Low prices, fast delivery, and excellent services aren't all that is needed to make a sale online. An online shopper wants to see what their product looks like.
This visual confirmation is one of the most crucial ways your store can help its customers to validate their purchase. If done correctly, a store will be able to increase its conversion rates due to high quality and enticing pictures.
The percentage of people who shop online is increasing at a steady rate. People love the convenience of purchasing goods from the comfort of their home or offices. However, there still is a significant portion of the population that still shop offline.
There are various reasons behind shopping at your local store instead of online. One of which is the ability to see products in person and try them out before you decide to spend your money.
This is one of the biggest struggles with every e-commerce store, the inability to allow the consumer to try out the product first before purchase.
The only true way of delivering an experience that is close to actually being next to the product is to post images on the product page. Images are everything in e-commerce as it allows stores to capture some of the essences of the actual product.
It may not be as good as the real deal, but you can still convince people to buy the product by using well-optimized pictures.
E-commerce photos are extremely powerful, especially when the product shots are taken correctly. Great product pictures have the power to influence people by showing off the brand in a favorable light.
These images are so compelling and enticing that they can even go beyond simply assisting you in making a decision. They can change your mind completely.
You may not have much interest in a portable camera like a GoPro. You are more than happy with your smartphone’s camera. However, go visit GoPro’s online store and see for yourself if you can resist wanting a portable sports camera at all. The lifestyle images show off the product expertly.
The images are telling you to get their camera now so you too can film your scuba dives and mountain hikes. These images make the camera so enticing that you must have it right away, even though you never went scuba diving or hiking in your life.
You are now willing to purchase the camera and start hiking and swimming for the first time.
It may sound like an over exaggeration, but great positive photography can inspire us to do positive acts. E-commerce pictures can be seen as visual representations of how a product should be used while maintaining the spirit of the brand.
They evoke emotion while promoting the brand’s mission.
Knowing that great product images can be a powerful tool when done right, it makes sense to hire a professional photographer. Especially if you are launching your own startup business centered around a few custom products.
However, Pro Photographers are extremely expensive and can severely cut into the budget of any online business.
These high costs are not a good idea, especially for small companies just starting off. You want to keep expenses low in your startup business. If you do plan to take plenty of e-commerce product pictures, then you should consider investing in some photography gear.
Spending on some decent equipment now can help you in the long run. It does not have to be high-end cameras and lighting. You can still achieve great images with low-end cameras and even your mobile smartphone.
Lighting is a photographer's best friend. It is a crucial factor in determining the quality of a photo. You can just pick out a poorly lit photo with one that is well lit.
Lighting can make a severe impact on your pictures and overall store appearance. This is why you should try to seek out the best sort of lighting for your product images.
Natural light is light sourced out from the sun. It is sharp, defined and vibrant. Simply taking a picture close to a window can be a great way to make use of natural light.
However, this method is obviously time sensitive at different times of the day will produce different types of natural light. Natural lighting is ideal for outdoor products.
Artificial light comes from our standard room light bulbs and camera flashes. In most cases, artificial light has a yellow tint which is mostly dependent on the light source. Artificial light is ideal for smaller products that have finer details, like a watch or jewelry.
A photography sweep is a simple ramp that is created from the base of the product to the top end of the wall behind the product. This ram can be achieved by using poster board paper which can easily curve up from under the product to as far as it can reach the top.
Sweeps are a favorite among e-commerce stores as it creates a limitless effect in the background, making it seem as if the product is all alone in a white abyss. The poster board paper doesn't have to be white though.
You can select different colors to achieve different effects.
Tripods allow you to take spectacular shots that are crystal clear without any blurriness. Even with the most steady hands out there, you could still risk having blurry photos as product images.
One of the most popular types of tripods is a flexible tripod; a popular choice being a Gorillapod. A flexible tripod allows you to set up your camera for any sort of shot in any kind of environment.
Flexible tripods are relatively cheap, and there are options for smartphones as well. The smartphone option is perfect for those who don't have a camera but do have a high-end smartphone with a good enough camera.
There are plenty of e-commerce stores out there that do not take much interest in their pictures. They simply upload generic photos downloaded from the product's website.
This can help you save time in taking pictures, but it will deprive your customers of a better, customized experience that is achieved by taking your own photos. Most online stores today are going the route of custom images. Shouldn't you give it a try too?