Are you a high-end clothing brand? Try to capture the quality of your product through feature & lifestyle shots.
Here are a few examples from some of our clients:
I Love Cosmetics
Although it is not recommended to add additional items around the product for marketplaces, the below image is a great example of how to capture a brand’s essence. An image like this could be used as an ideal website image, or as a secondary marketplace image to capture the customer's attention.
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Discount Supplements
A powerful image showcasing everything the brand is about. It’s stylish and provocative and is exactly on point for a healthy living and supplements brand.
Foxy Locks
Customers love to see the product being used. If it’s a shirt, take a picture of someone wearing it. If it’s a wall clock, take a picture of it hanging on a wall in a living room. If it’s a dog shampoo, take a picture of someone using it while bathing their dog. One of our clients, Foxy Locks, uses images from influencers using their product and post these directly to their social channels, an example from Instagram is shown below:
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Ensure the photography area is clean & tidy and if photographing an item like clothing, ensure any creases are ironed out. Once a customer spots an imperfection in an image, it’s very hard for them to un-see it.
If you are struggling to get inspired with products that may not need as many images, show it in use. For example when photographing a USB stick, consider taking an image of the USB stick plugged into a computer or dangling from a keyring. Another example, if you’re shooting something like a deck of cards, you could take an image of the cards spread out or being dealt at a poker table.
Here is a summary of the types of ‘shots’ you should be looking to include:
1. Main Image4. Texture Shot
5. Lifestyle Shot
6. Group Shot
7. Breakdown Shot
Does your product have components? Open the box, and show everything that’s included. What colour is your shampoo? Squirt a line of it onto the table. Be creative.
Remember, take several pictures, decide which one is the best and use that.
Keep it real
Studies across the web have shown that one of the top reasons for returns is customers rejecting items because they look different to the product image shown on the retailer's website or marketplace. This is often due to outdated images, products being bigger/smaller than expected, poor lighting, too much or too little colour saturation or just not a good visual representation of the product in general.
Customers do not like to be deceived. It is important to ensure that your pictures give a 100% accurate representation of what the customer will receive.
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Try not to include accessories in the images that are not included in the product itself. Also, ensure the colours are correct; if your packaging or product changes, the images need to be updated to reflect the changes.
Do not add any borders or backgrounds to your images. These draw attention away from the product, and no matter how good you are at using Photoshop, don’t try to manipulate the images to overlay clothing on models!
If you are selling a defective product, for example on eBay, do not try to hide any damage or defects; being deceptive can cause harm to your selling privileges and in some cases, can have them suspended.
Videography
Videography is becoming ever more popular. In 2022, Amazon and eBay began allowing sellers to upload product videos to their platforms.
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When taking pictures, consider adding some videos too. These do not need to be complicated product adverts on a professional production level, just a walkthrough of how to use your product, a model wearing it, or a dog playing with it.
Videography will be hugely important in the future of eCommerce so it is worth investing some time and money into it now to get the edge on competitors. Videos give the customer a great insight into the product as a whole, and really empower their decision to purchase.
To summarise;
- Good product images are far more likely to convert a sale than the rest of a listing
- Photography does not have to be overly expensive but is worth investing in
- Ensure you take a minimum of seven images, ensuring a full 360° view of the product
- Do not be deceptive with your images
- Videography is becoming increasingly popular on both Amazon & eBay
