Most complaints about products purchased online are due to the fact that a product’s on-screen portrayal does not conform to reality: colours look different, materials feel different, sizes do not fit. Product descriptions with measurements are not enough to point a shop visitor’s imagination in the right direction. A lot of different zoomable images and product videos offer clear advantages.
Products are rarely offered nowadays without pictures. Now and then you will still see private vendors on eBay who see no need to provide images for their articles. Yet not all images are created equal. This is especially true of products for which size and appearance play a key role: they require vivid and realistic depictions which liberate them from their two-dimensional confines. Here is some good advice:
- Products of similar size should also appear in a similar size.
- It might make sense to specify sizes right away – in product titles.
- Portray an item along with an everyday object to illustrate its size in relative terms (e.g. pillow on a sofa, purse on a woman).
- Extreme close-ups of products can show how materials feel to the touch.
- The use of various scrollable product images can facilitate three-dimensional perspectives.
- Photograph different colours separately; do not create them by means of Photoshop.
- By no means should you use low-resolution or distorted images.
Some shops which nicely illustrate the aforementioned items:
Of course, the advanced versions are product videos, which ideally incorporate all of the pieces of advice listed above. If you visit talkmarket.com and shopflick.com, you will experience video shopping portals which set good examples.
