The Power of Compelling Visual Content in E-Commerce

The Power of Compelling Visual Content in E-Commerce

Effective product marketing is an ever-evolving strategy, crucial for success in both in-store and online sales channels. Experiencing the quality and context of your work builds customer engagement, confidence, and a brand connection. This is where Augmented Reality 3D Product models come in, offering a fantastic opportunity for handmade artists.

In today’s highly competitive e-commerce landscape, standing out from the crowd is essential for success. One of the most effective ways to capture the attention of potential customers and drive sales is through compelling visuals and innovative technology.

Compelling visuals are important for success in e-commerce to attract potential customers and are essential to nurturing emotional connections. Through the strategic integration of images, videos, and interactive elements, businesses can enhance product understanding and strongly influence purchasing decisions.

While good product photos have always been important, the inclusion of product videos and Augmented Reality (AR) has transformed the online retail experience. In this article, we’ll dive into the significance of each element and offer practical advice on how to best utilize them to make your online store have the best impact for success.

Let’s Start With the Importance of High-Quality Product Photos

When shooting your work, there are two key types of images to have on hand for various uses: product shots and lifestyle shots.

Product shots are needed to showcase the product’s details and to highlight the product clearly and attractively. They are especially important for artists as they are crucial for marketing, jury submissions, website platforms, and e-commerce.

Lifestyle shots are used to show the product in use or within a real-life context and are designed to evoke an emotional response and resonate with the viewer.

E-commerce standards call for the use of a white or neutral background. If you want to take additional lifestyle photos with props or in natural surroundings, those should be additional shots, with the neutral image shown first on the e-commerce product listings.

High-quality product photos serve as the virtual storefront of your online store. They provide customers with a clear and accurate representation of your products. Best practices for product photography include:

• Use proper lighting to avoid shadows and ensure accurate colors.
• E-commerce standard calls for the use of a white or neutral background. If you want to take additional lifestyle photos with props or in natural surroundings, those should be additional shots, with the neutral image shown first on the e-commerce product listings.
• Choose a clean and uncluttered background to focus attention on the product. This saves edit time later, too!
• Experiment with different angles to showcase the product from all perspectives.
• Utilizing resources such as tabletopstudio.com can significantly enhance your product photography efforts. Tabletop Studio offers a library of resources catering to various product types with valuable tips on achieving professional-quality images.
• Utilizing a tripod ensures stability and control, guaranteeing the quality of your images.
• Be sure to have optimum lighting and reflectors, Drop A Wall has some great tips on lighting and building a photography set.
• To learn more about composition and setting a mood for your product shots, Drop A Wall’s LEARN resources offer some great articles.

Harnessing the Power of Product Videos

Product videos represent a powerful tool for e-commerce, offering a dynamic medium to showcase your products and captivate customers. Unlike static images, they provide an immersive experience, enabling customers to witness the product in action, and fostering a deeper connection.

Implementing best practices is vital to maximize the effectiveness of product videos:

1. Conciseness is Key: Keeping videos short is paramount to retaining viewer engagement. Studies have shown that attention spans are limited, with viewers often favoring brief, impactful content. An article about the 2024 trends for Short-Form Videos which is what is used most often in social media platforms.
2. Highlight Your Product’s Key Features and Benefits: Effective product videos should focus on demonstrating key features and benefits, addressing potential pain points, and showcasing unique selling points. By addressing customer needs directly, you can increase the likelihood of conversion. Canva is a user-friendly tool that can help to create short videos.
3. Video with Your Mobile Device – Your Videography tool is likely right in your hand! Mobile phones offer unparalleled convenience for shooting product videos. With high-quality cameras and intuitive video editing apps, you can capture and edit footage on the go.

“The general consensus among marketers is that any video under 60 seconds is considered short-form, with the optimal length between 31 and 60 seconds.” ~ HubSpot

Unlocking the Potential of AR

AR technology allows customers to visualize products in their own environment before making a purchase. It provides an interactive and immersive shopping experience that builds confidence and excitement. DIY AR apps using cell phone scanning technology make AR more accessible than ever.

