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Boost Conversions With Better Product Page Images
One of the most effective — and overlooked — ways to differentiate yourself from the competition and improve conversion is to optimize the images on your website.
Granted, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but online, your customers don’t quite have the luxury of taste, touch, or smell. So one thing we can learn from ProFlowers.com’s impressive conversion rate last month is that images matter. A lot.
But what works for one website may not work for yours. Oftentimes, the product (or service) itself dictates which strategy is most effective. For instance, if you’re selling jackets, you may want to give visitors multiple views and zoom features.
It all depends on what you’re selling and how much the customer needs to see in order to feel confident to buy.
At last month’s eMetrics Summit in San Francisco, Bryan had a chance to sit down with WilsonWeb.com’s Ralph Wilson to discuss the importance of product images and how they affect conversion. Here’s the video…
As Bryan mentions in the video, even a better looking pear can boost conversion 147%. But the power of images isn’t limited to e-commerce. When images on a B2B site don’t focus the visitor’s attention on the goal at hand, even a pretty face can push visitors away.
That’s why A/B split-testing is essential; it’s how you know the images are making a difference.
For more ideas on how you can test your way to a better conversion rate, we cordially invite you to join us on Wednesday, July 9th for our free “Always Be Testing” webinar, co-hosted by FutureNow and Google Website Optimizer.
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Editor’s Note: Don’t keep this all to yourself. Help spread the word on Facebook…
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Search Engine Strategies Chicago
See Bryan Eisenberg present his solo session titled "Pay Per Conversation". Let us know if you will be there and would like to spend some time with Bryan.
June 26th, 2008
2:49 pm
At the same time, it’s one thing to show a “better looking pear,” but if the fulfillment vendors — this seems to hold particularly true for flowers and other perishables — cannot live up to the extremely high standard set up by the “better looking pear, ” this has the unfortunate effect of setting up unrealistic expectations and perversely will decrease trust and user satisfaction. That’s been my experience with the social expressions industry anyway.
June 26th, 2008
3:32 pm
Gino,
True, but that’s a different issue altogether. That’s a product problem, not a marketing problem. If you show a great looking pear or a great looking bouquet, it’s in your best interest to deliver something that looks like the picture, or else the customer’s dissatisfaction will equate to the exact difference between what was expected and what was delivered.
As for ProFlowers and the client with the pears are concerned, I’ve always found their products to be delivered exactly as pictured, if not better.
June 26th, 2008
7:24 pm
Robert’s right - well photographed images are key to successful online sales.
High resolution images are also critical, especially to get a feel for the quality of a product. Customers like to see the product in all its detail - it gives them more confidence to make the purchase.
Use an image effect to zoom into the product such as Magic Zoom http://www.magictoolbox.com/magiczoom/
June 27th, 2008
2:22 am
Fascinated and very useful information! It is unbelievable, how important is the effect of the images and their composition.
June 30th, 2008
9:01 am
Great Video Robert. I will be looking forward to Bryan’s new book.
June 30th, 2008
11:47 am
I believe one of the most overlooked areas of image improvement is injecting life into pictures by using real life situations. This type of “lifestyle” image frames a story in the visitors mind, and helps them picture owning and enjoying the product.
Take a look at how Ikea displays a dining table:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20134348
And compare that to World Market:
http://www.worldmarket.com/Furniture/dining-room-furniture/Dining-Room-Tables/Amaya-Dining-Table/lev/4/productId/6807/Ne/1100001/sectionId/2868/N/1100005/categoryId/1100005/pCategoryId/1100004/gpCategoryId/1100002/Ns/NEW_ARRIVAL_FLAG|1||CATEGORY_SEQ_2884|0/index.pro
July 1st, 2008
3:36 pm
Question????
I sell Audio Bibles, besides showing someone listening to a CD player with a pair of headphones on.
How else could I show someone using the product?
July 2nd, 2008
12:43 am
The unfortunate fact is for ecommerce stores doing drop shipping that most product feeds are not that good, and so if you can afford it doing your own product images can be real differentiator.
July 4th, 2008
10:30 am
Small Business Ecommerce Link Digest - July 4, 2008…
Linda Bustos, Avinash Kaushik, GrokDotCom, Seth Godin and Search Engine Land all visit the Link Digest. Talking ’bout pictures, mostly.
……