Online shopping is one of the greatest things about the Internet! It makes purchasing things so much easier. But on the other hand, a huge challenge online business owners face is that their customers can’t touch and feel the products before purchasing them.
The products will be seen for how they are virtually displayed on the E-commerce platform. This is why there are many factors that need to be considered when displaying products online.
A good case in point is the amount of consideration for visual appeal that needs to go in from the seller’s part. When displaying products in an online store, the vendor would have to provide compelling and realistic photos that are high-quality, illustrative as possible, and eye-catching.
A good product image will help the buyer trust the product and the seller.
All in all, product images for E-commerce are one of the essential parts of advertising that digital shop owners have to carefully look into among other things.
So in this blog, we will provide tips and techniques for designing product images for E-commerce.
Not everyone will search for every product advertised on an E-commerce platform. So don’t try to target everyone. Buyers will proceed to search for products enlisted on a website according to their needs. In most cases, they will do so by typing in a generic name. And upon hitting that search button, they’re going to see the list of products on their screen.
Now if you’ve carefully understood your target audience, you will know what they look for in a product. If you haven’t yet understood who your target audience is it’s best to find that out as early as possible. We suggest that you conduct extensive market research and gather information from your existing clientele.
Google Analytics is also a great way to determine who keeps visiting your website more often.
All of these steps help you design product images in a way that appeals to this demographic. It is then that these images are able to grab their attention when they see them on the screen.
This is why you need to design product images for E-commerce with clear intent.
And this leads us to the next point.
Not to sound like a broken record but the customer will be digitally viewing these products. So you would need to give them that virtual experience of being able to go through the product thoroughly.
With that in mind, you would need to showcase the product features effectively through the images you use. Make sure to design detailed images that focus on the main features and benefits of the product.
Like this product image for the Hoover MaxLife Pro Pet Swivel advertised on Amazon. The image captures one of the product’s important features, helping potential customers imagine its use in a real-life setting.
The angles at which the products are photographed and laid out in the graphic also make a huge impact on buyer behavior. This is why we recommend providing a few shots from different angles aside from the main view when creating product images for E-commerce like the example below. Each of these images should focus on one particular feature.
In the case of items like electronics, a 360-degree view helps.
And in the case of clothes, if it’s a printed floral dress, you can shoot it up close to show them the detailed pattern and the fabric’s texture. This would help the buyer make an informed decision. Additionally, when clothes are photographed on a model it gives the buyer a visual representation of how it would look.
A quick tip: All things considered make sure the model featured in your product images and the overall composition suit your target audience’s taste and the rest of your brand identity. For example, it would be relevant to choose models in the same age as your target audience.
Now that we have spoken about the basics, let’s discuss aesthetics. Because even the most informative image goes unnoticed if it lacks visual appeal.
To produce a visually appealing product image for E-commerce, there need to be certain design practices applied to the image. Things like enhancing the image, editing, retouching, and overall composition should be taken care of.
Since we’re on the subject of color and composition it would be a missed opportunity to not bring to your attention how products on white background look the best. A composition of simple clean-cut images of the product on white backgrounds makes the items really pop. It allows the customer to review it without any hindrances.
Like this example of an MVMT watch on Amazon. The product is placed on a white background and the product image itself is of high quality making the overall quality of the image great.
Coming back to color and composition, you would also have to refine the colors and adjust contrast to make the image feel like it’s in a real-life setting. It’s important to make the product seem real and legitimate. For this, you might want to be careful when you remove and replace the backgrounds in product photos.
We would recommend using professional designers to achieve this. They would be able to process the backgrounds in your product photos to make the image look realistic while also adding to the visual appeal.
If you think working with professional designers is expensive, consider an unlimited design subscription. It can help you cut short the costs that you would have to bear while also taking care of all the image editing and graphic design requirements of your E-commerce business.
The real challenge in designing product images for E-commerce platforms comes in bringing them all to one place. When publishing the product images they should all look consistent. Consistency ensures that your website looks clean and professional like the one below.
Furthermore, the goal here is not only for the customers to get a good understanding of the product. There are other important things also that you need to think of like how they perceive your overall brand.
As a matter of fact, you need to seriously think about displaying your brand identity on your website. That is what will help create brand awareness among customers.
In other words, consistently designed product images will promote future associations with your brand.
A brand guideline will also help you stay on track. Your color palette, the kind of layouts that work for your products, if necessary the kind of models you want associated with your brand, and more can all be included in your brand guide.
This will greatly impact the cohesiveness of your E-commerce website, your product images in particular.
Along with these design tips covered, let’s now look at some do’s and don’ts when designing product images for E-commerce.
Designing product images for E-commerce is a job that needs to be done with precision. It has to meet the needs of the target audience while showing off the most significant parts of the product.
These product images for E-commerce would also have to be enhanced to be visually pleasing to buyers. This is why we encourage you to use the tips and techniques we have mentioned to make sure your images are of good quality.
Also, aim for consistency because you’re also putting your brand on a pedestal whenever you advertise your products. So make sure everything is cohesive.
And finally, the more compelling the product images the more you can increase your ROI. Which is what all your efforts are for at the end of the day. According to Oberlo, there are 26.3 billion digital shoppers worldwide which is 33.3% of the worldwide population! It would be a waste to not make use of this level of opportunity.
