Today’s consumers look at your product detail pages (PDPs) to evaluate your product quality. To keep up with consumers’ expectations, you should ensure that your PDPs include essential elements — one of them is high-quality product images.
According to Salsify's 2021 Consumer Research Report, 40% of U.S. shoppers rely on product images to decide whether to buy. A 2020 academic study also found that product images are useful to attract consumers’ attention and stimulate their intentions for consumption. That’s why focusing more on product photography will undoubtedly pay off.
However, many brands still ignore the importance of this process and do it wrong.
This article features the top three ecommerce product photography mistakes and tips to fix them. You’ll also learn how to optimize your photo creation process to save you time and energy as well as boost your conversion rate.
1. Shooting Product Photos Randomly
Think about capturing a product with a busy background, improper exposure settings, or stains on the backdrop. Using these product photos on your PDP may create a bad impression of your brand, making consumers leave your store immediately.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to invest in a professional-grade DSLR or an expensive camera — you can take high-quality photos using just your smartphone. However, make sure you understand how to master the lighting and background before taking any shot.
How to Improve Your Product Photography From the Start
Better product photography starts from the shoot. Keep the following in mind.
- Determine the type of product photos you should have for your PDP. Do you need product-only images with a clean background or lifestyle photos showcasing your products being used in a specific context, or both?
- Set up the background and product depending on the type of product photos you need. If you take product-only images, you’ll need a shooting table and a light tent. For lifestyle photos, free up your creativity to create unique shots.
- Get the lighting right. A common practice is to take advantage of natural light. When doing this, avoid shooting under direct sunlight because it can create harsh shadows. If you have the budget, you can choose a studio light, which gives you more control over the shooting process.
2. Go Overboard With Editing
After shooting, you may want to edit your product photos to make them lighter, get rid of blemishes, add text, or remove background. Be sure you don’t edit too much, as doing that will ruin the authenticity of your products, making consumers think they’re being deceived.
Editing Tips to Make Your Product Photos Shine
If you’re unable to shoot or re-shoot your photos, hope isn’t lost to help make your product photos shine.
- Edit out any distractions and unwanted objects from your product images. You can do this with photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop.
- Remove the background and ensure your product is at the center of the photo to make it stand out.
- Adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness of your photos. Avoid using filters of any kind — your product photos should show the product as it is.
3. Only Display Some Parts of the Product
The third product photography mistake that ecommerce brands, especially those who just started selling online, often make: only displaying some parts of the product. On their PDP, they just show a few static images, or worse yet, a single product shot, making it hard for consumers to know if the product is what they want.
How to Take Your Visuals to the Next Level
Just as consumers expect more and more product information to support their buying decisions, they expect more comprehensive visuals, too. Customers need to be able to effectively visualize your product fitting into their home or lifestyle.
To accommodate sparse photography, consider using enhanced product content like 360-degree spins. No matter how many static images you use, you can’t beat comprehensive 360-degree photos, which help showcase your product from all angles and at the smallest details. Here is an excellent example from Fitbit:
Image Source: FitBit
On Fitbit’s product detail page, consumers can click and drag their mouse over the product image to get close-up, side-view, and back-view looks at product features. While doing that, consumers may become more connected to the product, which will likely lead them to purchase.
Some interior designers, B2B manufacturers, and automotive brands go even further by applying product configurators to create a highly interactional shopping experience. For example, when consumers go to Tate Shop’s online store, they can customize an artwork print and visualize how it’ll fit their home in real-time.
By offering product configurators, Tate Shop can create products that align with individual consumers’ expectations, increase their satisfaction, and reduce returns. They also collect a vast amount of customer data that is valuable to design future targeting campaigns.
Fix These Ecommerce Product Photography Mistakes to Improve Your Conversions
Product photos help showcase your products in an attractive way, shape consumers’ first impressions of your business, and entice them to make a purchase. They’re an essential part of digital shelf success for ecommerce brands and retailers, especially those selling directly to consumers.
Now go back to your product detail pages and check if you’ve made those ecommerce product photography mistakes above. If yes, start fixing them as soon as possible to enhance the shopping experience for your customers.
If you’re looking for more PDP best practices, check out the Complete Product Page Toolkit created by Salsify’s digital shelf experts. This ultimate guide will help you understand if you’re doing right with your PDP and give you actionable tactics to improve it for optimal performance.
