If you’re struggling to improve your eCommerce conversions, what do you normally do? Do you focus your efforts on gaining more visitors? Maybe you’re promoting your website through social media channels to gain more exposure. What if a simple change of visuals was all you needed to make more sales? Images have a huge impact on the purchase decision of eCommerce shoppers, so working towards creating visuals that pack a punch could bring about a massive increase in sales. Take a look at some of these effective ways to increase your commerce conversions with the help of visuals:

1. Use larger product images – Larger, more visible product images could make a case for the products you sell. While product descriptions are important to provide more information about the item, you need images to initially sway those prospective customers who will go through the descriptions and eventually make a purchase. In fact, a case study found in Visual Website Optimizer showed that larger product images could result in a 9% increase in sales.

The case study was conducted on MALL.CZ, one of the top ecommerce retailers in Czech Republic. They created two variations of the pages – one with slightly larger images and visible product descriptions; the other with large product images and description displayed mouseover. First, let’s take a look at the original.

 Here’s the first variation with slightly larger images than the original and the descriptions still visible as before.

 Now take a look at the second variation, which has large images. Shoppers can see the description when they place their cursor over the image.

The second variation with the large images resulted in a 9.46% increase in sales without any extra money spent on advertising. On that note, make sure the images you use are of high quality, depicting the product in the most inviting manner possible.

2. Add a review or demo video to product pages – Some shoppers tend to have a higher tendency to buy a product after watching a review or demo video about the product. Text reviews have a significant impact in influencing a customer’s purchase decision. But having potential customers watch a review video could make an even more compelling case for your products. It makes the review seem more trustworthy. Otherwise, you can also use photo testimonials to make the review more compelling than text reviews.

As for demo videos, they show your product in action and can easily influence shoppers to take action. A case study conducted by Treepodia found that there was a 134% increase in conversions for fashion industry retailers with the help of product page videos. While not every industry may experience such a massive improvement, it’s clear that having videos on your product page could have a significant effect on conversions.

 Home Depot displays demo videos for many of their products. When there’s no demo video for the specific product, they add some how-to videos on the product page. For instance, the following product page has a video with instructions on how to measure for a new fridge.

Product videos are a great way to showcase features that cannot be illustrated in the product description. They can be used for explaining how your product works, which will be especially useful for more high-tech items. This is exactly why people who watched a product video are 73% more likely to buy the item than those who didn’t.

3. Make your CTA button prominent – Your CTA button needs to be in contrast to the rest of the page elements. In other words, it needs to stand out so shoppers know exactly where to click and what is expected of them. Another Visual Website Optimizer case study showed that adding a prominent CTA button for Consolidated Label resulted in a 62% increase in conversions. As you can see in the image below, the original did not even have a CTA button at all. So visitors may be quite lost as to what to do next.

The variation shown in the image below has a green CTA button that clearly stands out from the rest of the elements on the page.

 Although there have been several changes in their page design since, the CTA button still stands out prominently as you can see in the following image.

 Another example can be seen in Toys “R” Us, where there’s a purple theme used in the rest of the page but the CTA button is prominently displayed in pink.

4. Go from 2D to 360-degree views – When shopping for a product, there’s nothing like being able to view the product from every possible angle. That’s why many people still prefer to shop at a brick and mortar store than buy from an online store. What you can do to sway such shoppers is to replace your two dimensional product images with 360-degree views. If you find this too risky, you could give them the option to view the regular two dimensional images as well.

Switching from 2D images to 360-degree views of products helped Due Maternity increase their conversion rate by 27%. Additionally, Golfsmith also increased their conversions by 30% after they added a 360-degree view of their products to the product pages. The reason for these results is because the 360-degree view gives shoppers a clear idea about what the product looks like at every angle.

5. Use visuals to draw on emotions – Emotion plays an important role in our purchase decisions and marketers have made the most of this fact for ages. You can use visuals to draw on the emotions of shoppers and convince them to make a purchase. To optimize your ecommerce conversions, the images you use should invoke positive emotions, such as a smile or a laugh. The idea is to make page visitors feel just right so that they are more likely to take action.

An excellent example of visuals that invoke emotion is how InadaUSA displays people relaxing on massage chairs. The company sells massage chairs and they use these images to convey the relaxing effect their chairs have on people. This makes a much more compelling case for the products that massage chairs that are not in use. There’s even an option to watch a video about the product, so prospective customers have a clear idea how the product works.

6. Use colors that match your brand’s perceived appropriateness – You may have heard about how certain colors invoke certain emotions in people. While this is true to an extent, it may not always be the case. Personal experiences may have as much to do in how a person associates a specific emotion to certain colors. So it would be best to choose colors based on the perceived appropriateness for your product or brand.

For instance, orange is normally associated with friendly, cheerful, and confident according to The Logo Company. This may be true to an extent but if you’re advertising some skincare product made from organic orange peel, it could be used to convey the ideas of fresh and natural. Notice how fun colors like pink and purple were used in the Toys “R” Us website shown earlier? Those colors may not necessarily be applicable for a website selling luxury women’s products.

Ghurkha, for instance, uses a minimalist approach in their website design. The banner used on the Vintage women’s section implements subtle colors like beige with a high-quality image of some products.

Conclusion

Now you’ve got six useful and effective ways to use visuals for improving your ecommerce conversions. It could be something as simple as larger product images or a more personalized product demo video. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you choose visuals that speak to your target audience and truly highlight the features and benefits of your product.

About The Author

Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant that specializes in sales funnels, targeted traffic and website conversions. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, Influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.

Connect with him on: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linkedin or visit his website.