Consumers’ shopping journeys have changed in many ways.
Today, people search for products on Pinterest Boards, discover them on Instagram, and research future purchases on YouTube.
But nothing kills the shopping excitement like following a trail of incredible visuals only to get directed to a landing page with stock product photos.
Online shoppers are visual creatures. They lose the sense of touch, smell, and taste and have to rely solely on visual and audio cues to experience products online. Your ecommerce website should, therefore, have visuals that can enhance their online shopping experiences.
With incredible visual content, you can lure shoppers into discovering products, engaging with them, and purchasing them. A good visual experience can be the ticket to increasing your online conversion rates and consumer engagement.
It can be the reason your business stands out from the competition.
But why is this so? Why does visual content improve ecommerce user experience?
Read on to find out.
More helpful reading:
Why Should Your Ecommerce Site Have Visual Content?
Visual content, when used effectively, is really powerful. It can help you inspire and encourage shoppers to engage, convert, and form a preference for your online retail store.
It’s, therefore, crucial to have a mix of product videos, images, and user-generated content to showcase your products on your ecommerce store. Doing this can help you improve user experiences and convince visitors that your product is a must-have.
Still not convinced?
Well, I’ve put together a few other reasons why visual content can help you improve user experience on your ecommerce site.
1. Visual Content Appeals to Users
The first impression a user has of your products can have a lasting impact on how they perceive your business. It’s, therefore, important to set a good first impression.
If the visual content on your ecommerce store doesn’t appeal to them, your target customers will not even consider buying. A poorly-designed ecommerce site can also make you look untrustworthy.
How can you prevent this?
You should build a beautiful website with attractive visuals that draw in your target audience and encourage them to engage with it. You can use professional design templates and customization options that most web development platforms offer.
While you’re designing your product pages, keep it simple. Don’t use too many calls-to-action, paragraphs, or links. They dilute the potency of information you want your audience to see and the actions you want them to take.
And how does attractive visual content help your online business?
It can increase credibility and trust with your target audience. Having attractive visuals can also help you increase engagement and sales.
2. Visual Content Increases Product Visibility
Visual content can help you increase the visibility of your popular products.
For example, showing trending product recommendations to new visitors can offer them social proof that the product is great. It could encourage them to check out those products.
As for returning customers, it can lead to more upsells and cross-sells. Showing them products that could complement a previous purchase can increase engagement and drive more sales.
Want to offer your audience engaging experiences?
Incorporate unboxing videos.
What are unboxing videos?
These are videos during which a reviewer, influencer, or celebrity unwraps your product for the first time. They explain every component of the product and how users can benefit from using it.
Unboxing videos allow your audience to buy into an experience and get to know your brand and product better. They also allow the viewers to experience the product even before buying it.
Want to make this work for you?
Encourage your users to post their unboxing videos and share them on your website. If the user shares it on their social pages, it can help boost your reach and conversions.
3. Visual Content Breaks Down Complex Information
Articles and blog posts are great at lead generation, branding, and marketing. But written content can complicate information.
To communicate more directly and clearly, you should incorporate visual content.
How can you do this?
Start with a good page layout and avoid cluttering it up with too much text.
Incorporate visually-attractive images and videos of your products, showcasing the products in use. Offer visitors multi-angle views and enable the zoom and rotate function whenever possible.
Want to stand out?
Add uniqueness to standard photos with infographics. Product infographics help you explain products in a way text can’t. For example, you can use them to highlight the primary features of a product or various use cases.
You can also use 3D videos and take advantage of augmented or virtual reality to enhance user experience. With augmented reality, the user can see exactly how the product looks either on themselves or in their home.
Another option is to post shoppable visual content that drives consumers from social media platforms to product pages. When they click on a tagged product on your social media account, they land on a corresponding page.
Doing this can help you shorten the sales cycle by making it easy for shoppers to buy and seamlessly return to their social media activity.
You can also use shoppable visual content to offer personalized discounts on specific products to your loyal customers via email marketing. This will not only help you shorten your sales cycle but also improve your campaign ROI. Just remember to analyze and improve your visual content as part of your web maintenance scheme.
4. Visuals Offer Social Proof
Today’s consumers trust other people’s opinions more than messages from brands. They also use social media to discover products, establish relationships with brands, and decide on what to buy. It is, therefore, essential to offer them engaging, authentic visual content that helps build trust.
Cue user-generated content (UGC).
Consumers seek UGC content to make sure that products they want to purchase worked great for someone else. Seeing an actual person use the product can drive home the idea that the product can make their life better.
This could be why 79% of people say that consumer-created content highly impacts their purchase decisions.
Image via Stackla
Using UGC on your ecommerce site can help your audience fill in the gaps by providing additional information about your products. They can help you boost your ecommerce conversion rate.
What should you do?
You should create a gallery of customer videos and images to paint a broader picture of what your products can help people with.
Note: If you make these images shoppable, audiences can go directly to product pages to make a purchase.
Recommended Article: User Engagement: What It Is & 7 Ways to Increase It
Are You Ready to Boost Your Ecommerce Marketing Results with Visual Content?
Want to improve user experiences on your ecommerce site?
Use visual content.
Visual content can help you showcase what makes your products great, reinforce branding, and help users make informed decisions. It can offer them a good user experience, which can lead to increased conversions and enhanced brand loyalty.
By using visual content, you can offer consumers the in-store experience online. You can bridge the gap between offline and online shopping, increase engagement, and improve shopping experiences. With it, you can create a unique feel and look for your brand.
Are visuals part of your ecommerce marketing strategy? Do you have questions about using them effectively? Let us know!
Guest Post
Dawn Bowman, Managing Editor ShaneBaker.com
Dawn Bowman is the Managing Editor for Shane Barker Consulting. She was previously the
Managing Editor at KillerStartups, and Startups.com. In her spare time, she writes short stories
and song lyrics.
