Retailers lose up to 10 percent of their sales every year due to returned merchandise. This could be because customers are dissatisfied with the product or simply because they bought the wrong size. Either way, this is money that won’t be coming back again any time soon.
Let’s face it: no one likes sending things back. It’s time-consuming, inconvenient, and feels like a waste of your hard-earned cash. But as a retailer, you have little choice but to accept returns or risk losing future sales.
As online shoppers demand more from their eCommerce experiences and become ever more informed about the products they buy, return rates continue to increase for online stores. Rather than being an inconvenience, you can use this information to your advantage by building realistic product photos into your eCommerce site design.
At the end of the day, there are plenty of reasons why customers will want to return an item, and dissatisfaction with the product’s aesthetics is often at the top of the list. If a customer purchases a pair of red shoes but when they arrive they’re bright orange, they aren’t going to keep them. They’re going to take them back and demand a refund. This is the main reason why photos are so important in the retail industry. They are the first thing that a customer sees when they make a purchase so it’s important for them to be as accurate as possible. If you want to keep your customers happy and reduce your product returns, then you need to make sure your product photos are as realistic as possible.
Realistic product photography is designed to create a realistic image of your product in the customer’s mind. It gives them an accurate impression of what they’re buying, down to the colors and textures. The first step in creating realistic product photos is to properly light your product. Poor lighting can make the colors of your product look strange or muted, and can even create shadows that make certain features look strange. The right lighting should highlight your product without creating shadows or glare on its surface. This will help you make sure that colors are accurate, as well as show off any textures or materials in the product.
There are a few key things to keep in mind when creating realistic product photos: - Lighting - Lighting is one of the most important factors when it comes to taking product photos. Poor lighting can make the colors of your product look strange or muted, and can even create shadows that make certain features look strange. When taking product photos, make sure that you have plenty of natural light coming in from a window. If you don’t have a window nearby, you can easily purchase a few cheap lamps to act as your light sources. - Background - The background of your product photos can make or break your image. If you have a white wall nearby, you can use this as your background. Just make sure that it is clean and void of any markings or holes. If you don’t have a white wall, you can easily create a clean background by purchasing a roll of seamless paper. - Depth of Field - The depth of field is the area in front of and behind your product that is in focus. In most product photos, the goal is to have only the product in focus and everything else out of focus. This makes your product look like it’s standing out from the page. To create a shallow depth of field, you want to use a small aperture setting on your camera, like f/8 or f/11.
Now that you’ve mastered the elements of realistic product photos, it’s time to put them to good use. A smart way to start is to ask yourself, “What would make me buy this product?” This is the question you should be asking yourself every time you take a photo of a product. You want to create an image in your customers’ minds that will make them want to purchase your product. A good product photo should be bright and bold, with the product itself taking up most of the frame. You also want to make sure that the product you’re photographing is in pristine condition. Damaged or worn products aren’t going to sell, so it’s important to keep them out of your photos. The last thing you want to do is send a customer home with a product that looks like it’s been through a war.
The longer your customers have to think about whether or not they want to return a product, the more likely they are to do so. With this in mind, it’s important to do everything in your power to make the decision to return as easy as possible. People want to buy products that they feel confident about, and a large part of this is having a realistic idea of what they’re purchasing. If you have high-quality product photos on your eCommerce site, it will be easy for your customers to make an informed decision. This will result in fewer product returns, which will save you time, hassle, and money in the long run.
If we were to break down the cost of product returns, it would be something like this: - $50,000 for the products themselves - $20,000 in shipping fees - $100,000 in lost revenue from the reduced sales these products would have made had they been sold - $10,000 in wasted time resolving the issue This adds up to $210,000, and that’s just for one product return. With realistic product photos, you can reduce your risk of product returns and protect your bottom line. When customers place an order, they are buying what they see in their minds. It is the job of a good retail photographer to create that image accurately. By using proper lighting, clean backgrounds, and focusing on the important details, such as texture and color, you can create a realistic image that will help your customers make an informed decision.
Drive your sales with incredible product photos