The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design: 5 Best Practices + 5 Great Examples

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: depositphotos.com

Scrolling endlessly through a sea of product listings can be overwhelming for the visitors to your online store. And yet, 88% of them expect to find all the relevant details about the product or service they’re eyeing. But, given that a whopping 91% of consumers prefer visuals over plain text, it’s obvious that captivating images should be gracing your product pages if you want to grab your customers’ attention and communicate information effectively.

In this article, we’ll explore how to use visuals strategically and create a product page experience that cuts through the noise and engages your customers.

Why Are Visuals So Critical for Your Product Pages?

Using images, infographics, and videos can do wonders for your conversion rate. It’s safe to say that visuals aren’t just nice-to-haves — they’re essential for setting your online store apart from competitors. Here’s why:

  • Overcoming limitations of online shopping. Customers can’t physically touch or try on your products when browsing online, which can be a huge obstacle and increase the likelihood that they’ll abandon the shopping cart. High-quality visuals bridge this gap. Detailed images and videos allow customers to examine textures, better understand the size of your product, and see it in use, thus building confidence in their purchase decision.
  • Capturing attention instantly. Today’s shoppers form an opinion about whether they like and trust a website or not in the blink of an eye. To be more precise, it takes only 50 milliseconds for a visitor to either decide to explore your online store further or bounce off to the SERPs page. Compelling visuals are your opportunity to make a great impression right off the bat and encourage potential buyers to take a closer look.
  • Storytelling ability. A good product image doesn’t just show what your product looks like — it evokes a feeling, highlights a lifestyle, and offers a solution to the customer’s problem. Visuals help shoppers imagine themselves using your product, which, in turn, creates a deeper emotional connection.
  • Boosting trust and credibility. Professional-looking and informative visuals demonstrate that you care about the customer experience. Such attention to detail will help you build trust with your potential customers and gently nudge them to convert and complete a purchase.
  • Improving search engine rankings. Search engines favour product pages that include rich visuals. By optimizing your product images with relevant keywords and descriptions, you’ll gain greater visibility in search results, leading to more organic traffic.

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Product Page Visuals

Now that we’ve explained why you should by no means neglect visuals on your product pages, it’s time to discuss some best practices to help you maximize their impact.

1. Don’t Be Afraid of Negative Space

Yes, product pages are definitely very precious real estate, and you should make the most of them, but sometimes, less means more. Each product page is like a digital storefront, and if you clutter it with too many different elements, it will be hard for your customers to find the information they need.

So, a product page crammed with text, images, and buttons creates sensory overload. Use negative space to create clean lines and separate the elements. This allows your product images to take centre stage, drawing the customer’s eye and making them the star of the show.

Besides highlighting visuals, this tactic also breaks down intimidating walls of text and improves the readability of your product page so that shoppers can easily scan it for the details that matter most.

National Safety Mirror leverages negative space to make sure their product pages are packed with easily digestible information. For example, this product page has a number of images and text blocks, but the design is uncluttered and smooth-flowing.

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: National Safety Mirror

2. Implement Quick-View Functionality

Displaying a single product photo isn’t enough to showcase all the unique details of your product. Yet, constantly clicking back and forth between individual products and the listing can be frustrating and disrupt the shopping experience.

To eliminate both hurdles, use the quick-view functionality, as it gives shoppers an instant, in-depth look at your products without forcing them to leave the product listing page.

This solution allows them to examine details, see a particular product from different angles, and notice things they might miss with a single static image. A quick view reduces friction while keeping shoppers engaged and making browsing your site more enjoyable.

Consider including brief product descriptions or key features in your quick-view pop-up to further reinforce value.

Finally, don’t miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on impulse purchases. Include a prominent “Add to Cart” button within the quick-view window so enthusiastic customers can buy a product before they start second-guessing their decision.

Golf Cart Tire Supply checks all the boxes and then some by providing all the relevant product details, multiple images, and a zoom-in feature in the quick-view pop-ups. For example, on this page, customers can easily add the product to the cart and complete the purchase. Or they can click the X button in the top right corner and go back to the listings page with a single click.

