How To Use Images to Increase Conversions

MARCH 18, 2015

 How To Use Images to Increase Conversions - Undullify Blog

The images on your website draw a lot of attention. Choosing the right images will increase conversions. Here are some proven ways to help you make the best image selection to boost your conversions.

 

1. Use Images To Convey Core Product Benefits

Always use high quality images

Rule #1 for any e-commerce shops selling a physical product is to always use high quality product images.

Don’t use the manufacturer’s images if the quality isn’t high. Learn how to take your own, and invest in a professional to help you with editing the images to get them looking right.

Compare the pair: The trendy Grant Featherson replica contour lounge chair is a popular piece that’s sold everywhere.

Take a look at how two different furniture shops make use of their product image. Which one draws your attention in more?

A small, low quality product image that doesn't enlarge gives visitors little chance to properly see what they want to buy
A small, low quality product image that doesn’t enlarge gives visitors little chance to properly see what they want to buy 

 

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A large, over-sized product image, with the ability to enlarge gives visitors the ability to properly look at the offering and increase conversions.

 

The quality and size of product images matters. Use high quality images to help boost your conversions.

 

Multiple angles & detailed views to show off your product

Show off your product in as many ways as possible with images taken from different angles.

Give me reasons to be confident product quality with zoom and detailed views.

This will all help reduce the gap between offline and online shopping experience.

Compare the pair: Moleskin sells notebooks. Typo also sells notebooks. Which one gives you enough confidence, trust and visual information to hit that buy button?

 

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Typo only shows one image of the notebook. Does that give you enough visual information to hit the “Add To Bag” button?

 

 

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Moleskin covers all their bases with multiple product images showing detailed and angled views of the notebook.

 

Moleskin’s given thought to how they present their product, and this goes towards enhancing the shopping experience and making it as close to the real thing.

Show The Product In Context

Don’t just show the product, show it in its context. Let me imagine using it.

Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite has a unique selling point: “No screen glare in bright sunlight”. No better way to communicate this than with a contextual image.

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The Kindle’s unique feature “No screen glare in bright sunlight” gets the perfect contextual image to match.

2. Never Use Images For Decoration

Choose your images carefully. Make sure they are relevant to your product or service, and useful for your visitor.

Because when you have the wrong image, people either ignore it or become confused.

Example: It makes sense for visitors to Pottery Barn to see bookcases placed in context of their surrounding. It shows how the product will look in its natural environment, and gives it visual context.

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It helps to give products like bookcases visual context.

 

It doesn’t make as much sense, however, for Amazon to display images of television screens. Televisions all look pretty much the same.

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It’s hard to tell the difference between one TV to the next, without looking at the text descriptions.

 

What is important to someone looking to buy a television are the technical details and description. The product image? Not so important.

This eye-tracking study shows the difference in visitor behavior when browsing bookcases versus televisions.

 

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Visitors concentrated on looking at the product images from Pottery Barn, as opposed to concentrating on the product descriptions for TVs on Amazon.

 

3. Use Images To Direct Attention To Your Product Or Copy

People can’t help but to follow the direction in which we are guided.

We just can’t seem to resist certain instinctive urges, and using directional cues are a great way to direct attention to important elements of a page that leads to a conversion.

Call-to-action buttons, headlines, lead generation forms, and powerful testimonials are the main elements that you should use visual cues to draw visitors’ attention.

People can’t resist following the gaze of other people

In this eye-tracking study, the heat-maps produced by testing with real customers show how where the model looks changes customer behavior.

 

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Where the model is looking at the shampoo (versus out of the page), customers followed the direction of her gaze straight to the product.

 

People can’t resist following where an arrow points

Visual cues such as arrows or line of sight objects are also effective tools in creating a directional cue.

Example: Basecamp prefers to use something less aggressive than an arrow, but this illustration of a person pointing to the sign-up form works just as well as an arrow in directing a visitor’s line of sight.

 

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We just can’t help but to follow when there’s an arrow or someone pointing.

4. Emotions Rule

Ever bought something on sale impulsively, just because the sale is about to end and you don’t want to miss out?

Though we’ll all like to think that we make rational decisions, the truth is we make decisions when our emotions are triggered.

Our brains are designed to follow our emotions as opposed to intellect, so every decision to convert is actually an emotional based decision.

Connecting with your visitors using images that convey strong feelings such as happiness, empathy, or even anxiety and guilt will help to drive them to take action.

Example: Chubbie Shorts sells Hawaiian print shirts. They’re a dime a dozen and you can buy one from hundreds of places.

Chubbie Shorts realizes this, so instead of a product page that talks about thread counts accompanied by images of the shirt, they sell the experience and the emotions of what wearing the shirt could bring.

 

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Good times, great parties, and a group of adoring friends. You feel good just looking at the images and imagining yourself there. Sold?

 

5. Use Images To Add Trust And Credibility To Your Site

Show validation

90% of customers say their buying decisions were influenced by online reviews.

72% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

People want a third opinion. They want to feel safe and they want to be convinced they’re making the right decision.

Example: Rimadyl sells osteoarthritis medication for dogs with arthritis. There’s no better way to convince visitors to convert than a powerful testimonial from a beneficiary of the product, placed above the fold on the homepage.

 

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This is a great testimonial that not only proves that the product works, but also taps into your emotions with a dose of cuteness with the image of the dog.

 

Use a real picture of you and your team

Websites can feel quite disconnected with the real world. Connect with your visitors by including pictures of real people and real faces.

You should always include a picture of yourself and your team on your website. It shows the human face of your business, and creates trust with your visitors.

Example: Lateral’s About Us page takes the static picture of the team a little further by having a little bit of fun and flair.

 

Show off your business's personality by mixing creativity and ingenuity.
Show off your business’s personality by mixing creativity and ingenuity.

 

Do you have any specific tips on using images that helped you improve your website’s conversion rate? Please share them in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!