It may be a tired trope, but good pictures in the right numbers do boost conversion, thus making your online venue profitable. People shop with their eyes, and when an image is catchy and top-quality, the chances of a purchase grow manifold. That’s why an excellent set of pics that represent your product is as important in your business plan as the product supply itself.
Excellent does not mean high resolution alone. It means proper selection of angles, details, and background, the optimal number of images taken, a cool storyline accompanying the item, and a multitude of other considerations that come together to make a customer’s heart skip a beat. The list is long, but the result is clear-cut: your images will sell or fail.
So how does one start and end the process of taking e-commerce pictures that really sell? There are two key options: to do everything personally and to hire a professional (or a team). If you have a small makeshift Etsy shop, your own skills and equipment will do. If you dream big and want to build the ‘next Amazon’, you’ll need some big guns including a reliable photo studio that has expertise in quality e-commerce photography. Check the squareshot.co if you need a trustworthy product photo service in New York, for example.
But still, be it studio photography or DIY style, what does the right process of product picture taking include? It has three stages, and here’s a glimpse of what every stage entails.
Planning
At this stage, we talk about concept planning. That is, what kinds of pics to take and in what number. It is now that you select the isolated or lifestyle concept of a photoshoot, or settle for both. An isolated image says ‘what’ you sell and what features it has. Lifestyle images say why you may need this product and how it fits into daily life. Thus, by employing both concepts, you tell your customers what your product is and how they will benefit from it.
Doing
When you have the concept, you can implement it (preferably, with the assistance of experienced photographers). They will point you to the best background (hint: white), the necessary angles to show the item from, the best starting picture, and so on. The consistent layout and colors plus a sufficient number of pics (think 7 or 8) are enough to make a customer feel the rush of real-life shopping. They create the effect of neat shelves and slow cruising through the aisles, exploration of details, and getting the most from shopping. That’s why you need help and why this operational stage really matters.
Optimizing
When you have pictures, you can look through them, select the best ones and prepare them for the digital environment they will work in. We do not talk about post-production, we talk about technical stuff, like responsive design, high and low-resolution options, square vs. rectangular shape, compression, and so on. Even the 5-star picture will not work to your advantage if it does not load properly on a user’s device. So keep this aspect of product photography in mind.
All in all, a good photography studio will save you lots of trouble, so don’t save on their services. Conversions, sales, and happy customers’ reviews will compensate you for this cost generously. Go ahead and do it!
