The Importance of good imagery
When it comes to websites, where most people spend an average of 1 minute on each page, images play a crucial role in telling your story, and making an impression. You have just 60 seconds to evoke an emotion, illustrate your concept, convey ideas, or showcase your work. you need to make those seconds count!
When a potential customer visits your website they are likely after one thing – information. They want to know more about your business, what you do, how much you charge, how they can contact you etc. But, the first thing they will notice is images. Our brain is hardwired to process images – in fact the brain processes images 60,000 times fast than text! Read that again. So it’s safe to say the images used create an immediate impression and can significantly impact how your potential customer perceives your website, and your wider business and brand. We can probably all relate to landing on a home page with terrible imagery and immediately leaving. Aesthetically pleasing and high-quality images not only create a great first impression and build trust, they also encourage people to continue to dive deeper.
We’d even go so far as to say good images can have a direct correlation to sales! It goes without saying if you are an e-commerce businesses (online sales), clear, detailed, and attractive product images showcasing the product in its best light, go a long way in persuade visitors to make a purchase. But the importance of good imagery isn’t just limited to e-commerce businesses. For service based businesses high-quality images help to build trust with your audience by showing them that you are a reputable business, who is reliable and trustworthy. When they feel safe with you, they are more likely to send their hard-earned money with you.
So, what makes an image ‘good’?
Now that we have established why including GOOD imagery is so important, let’s dive in to what constitutes a ‘good’ image:
QUALITY – choose images that are high resolution (ideal size 1MB – 5MB)
CLARITY – images that are crisp and clean – not blurry or out of focus, and clearly show your products / feature / team etc
SELECTION – when it comes to a website, a range of images is ideal – some that are story telling / more artistic, and others that clearly showcase previous work or your product
SIZE - Is the size and/or shape fit for purpose – for example if your other product images are square, a landscape image that needs to be heavily cropped, won’t look great
Examples
Let’s take a look at some examples so we can visually (😉) see the difference good imagery, along with a considered layout, can make. The websites on the left belong to business outside of New Zealand (we’ve removed the business names out of respect) and the websites on the right are clients of ours.
Example 1: Hairdresser
Both of these websites have used images to showcase their work but the quality of images used on the website to the left, compared to the ones used on Hair with Nen’s website, is hugely different! You can see how good imagery builds trust - when placing your locks in someone else’s hands you want to see that they know what are doing and can deliver amazing results and using images of your work is the best way to get that across…if the images are good! If not they can have a huge negative impact on sales / leads.
Example 2: Luxury Accommodation Provider
While on first glance there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the main image used on the website to the left, it is blurry when viewed at full screen, and it, along with the images used further down (Our Luxury Destinations), don’t paint a picture of what to expect when you book a villa with them. In contrast the Luxury Villas website has a carousel showcasing some of their properties - really drawing the viewer into that lifestyle and creating a emotional connection.
Example 3: Electician
On this website home page, the main image it’s self isn’t particularly bad, however it is followed by numerous words which potential customers will, at best, skim read. Whereas the Balance Electrical website has a carousel banner with images that showcase their work. This is followed by some succinct wording which clearly states their intent and makes a potential customer want to know more.
How do we get ‘good’ images / What comes next?
If budget allows, we recommend getting some professional photos taken. Speak with the photographer about the image usage and formats required. If budget is a consideration, it is possible to get some great images without the use of a professional - most smart phones take reasonably good images these days – it just takes time and patience. Make it a habit to take photos of your work (or pay your teenager to help you!) Consider lighting, backgrounds and angles. Slow down and take your time, looking at the images and adjusting as you go. Take lots of images - even photographers will tell you they might take 30 photos and get just a handful of good ones.
When you have your select images, we recommend you upload them via a file sharing service such as Google Drive to retain the quality.