How Does Product Photography Improve Online Sales?

Good product photography should make your products look good. Obviously.

But when it comes to ecommerce, that’s really only part of the job.

Your customer can’t pick up your product. They can’t turn it around, feel the packaging, compare the size, or ask someone a question before buying it. Your product images have to do a lot of that work for them.

That’s why I look at ecommerce photography as more than just creating pretty pictures. The goal is to help your customer understand what they’re buying, picture themselves using it, and feel confident enough to hit “Add to Cart.”

And that usually takes a little more strategy than one great hero shot.

Consistency Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think

One of the biggest issues I see with ecommerce brands is inconsistency.

Maybe your Amazon listing looks one way and your Shopify site looks completely different. Or one product has a great seven-image carousel, while the next has three images that look like they were taken two years earlier.

Lighting changes. Angles change. Backgrounds change. Some products have lifestyle images, others don’t.

Your customer probably isn't sitting there thinking, “Wow, the lighting on this SKU doesn't match the last one.”

But they do notice when a brand feels polished and consistent versus pieced together.

Your ecommerce photography should feel like it all belongs to the same brand, whether someone is shopping on Amazon, your website, or seeing an ad on Instagram.

My Approach: Educate, Inspire, Sell

When I’m planning ecommerce photography, I use a pretty simple framework: Educate, Inspire, Sell.

Every image doesn't need to do all three. But your carousel as a whole should.

Educate

First, show me what I’m buying.

This is where your clean ecommerce images come in. Show the front, back, different angles, packaging, texture, size, what comes inside, or anything else someone would want to know before buying.

Think about what someone would do if they picked your product up in a store.

They'd turn it around. Read the packaging. Look at the size. Maybe open it if they could.

Your ecommerce images need to recreate as much of that experience as possible.

Inspire

Now show me how this product fits into my life.

This is where lifestyle photography comes in.

If it's food, show me how I might eat it. If it's footwear, show me how it looks being worn. If it's a home product, put it into an actual home.

Lifestyle photography gives your product context and helps answer questions like:

Who is this for? How is it used? Where does it fit into my life?

Sometimes that information is just as important as seeing the product itself.

Sell

And finally, why should I buy yours?

This is where we can highlight ingredients, features, benefits, sizing, construction, functionality, or whatever makes your product different.

Sometimes photography can communicate that on its own. Other times, an infographic makes more sense.

The trick is not trying to say EVERYTHING.

We've all seen Amazon carousels where every image has 47 words, six arrows, four icons and somehow you're more confused than when you started.

More information isn't always better. The right information is.

Your Carousel Should Tell a Story

I don't really think about ecommerce photography as seven separate photos.

I think about the entire carousel.

What does the customer need to see first? What do they need to learn next? Where should we bring in lifestyle? Is there something we need an infographic to explain?

And most importantly, are we saying something new with each image?

If you have seven images that basically communicate the same thing, you don't really have seven useful images.

You just have the same message seven times.

Each image should earn its spot.

Think Beyond Amazon or Shopify

Another thing I talk about with brands before a shoot is where these images are actually going to live.

Yes, maybe we're shooting because you need to update Amazon right now.

But what about your Shopify site? Homepage? Emails? Ads? Social media? Wholesale materials? Retailer listings?

Photography can be a pretty significant investment, so I want the images we're creating to work as hard as possible for you.

That doesn't necessarily mean taking more photos.

It means planning better before we take them.

Your Photography Should Match Your Price Point

This is a big one.

If you're selling a premium product but your product page is filled with cellphone photos, inconsistent lighting, or old packaging, there's a disconnect.

You're asking the customer to see the value in something that your imagery isn't presenting as valuable.

A good example is a recent ecommerce photography project we did for Les Poochs, a luxury pet care brand.

Their dog shampoo products are positioned as premium products, but much of their existing imagery consisted of basic cellphone photos.

So we updated their ecommerce photography to give the products a cleaner, more polished and high-end presentation that actually matched the brand and price point.

We weren't trying to make the product look like something it wasn't.

The quality was already there.

The photography just needed to catch up.

So, Does Better Product Photography Increase Sales?

There isn't a magic equation where better photography automatically equals X% more sales.

Your price, reviews, website, traffic, copy, shipping, product itself and about a million other things affect conversion.

But photography controls a pretty important part of the buying experience: what your customer can actually see.

Strong ecommerce photography can help customers understand the product, see important details, recognize its value, picture themselves using it, and feel more confident about what they're ordering.

It also gives your brand a consistent library of images that can be used far beyond one product page.

And when someone is deciding whether or not to spend their money with you, making that decision easier matters.

Are Your Product Images Actually Doing Their Job?

Instead of only asking, “Do we have good product photos?” I think brands should be asking:

Do our images educate the customer?

Do they inspire them?

Do they help sell the product?

Does everything feel consistent from one product to the next?

Does our Amazon presence actually feel like the same brand as our Shopify site?

And does the photography match the quality and price point of what we're selling?

If not, you probably don't just need “better photos.”

You need a better image strategy.

Prospect Street Studio creates ecommerce product photography and lifestyle photography for Amazon and Shopify brands in Worcester, Boston, throughout New England, and nationwide.