Does your product imagery answer these questions? Part of a great client experience is predicting the questions that your customers will have and answering them before they have to ask. When building your shot list, you need to be thinking about all the questions a customer may have about your product and using the images to answer these questions. Depending on your product, answering some of the below questions with your imagery may or may not apply, but asking yourself these questions will be very helpful in producing images of your product that will help them sell well on e-commerce sites like Etsy, Fair, Hello Abound, or your very own Shopify website.

Of course these images aren’t the only important component of your product listing, the images are meant to accompany & compliment a great product description. But some people are just not going to read (yeah, I know!)…so make it easy for them with high quality images that answer all the questions they may have. 

Check out this brand that answered their client’s questions about their products very well.

Does your product imagery answer this question: What is this product?

This one is rather simple, make sure you have a clear, high quality image of your product that clearly shows what your product is. Make sure not to have competing products or props in your image that may have your customer questioning what it is they’re buying. 

Does your product imagery answer this question: How will I use this product?

Think about ways that you can portray how your product will be used and the problem that your product will solvel…or better yet, how will the product make your customer’s life easier. This is a great place for lifestyle photography, showing your product in use.

A great example of this is, if you sell art products, placing your art in mockups of it hanging in a livingroom is a great way to show how your product is used so that they can imagine it in their own home. 

Does your product imagery answer this question: How big is this product?

How many times have you bought something online and you received it in the mail and it was soooo much smaller than you thought it was going to be? Showing how big your product is can be a great question to answer for most products. A great way to do this is photographing it relative to a human since we are all familiar with how large an adult or child human is, whether it be a body or something as simple as a hand. Another way to show size is against a ruler, especially with smaller objects (think QVC jewelry segment…hey hey no judgment, I watched it a lot with my grandmother).

Does your product imagery answer this question: What is this product made of?

If it is important to showcase what your product is made of–recycled materials, non-toxic ingredients, etc.–then including images of the materials that you use to create your product may be useful to add value to your audience. You could use your ingredients as props in your photographs or a simple layflat to seamlessly include them in your images. 

Are there any other variations of this product to choose from?

Do you offer other variations like colors or finishes of the same product? It’s helpful to include these different variations in one photograph so that customers can easily compare their options side by side. If you can’t gather the objects in one photograph, consider having an image of each option that is very consistent from one image to another. 

What does this product look like from different angles?

Making sure to include images of your product from different angles may be very helpful to clients when making decisions about your product. Does your product have a one of a kind backing that adds value to the customer? Or does the detail of your sculpture continue to the back? If so, consider adding 2-3 images to your carousel of photographs that show some of the details that cannot be seen from just the front.

What does the product look like up close?

Adding macro shots of your product’s details may be useful when customers are asking questions about the texture or materials of your product. Many times a photographer has to use a specialty macro lens to create these images, so make sure to include them in your shot list.