Ecommerce Product Image Best Practices to Increase Sales

There’s a simple reason high-quality product images are an essential part of any ecommerce website. They bridge the gap between ecommerce and traditional retail. 

Just think of the experience people have when they’re browsing products in-store. 

Often they’re picking up items and inspecting them from every angle. They’re feeling the texture of the materials the products are made of. They’re seeing what clothes look like on them. 

This has long been one of the key advantages bricks and mortar retailers have over their ecommerce counterparts. And part of the reason many shoppers inspect products in-store only to then purchase them from an online business at a cheaper price. 

Since technologies like AR and VR are still maturing, for most ecommerce websites, product images are the best way for them to replicate the in-store experience that shoppers love. 

Product images boost conversion rates

Studies and hard numbers clearly demonstrate the importance of product images for ecommerce websites. 

A study looking at thousands of listings on eBay found that listings with just one product image had double the conversion rate compared to listings without any images. And going from one to two product images doubled the conversion rate again. 

In a Weebly survey, 3 in 4 shoppers rated product images are “very influential” to their decision whether to buy a product or not. 

Images also help reduce returns

And it’s not just conversion rates that product images help with. 

Because of the different experience between shopping online compared to in-person, shoppers are far more likely to return products purchased online. 

Approximately 30% of all products purchased online end up being returned while the return rate for in-store purchases is closer to 9%.

However, you can reduce this rate for your online store by providing customers with high-quality product images so they know exactly what they’re buying. 

Best practices for ecommerce images

So you have an understanding of the importance of including images with your product listings, but what are the best practices for optimizing these images?

The quality of images you use can have just as big of an impact on user experience as whether you even have images or not. 

A 2007 study found that customers are three times more likely to convert on ecommerce websites with high-quality product images than sites with lower-quality images.

In addition to image quality, image size can also have a massive effect on conversion rates. 

In a real-world experience, one ecommerce website found by increasing its images by 28% in size resulted in a 63% uplift in conversions. 

When you think about it, this makes sense. Larger images allow potential customers to see more details and better replicate the in-store shopping experience.

So, to experience similar positive effects, make sure you’re following the product image best practices listed below.

1. Use high-quality images

This one is pretty straightforward but it’s perhaps the most important aspect of your product images: make sure they’re of good quality. 

Poor-quality images not only make it hard for customers to view your products, but can also reflect poorly on the overall quality of your ecommerce store. 

On the other hand, high-quality images not only showcase your products, but can give your online store a feeling of polish and customers with a sense of trust that they’re purchasing from a reputable site.

And you don’t even necessarily need a high-end DSLR camera to take high-quality images. With the right technique, you can great product images with just your iPhone. 

2. Include more than one image

We’ve already mentioned that product listings with two images enjoy double the conversion rate compared to listings with just one image. 

This is because the more images you include, the better feel people can get of your products. 

So how many photos should you include with your product listings? 

The answer to this question is going to depend on the product you’re selling. Products like books can get away with fewer images whereas more detailed or tactile products like jewelry will benefit greatly from more images. 

A good rule of thumb is you want to be able to show your products from every angle. 

If you’re looking for an actual number to aim for, a 2019 survey found that consumers expected to see up to eight images for products on ecommerce websites. 

3. Optimize your background

The background of your product photos shouldn’t distract or detract from your product. 

Unless you’re aiming to create a particular vibe with your product photos (such as using a graffiti backdrop for streetwear), your safest bet is to use a plain white background. 

This can be achieved with a large white sheet of paper or a clean linen sheet that sits flat beneath your product and then curves up behind it to form the backdrop. Similar to the example below.

As you become more experienced with taking product photos, you can experiment with different colored backgrounds and mixing things up with angles in your backgrounds, props, and even overlaying shadows. 

4. Allow customers to zoom in on images

Customer love being able to interact with photos.

One easy way of letting customers interact with photos and replicate the experience of inspecting a product is by including image zoom on your product images. 

Allowing customers to zoom in on photos lets them check out your products close-up and in detail. 

This also highlights the need to upload large images to your ecommerce website in addition to the benefits larger images have on conversion rates. 

5. Show your product in-situ 

In addition to letting customers see your products in detail, having in-situ product images also lets them visualize how your products will look when they’re in use. 

And you can do this pretty much regardless of what you’re selling.

If it’s a book, you can include a photo of the book on a bedside table. If it’s artwork, show it hanging on a wall. If it’s jewelry, show it being worn by a model. If it’s a gaming keyboard, show it on someone’s desk. 

In-situ images can be especially powerful for products that people may not be sure how to use. 

For example, if you’re selling a special type of neck massager, including an image of someone using it can demonstrate its benefits much more powerfully than just writing about it in the product description. 

6. Make use of a thumbnail gallery

Uploading multiple product images is great for both conversions and user experience, but it’s best to make sure you organize them well. 

Instead of just dumping large images on your product page, having an image gallery where customers can click on a thumbnail to enlarge the photo is a much better user experience. 

7. Make sure your images appear on Google Images

Having multiple, large, high-quality product images can drastically improve the conversion rate of your product pages. They can also bring more traffic to your product pages. 

A lot of people browse images of products they’re considering purchasing and click on the ones they like the look of. 

Ensuring your product images appear in Google Image search results will increase the chances of someone seeing your image and clicking through to your product page.

Google should be indexing your product images by default, especially if you’re using an ecommerce platform such as Shopify. 

To check that this is happening, copy the URL of your image file and paste it into Google Images. If your image appears in the search results, then that means your product image is successfully part of Google’s image index. 

8. Make use of image alt tags

After ensuring your images are appearing in Google Image results, one way to improve their ranking in search results is to use include alt tags with your images. 

Alt tags are primarily used to describe images on web pages as an accessibility feature. 

While you can manually add alt tags to images, most ecommerce platforms will easily let you add them when uploading images or editing your product listings. 

To get the most value out of them, you want to accurately describe your images and include relevant keywords that potential customers are likely searching. 

9. Upload your product images to social media

Lastly, don’t limit your images to just your product pages. 

You’ll want to take full advantage of them by uploading them elsewhere such as on your social media accounts and other web pages on your website. 

This can be done to both showcase your product offerings and get more traffic to your product pages. 

Best image size for ecommerce

Now that you know all the product image best practices, one last question remains: how big should your product images be? 

This is where there’s a tradeoff. 

Generally, the larger the image dimensions, the more detail customers will be able to make out. However, this also means the image file size will be larger, which can slow down your page load speed and harm your SEO. 

To balance these competing demands, you should make sure:

• Use the right file format. In most cases, JPEG is the best option for product images. PNG can also be a good alternative. 
• Try to keep your image file size to below 70 kilobytes.
• Within these constraints, go for the largest image dimensions you can. 

Conclusion

Product images are one of the most powerful and important components of any ecommerce website. But it’s not enough to just upload a couple of basic photos. 

To make the most of the benefit product images can have on your customer experience and conversion rates, it’s vital that you follow the best practices listed above. 

Not only will this make your product pages more powerful, you’ll also attract more visitors to your pages.