The Importance of Product Photography for Your Business

More than 263 million American consumers shop online – that is nearly 80% of the population! This number is only expected to increase over the next few years. So, it is safe to say the quality of the photos on your website is very important. Since your customers cannot physically touch and feel your item, you want to at least give them high-quality images that provide all of the details to make an informed buying decision. 

Your images influence customers’ opinions of your company – you want to leave a positive impression. E-commerce is an extremely competitive area, so you’ll want every advantage to secure a sale.

The purpose of product photography is typically for commercial uses. A photographer you’ve hired or that you already have within your marketing team will take photos of your products in the best, most accurate lighting. Your product photos should accurately reflect your product. A customer would be pretty unsatisfied to order what looks like a ‘Forest Green’ shirt in photos, only for it to arrive and be ‘Lime Green’. This is the most common reason customers return items. 

A 2022 survey on US consumer behavior reports that nearly 57% of survey respondents prefer to shop online. Yet another reason to have high-quality photos of your products on your website.

Shoppers need to be able to see accurate photos of products while shopping online since they cannot see the physical product in front of them. Your product photos will have an impact on your success. 75% of online buyers say that photo quality is an important factor for online sales. These photos will improve your chances of selling your product! What are some of the benefits of having high-quality ecommerce photos?

• Your customer knows what to expect from your product. 
• High-quality images imply a high-quality product. 
• You build trust with your customers. Many shoppers prefer to see real photos versus stock photos. Stock photos can make customers suspicious of your product. By using realistic and relatable settings, customers are able to picture themselves with your item. 
• You can incorporate your brand and personality into your photos. This will give customers an idea of who you/your business are!
• Product photos are perfect to use for various marketing initiatives such as marketing campaigns, newsletters, and social media posts.
• Good product photography is more likely to be shared from your social media accounts, increasing your brand exposure. 
• Customers also enjoy seeing real photos from real customers – you can typically find these within customer reviews or customers tagging your brand on social media.

While smartphone technology has increased over the years, it is still best to use professional cameras for product photography when possible. They can create your photoshoot set-up by utilizing backdrops, props, various lenses, and more. Professionals can nail a photo quickly. Lighting within your home or office often fluctuates, whereas during a professional product photography shoot, the lighting is controlled. They know the tips and tricks to get the best lighting and angles. 

Editing photos is often the most time-consuming process for product photography. The pros provide a quick editing process and they can remove any blemishes that may be present in photos. This will ensure that your product shots have consistent and clean backgrounds. They can capture a number of different views and angles with ease. The more of your product customers can see, the more you’ll increase their purchase confidence.  

One tip to keep in mind if you are taking product photos yourself: you can shrink digital images with no quality loss, but you cannot make them bigger. One perk of working with a professional product photographer is that you will get a database of image files that can be cropped or expanded to nearly any size. This is important to keep in mind since many customers zoom in on product photos. If a customer zooms in on your product just to see a blurry blob for a photo, they will be less likely to purchase it.

Incorporating alt text provides opportunities for search engine optimization. This is text that will appear on a user’s screen if the image fails to load. By adding alternate text to your images you’re providing important, detailed information about each photo. You should always add this to your product images as it helps visually impaired readers learn more about your product. Adding alt text will create a better user experience!

Yes, we can help you with your product photography! We specialize in taking standard product photos with a white background, lifestyle images, and action shots. Our process is pretty straightforward.

First, we will go over what you’re looking for, finalize pricing, and you will pay the invoice. Next, you will mail us the products you want photographed. After receiving your items, we will provide you with an estimated completion time. Now we’re at the fun part – we get to work on photographing your items! We do all of the editing for you and deliver your high resolution product images. What’s next? You share them! If you need help implementing these photos on your website, we can help with that, too.