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: Golf Cart Tire Supply

3. Encourage User-Generated Content

Harnessing the power of user-generated content (UGC) is a brilliant way to showcase authentic social proof that drives sales. The truth is that people are more inclined to trust other customers’ reviews, images, or videos than the content created by brands.

So, if you want to build trust with your potential customers and get lots of convincing,  high-converting visuals for your product pages, tap into UGC. Ask your happy customers to share snaps and videos of themselves enjoying your products in real-life situations. These genuine experiences that haven’t been airbrushed are more relatable and convincing than anything you could create in-house. In other words, an image showing your product sans professional studio lighting can often have a greater impact than a polished marketing shot.

Fjällräven uses the Instagram hashtag #SeeYouThere to invite existing customers to share their photos wearing their products. This way, the brand collects a wealth of user-generated content that is then featured in the reviews section of product pages for an additional layer of authenticity and credibility.

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: Fjällräven

4. Include a Human Element

95% of our purchasing decisions are subconscious and driven by factors that are beyond pure logic. What this means is that emotions play a huge role in how and why people buy.

So, if your product pages feel cold or sterile, customers won’t be inspired to visualize themselves using your products and won’t feel an emotional connection necessary to prompt them to hit the “Buy Now” button.

To avoid this scenario, use photos and videos featuring real people using your products. This will humanize your product pages and transform the shopping experience.

Potential customers will get a better sense of the product in a real-life context. This approach can help answer lingering questions like “How does this fit?” or “How does this work?”

For example, it’s much better to have a photo of a person wearing a T-shirt than simply showing the garment laid out flat against a surface. Seeing the shirt on a body gives shoppers a clearer idea of the fit and how it drapes.

SomniFix does a great job with its product page visuals. They combine zoomable close-ups of the product, photos of different people in various situations wearing it, and useful infographics explaining how to use this mouth strip and why it’s so effective.

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: SomniFix

Lifestyle images that show diverse people enjoying your products create a sense of inclusivity and relatability. Plus, they add a touch of personality and fun for a more memorable impression.

Remember, people connect with people, so make sure your product visuals reflect this if you want to create a more engaging and emotionally resonant shopping experience.

Savage X Fenty understands that bodies come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and other varieties, and in accordance with this fact, models that represent a wide range of body types and ethnic backgrounds grace their product pages. Unlike many other global brands that silently alienate huge populations of individuals whose bodies don’t fall under the category of traditional body standards, Fenty is truly humanizing the shopping experience by showcasing their products on real people.

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: Savage X Fenty

5. Eliminate the Guesswork with Virtual Try-On

Did you know that in 2023, online shoppers in the US alone returned a whopping $248 billion worth of stuff?

A big chunk of that can be blamed on the struggle of “Will this actually look good on me?” Especially for things like makeup, glasses, or hats, online shopping can feel like a guessing game and end up like a complete fiasco.

Unfortunately, your regular photos or videos can’t do much to help in this case.

With virtual try-on, you take the guesswork out of the equation.

Customers can “try on” items virtually, reducing uncertainty about the purchase and encouraging them to experiment without leaving the comfort of their homes. Plus, there’s the element of fun that comes with seeing how a new pair of sunglasses or bold lipstick will look.

This immersive shopping experience can lead to fewer returns and a significant boost in your conversion rates.

Warby Parker is a great example of how to leverage this visual functionality on product pages. Their virtual try-on is user-friendly, allowing customers to “wear” different frames before committing to their final purchase.

The Importance of Visuals in Product Page Design
Source: Warby Parker

Wrap-Up

Customers are bombarded with choices when shopping online, and it’s easy for your products to get lost in all this noise. High-quality visuals are a way out of this. By implementing these best practices, you can create product pages that command attention, attract more customers, and take the entire experience to the next level.

About the Author:

Natasha is a web designer, a lady of the keyboard and one hell of a tech geek. She is always happy to collaborate with awesome blogs and share her knowledge about IT, digital marketing and technology trends. To see what she is up to next, check out her X Dashboard.

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