Why your e-commerce website needs smashing pictures

A picture is worth over a thousand words

Every time you’re online looking to purchase something, what is the first thing that catches your eye and convinces you to click on it. The PICTURE, right?

It is only after you’ve seen the picture and your mind is convinced in the first few seconds that this seems to be a good product, is when you then move on to read a little bit about it, maybe on the title, the description, and then the reviews.

You see how important images are in e-commerce? If it doesn’t appeal to the eye, people online are going to scroll through and find something else that does.

But, why does this happen, especially with e-commerce and online shopping?

People prefer seeing things over reading about it

We are living in the smart age. Everything from your toothbrush to your television is connected to the internet and your smartphone. We no longer type things to send a message to someone or look up something online. We snap it using our cameras and do the needful (Thank you Google Lens).

Look at all the marketing and advertising studies and surveys done over the years, the visual element has always come out as the winner over text. Yes, people do love a smart pun here, a hidden joke there. But that beautiful dress won’t sell through words, people wish to see the design, the fabric, the idea of how it may look on an actual person wearing it. Only then they’ll take a look at the price and think about placing an order for it.

But that beautiful dress won’t sell through words, people wish to see the design, the fabric, the idea of how it may look on an actual person wearing it. Only then they’ll take a look at the price and think about placing an order for it.

Here’s a fun fact: Of all the returns that are done after online shopping, over 20% of them happen because the actual product didn’t resemble what the buyer saw online on the website.

So, it is important that you put up real pictures of your products, shot by professionals, from multiple angles with a clean background and ample lighting.

Images contribute to your site’s SEO

YES, you read that right. Images contribute greatly to the SEO of your e-commerce website. With more and more people moving towards image search using Google Snap or photo search apps, the search engine AI identifies and matches the image’s visual elements with the pictures you put up on your website. And when they match correctly, your product shows up as one of the search results. And this is not anyone but the SEO experts of Flora Fountain, the best seo company in Ahmedabad advice it to all.

Additionally, naming your product correctly by its name instead of generic terms like “image1.jpg” helps the search engine to match with the searches and pull up your product online. Your images must also have Alt Text, which describes the product, e.g. Blue Cotton Summer Dress with Floral Patterns. All the ideal keywords got used to describe your product image and it makes absolute sense too.

Enhances the online shopping experience

If your brand doesn’t stand out and appeal to the visitor on your page, you will be losing out on a sale. And well-shot pictures of your products add a sense of originality and make it more trustworthy, since people are missing the tactile experience of examining the product using their hands and are solely relying on the visual experience on their screens.

So, it is ideal that one must invest in good photography of not just your products, but in creating an entire visual experience. Hire specialists who can help you build an entire concept around your product connecting with your brand and guides you in picking the right photographers to create a story through pictures.

It’s not an expense but an investment

The e-commerce space has become intensely competitive in the past decade with more players coming in and selling their wares online. And this trend saw a sharp rise when countries went into a lockdown due to the pandemic in 2020 and people were forced to get everything they need online.

So you need to move up and not rely solely on your brick and mortar store. You can either get an e-commerce website for your brand or business made or sell on third-party platforms like Amazon, eBay, etc. But no matter where you sell online, your pictures are going to play the lead role in attracting customers to your website.

Good, original pictures mean more people online click and engage with your product link. And when search engines and online shopping platforms notice this trend, they automatically rank your product higher. So it may seem like an additional expenditure now, but the ROI on good photography for your e-commerce platform will be multifold.

And if you’re still clueless about how to get started on photography for your e-commerce platform, drop us a line and we at Flora Fountain, Ahmedabad’s best e-commerce website development company, would love to chat about creating a concept for you and guiding you with the photo & video shoots in Ahmedabad.