3 Steps To Strengthen Your eCommerce Business

For: Amazon Experts, Brand Marketers, Content Marketers, Email Marketers, Social Media Managers, Creatives, and Entrepreneurs  

Read Time: >3 minutes

Are you looking to expand your eCommerce presence and scale your business? Do you want to improve your listings to stack against your competitors? Or are you simply looking to increase conversions from consideration to ‘add to cart’? 

To achieve these goals, investing in high-quality and professional photography is crucial. Research conducted by Justuno shows that 93% of consumers consider visual appearance to be the key deciding factor in purchasing. By prioritizing exceptional product photography, you can enhance your offerings’ visual appeal and influence consumer buying behavior. 
Here are 3 steps to scale your business, remain competitive in the crowded marketplace, and drive conversions.

Step 1: Research – Understand How Your Brand Comes to Life 

While your product on a white background is a key element to your listing especially, on platforms like Amazon or Shopify, it’s just the start. In the 2023 eCommerce landscape, you must include photos that breathe life into your product. A BigCommerce they found that “78% of online shoppers want products to be brought to life with images.” 

How can you improve your eCommerce, on-white photography by exploring shadows, lighting, and product details?

Or, how does your product or product line come to life on a non-white background? 

Not sure where you start? Pinterest is a great resource for finding images, photography styles, backgrounds, styling, and propping. While searching, ask yourself questions like: 

• What style of photography best suits my brand and or product? 
• Does this style of photography resonate with my target shopper? 
• How do I tell a single-SKU story alongside a family of products? 
• How does this stack up against my competition? Does it stand out in the sea of sameness? 
• How is the product styled/showcased? Is it telling a brand/product story? 

Check out OMS’s Pinterest board – we have experience from lifestyle to tabletop and everything in between. You will surely find a photography style that fits your brand and product. 

Once your inspiration images are saved, your next step is to build a MoodBoard. 

Step 2: Set the Mood; Build a MoodBoard 

Building a mood board is a great way to showcase your photography style and preference and set the direction for your project. There are great online resources for building free mood boards, like Milanote.  

The mood board will help you determine your desired photography style and fit within your brand guidelines and standards. 

Example:

You’ll want to ensure that your mood board includes your reference images and matches your brand’s visual identity and presence. Be sure to incorporate our brand colors, hues, fonts, and logo usage guidelines to ensure your brand comes to life. 

It also may be helpful to establish a few different mood boards, here are a few examples: 

• How does my product come to life on platforms like Amazon? 
• How does my product come to life on social, static assets? 
• How does my product come to life on social, video, stories and reels? 
• How does my product come to life on my website? 
• How does my eCommerce photography mix with my lifestyle photography? Or, do I need matching lifestyle photography?) 

Once your mood board is established, it’s time to bring your idea(s) to life.

3. Making Your Vision a Reality 

Once you’ve researched and created your mood board, it’s time to hire a product photographer. You’ll want to look for a photographer with experience in the eCommerce space, beyond on-white photography. There are delicate nuances that go into breathing life into a product or product line and an experienced photographer will ensure you get the best shot(s). 

You’ll also want to discuss with your photographer or photography team the post-production elements of your photography. Retouching is an integral part of the photography process and often brings a photo from flat to dynamic. Retouchers can also remove unnecessary elements for eCommerce purposes.

Retouching Example:

Conclusion

Remember, having professional product photography provides context to the buyer of what your product or service is and establishes trust in the quality of your product by highlighting its features and benefits.  

Let OMS help you strengthen your eCommerce presence and help showcase your products in a new light. From traditional eCommerce photography on white, in-situ, lifestyle, 360 photography, and video, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today to learn more. 

TLDR; 

Investing in high-quality product photography is crucial for expanding your eCommerce business and increasing conversions. To achieve these goals, follow three steps; explore other product photography to determine what you are looking for, build a mood board to set the desired photography style, and hire an experienced product photographer to bring your vision to life.