Offering AR previews for a wide range of products to enhance customer engagement. Ensuring compatibility with popular devices and platforms to reach a broader audience.

While this is a new technology in use for e-commerce, it is evolving quickly and there are some apps that make it very accessible for small businesses just by simply pointing your device’s camera at a specific location or object, you can unlock a world of interactive content.

AR Scanning with a Mobile App – Step-by-Step Experimentation

There are various AR apps available that make it easy to explore this technology. We’ll touch on 3 of them in this article with some first-hand experience.

Polycam

Polycam is a user-friendly app that transforms your smartphone into a powerful 3D scanner. With Polycam, you can easily capture detailed 3D scans of objects and environments using just your phone’s camera. They have a free version, but better features with the Pro Version that does come with a 7-day free trial.

For this reason, they have my recommendation as the top choice to experiment with, though my results for the first couple of tries were not quite the quality I hoped for. I believe it will be something to get the hang of it, they certainly provide a lot of resources to improve the results.

A few instructions:

• Download app
• Follow their step-by-step directions – They have a very good tutorial you can access on the home screen.
• Keep the space free of moving objects and pets.
• Be patient as you scan all around the item to get the best results.
• Scan from above and below, as well as head on to the object.
• Bright diffused light works best to get a good scan. I did my test for this outside. From their tips, “Try to capture during “golden hour”, the time right before sunset or right after sunrise.”
• The app is fairly forgiving for a shaky hand, but try to steady as much as you are able to.
• See my video to show you how it works!

Results of the Scan

ProAR

ProAR: Offers advanced AR capabilities, allowing you to create and customize your own augmented reality experiences. Dive into the world of AR content creation and unleash your creativity. There is not a trial version, it is $30 for the year, which is not horrible.

• Download app
• Follow their on-screen instructions, aligning the white dot to the middle of the object. –
• Keep the space free of moving objects and pets.
• Be patient as you scan all around the item, it takes 3 rounds.
• Scan from above and below, as well as head on to the object.
• Bright diffused light works best to get a good scan. I did my test for this outside.
• The app is very forgiving for a shaky hand!
• See my video to show you how it works, I was impressed with the results.

Video Music Credit: Yurii Semchyshyn from Pixabay

Scaniverse

Scaniverse was the third experiment, which gave similar results to Polycam, it is also a good app. It did better with a coffee mug than translucent glass but still did a good job.

If you’re interested in exploring virtual objects in your surroundings or creating your own AR experiences, these apps provide a great starting point for beginners. Download one or more of these apps, and start discovering the endless possibilities of augmented reality.

If AR captivates your interest, as it did mine, you could be a pioneer as one of the first to utilize this for handmade or small business products for online selling. A deeper dive into the subject is covered in my comprehensive white paper, The Future of E-Commerce: Utilizing Augmented Reality to Create Accessible Wholesale Market Exposure for Small Businesses and Handmade Products

In conclusion, harnessing the power of compelling visuals and innovative technology for success in today’s competitive e-commerce landscape is crucial. High-quality product photos, engaging product videos, and innovating with immersive Augmented Reality experiences are indispensable tools for captivating customers and driving sales.

In Conclusion

By following best practices in creating compelling visual content, businesses can enhance product understanding, build emotional connections, and influence purchasing decisions. Whether it’s through showcasing products from different angles, creating concise and impactful videos, or offering interactive AR previews, the goal remains the same: to provide an exceptional shopping experience that resonates with customers.

As technology continues to evolve, so too will the opportunities for businesses to innovate and differentiate themselves. Embracing these advancements not only sets businesses apart but also positions them for long-term success in the ever-changing world of e-commerce.

So, as you embark on your journey to optimize your online store, remember the power of visuals and technology in captivating your audience and converting them into sales. With the right approach and tools at your disposal, the possibilities are endless for creating a memorable and engaging shopping experience for your customers.