Why the Time is Now for 360 Product Photography
If you’re considering getting started with 360 product photography, you’ve come to the right place. We are experts in 360 degree product photography and have worked with thousands of clients globally to help consult, shoot and implement 360 product images into their webstores. These customers came to us with a similar goal – to increase their eCommerce sales. And we are pleased to say we have the highest customer satisfaction rate in the industry. While the initial investment into 360 product photos can be significant for small businesses, it is one that will often pay for itself in a short period of time.
The Case for 360 Product Photography
Did you know 90% of online buyers says that photo quality is the most important factor in an online sale? From this, we can conclude the old saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ holds especially true in eCommerce Product Photography. Displaying high quality visuals and 360 product photography is a no brainer for almost all online businesses. And while the idea of creating 360 degree product images can be intimidating for small businesses with little product photography experience, we’re here to tell you, with the right equipment and guidance, it’s very simple!
The Value of 360 Degree Product Photography in eCommerce
In this article, we discuss the Value of 360 Degree Product Photography in eCommerce. We aim to go beyond similar articles by taking a deep dive into exactly what you can expect when providing 360 product images on your website. The benefits we discuss use real-world data gained from industry experience and direct customer feedback. Dive in to learn more about the benefits of 360 Degree Product Photography.
Using 360 Degree Product Photography to Increase your Bottom Line
Increased Customer Conversion Rates:
Estimated Increase in Conversion Rate by 2.5%
Conversion rate is the number of page views divided by the number of purchases. For example Product A has 1000 page views and 25 of those page views resulted in purchases. The conversion rate for Product A would be 2.5%. To give you an idea of industry data, the average eCommerce conversion rate is 2.44%.
360 Product Photography has been proven to increase customer conversion rates. And while there is no hard industry wide averages on 360 product photos and conversion rates, a conservative estimate based on our customer feedback is ~2.5% increase (we have seen cases in which conversion rates increase as high as 30%!).
Lower Product Returns:
Estimated Decrease in Product Returns by 4.7%
Product returns are costly to all businesses. These are especially high in online shopping as shipping products to and from customers can be expensive. And while it’s easy to look at the cost of a product return simply as the shipping fee expenses, the true cost of a return is actually much higher when considering lost profit margin in the sale, customer acquisition cost and labor costs that go into restocking the product (read more about the true cost of an online return).
360 Product Photography is a guaranteed way to minimize product returns. Online retailers need to do better with visual merchandising and ensuring customers know exactly what they are buying is the correct product. That is, the product they receive is the product they intended to purchase. We see it too often, a product has a single or limited number of images and this leaves the customer guessing. A customer has no way of knowing what the product looks from specific angles and if the product is purchased and received, and looks different from expectations, a return is to be expected. The more product images and angles you can provide the potential buyer, the better chance the sale won’t result in a return.
Our estimate is that product returns are decreased on average by 4.7% when a product page uses 360 degree product photography.
Increased Page View Time:
Estimated Increase in Page View Duration by 17%
A likely lesser known benefit to webpages with 360 product photography is the increased page view time – and how important this is for the search engine optimization (SEO) rank. The longer a customer spends on a page, the more visibility Google and other search engines will provide to that page. When using 360 product photography, customers are given the ability to virtually interact with the image – manipulating viewing angle via mouse control click and drag and inspecting from any angle up close via deep zoom. To take this one step further, and to provide the customer an even more enhanced experience is the use of Hotspots in 360 product photo – which can be used to highlight specific product features and more. The 360 product photography experience will ensure customers stay on your product page for a longer duration and ultimately give your page a better rank in search engines.
Decreased Bounce Rate:
Estimated Decrease in Bounce Rate by 8.3%
Similar to above, bounce rates are an important factor in SEO. The higher the bounce rate, the lower your page will display in organic search engine ranking. When a customer lands on a product page and are unable to see product images that clearly communicates visually, they are much more likely to bounce from that page and continue their search elsewhere. Ultimately leading to a competitor’s website. In addition, 360 product photography, when implemented correctly, can require a click, that click will notify the search engine that provided the search result of an interaction with the page and lower your bounce rate.
Using 360 Product Photography to Enhance Shopping Experience & Gain a Competitive Advantage
360 Product Photography will also produce unmeasurable benefits. Although these can be hard to track, they are sure to provide additional value for your customers. These can include:
Provide a Better Online Shopping Experience:
Creating a better shopping experience online is a relentless pursuit for almost all web based sellers. Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested annually in learning, adapting and implementing tools and features that can enhance shopability – with the ultimate goal being to increase sales numbers. Most small businesses don’t have the luxury of investing any money to figure out how to better enhance their online store however, they can easily look at the larger eCommerce stores and marketplaces and mimic their actions. For example, lets consider Amazon product photography. Amazon ran a pilot program for 360 product photography in a limited number of product listings and based on the results of this pilot, they decided to roll it out in large scale. We can assume they found success with their pilot program as 360 product photography is being used in tens of thousands of Amazon product listings.
While eCommerce will never be able to match brick and mortar physical on-site shopping, there are tools that can be implemented to more closely match the experience, such as 360 product photography. A better online shopping experience is a sure way to
Gain a Competitive Advantage
Do you operate in retail and have many competitors selling the exact same product? If so, how do you gain a competitive edge? Trying to compete on price is often the first answer we receive. Many brands have fixed MSRP and MAP pricing guidelines which need to be followed. So while price is always an important consideration for the buyer, it is usually similar from retailer A to retailer B. Have you ever thought about competing on product images? We see brands providing stock images that again, are used by many retailers across the board (where’s the value for your customers?). And what if these stock images aren’t enough for your clients, what if they want different viewing angles or higher resolution images that have zoom capability? According to Adobe study, 91% of customers want the ability to turn products around in full 360-degree spin. Offering 360 product photography is an easy way for Brands and Retailers to get ahead of the competition and will provide a competitive advantage in their industry.
360 Product Photography is an Investment, Not an Expense
As we have highlighted above, the value of 360 degree product photography is immense. We understand it can be a larger upfront cost but consider this as an investment in your Brand and your Customers, rather than an expense. The value 360 product photography will provide, in terms of increase to your bottom line, is one we guarantee will outweigh the upfront expense in a 360 Product Photography Turntable and Software. The time is now to make an investment in 360 degree product photography.
New to 360 Product Photography? Check out these resources:
Choosing the Best 360 Product Photography Equipment: Are you looking to shoot 360 product photography and interested in finding out about what equipment is needed to get started? This guide will provide readers an overview and important considerations to consider when deciding upon the best 360 product photography equipment.
Choosing the Best 360 Product Photography Software: Choosing the Best 360 Product Photography Software can be hard. These software’s can range in features, functionality, workflow’s and output. We’re here to help guide you as to what is the
About Iconasys:
Iconasys is a leading provider of still and 360 product photography automation tools. Our product line includes still and 360 product photography software, turntables and lighting that enable users of any skill level to easily and efficiently create professional quality product images for use in a variety of product photography applications and industries.
