The Importance of Photography to the E-commerce Marketplace
Ecommerce relies on Photography more than anything else to sell product. Rarely do people buy things without seeing them first and this is especially true for medical equipment they may not be familiar with. The best copy in the world will still be overlooked if the customer cannot see the product. They want to see what they are buying; that it does not look cheap or flimsy, that it does in fact function as advertised, and they want to be able to visualize how they can use the product in their homes. Consumers want to see that the company cares about their products, their reputation, and how they appear to the consumer. Presenting a consistent and well maintained style to the customer will do a lot for improving consumer confidence as they will see a company that takes pride in what they produce. With poor images that do not show off features or present any additional views customers are being denied the ability to make the proper decision.
For e-commerce, you must anticipate your customer’s questions and provide them the answers on a single product page. Customers are used to being let down by products, and this leads to increased scrutiny when shopping online. When a product says it folds easily for storage, and there is no photo of the product folded and/or placed in a confined space, they might begin to think that the product does not fold so easily, or, maybe it is bulky when folded and an awkward shape that is not actually stored so easily and the company doesn’t want them to see that before buying the product. All of these issues factor into a customer’s decision to purchase a product online, and their overall opinion of the seller.
One common mistake that sellers make when beginning to sell online is not prioritizing product photography. In the days of the catalog, it was almost a game for consumers to guess what a product would look like when they actually received it. Many times there would be a single lifestyle image showing the product in use and a list of available options. Unfortunately this no longer is good enough and consumers are used to seeing high resolution images of every feature and every angle and will complain if they receive a product that does not match the photography. This is why it is so important for e-tailers to be meticulous about their imaging and to provide accurate and well thought out images to their customers.
If you want to sell products online and eliminate customer complaints, then photography should always remain a priority. It is an investment and like all investments it will take time for you to notice the value gained. It is hard to place a tangible value on good photography, but the impact will certainly be noticed; and most importantly it will be appreciated by your customers.
