Experience The Power Of Visual Content In E-commerce

Visual commerce is the concept of enriching customer experience with powerful, inspirational and enticing visual content that prompts shoppers to engage, convert and form a preference for a brand or online retailer.

What does it consist of?

The pillars of visual commerce are engaging product video galleries, large multi-angle product photos, authentic user-generated content and marketing tools that enable content discovery, curation and optimization.

What makes it click more with online shoppers?

In e-commerce, the sheer amount of options can make consumers journey a cluttered experience. Even if each single product shown to the shopper may potentially interest them, they fail to impress when displayed in unison, akin to a men’s clothing store stocking shoes, slacks, suits, and shorts on the same shelf. The end result is jarring, aesthetically unpleasant, and does not convey a cohesive brand image.

All shoppers are visual creatures, but online shoppers are even more so, given that the senses of touch, taste and smell are suspended in the online retail setting and shoppers have to rely on the audio and visual cues to experience the product online.If you have noticed, successful brick-and mortar stores convey the same message by providing their customers a 360-degree, all-encompassing journey, from the moment they approach the store until they complete their transaction.

Why visual commerce matters for online retailers?

Nothing kills the thrill of shopping than landing on a bland e-commerce website that just doesn’t speak the same language of the brand visually. You don’t convert shopper with a stock product photo when they’ve just been exposed to an amazing UGC (User-generated content) on social media. You give them more of that UGC content and curate experiences!

Increasing Conversion: Visual assets evolve from playing the role of accessories in the online retail, to acting as conversion magnets that lure shoppers to discover new products, to “play” and engage with them digitally and to purchase them online.

Here is an example of leveraging Visual Content ine-commerce major Snapdeal. Last year, it did a re-branding overhaul where it revealed a new brand identity, including a new logo, website, interface and app. The visual branding resonate the message of their campaign titled ‘Unbox Zindagi’.

Elaborating on the logo, Snapdeal now has a solid red background color, and logo elements are rendered in white. The blue from the previous logo has been discarded. The font is sleeker and slimmer, and looks a lot more modern. The most important addition, though, is the brand motif. It’s a tilted box with a square opening, and is cleverly composed of two opposite-facing arrows. The red is similar enough to Snapdeal’s old shade of red, and is yet distinctive; the box is something that’s ubiquitous across deliveries in the e-commerce space; and the logo with its clean lines and modern design looks pretty memorable.The arrows are solid and in 2D, but create a pleasing and effortless 3D effect. The box also ties in with Snapdeal’s new tagline, #UnboxNewSnapdeal.

Consider this:

• 77% marketers agree there is an increasing amount of pressure to show ROI on visual content.
• 86% of marketers agree that “type of channel” when selecting images to use in different marketing initiatives.
• Visual content works better for retention. People tend to remember 80% things they see or do versus only 10% of things they hear and 20% of the things they read.
• Compelling images get 94% more views than basic visuals.
• 67% consumers say that high quality visual content is more important than product description or customer ratings.
• By 2017, 74% of all web traffic will be video.
• When featuring video on the site, retailers report 40% increase in purchases.

So, what could be the future of visual commerce?

As every visual cue turns into an opportunity for potential customer, the line between browsing and shopping is getting blurred. It would be interesting to know how online retailers will move from featuring visuals as just a part of website to creating a new dimension where visual content lies at the heart of the whole e-commerce transaction.

On a scale of 1-5, how confident are you in a visual commerce strategy?Which of your product photos are generating the most engagement? Drop in your insights!Nothing kills the thrill of shopping than landing on a bland e-commerce website that just doesn’t speak the same language of the brand visually. That is why, online retailers are paying utmost attention to Visual Commerce- one which speaks and resonates the identity of your brand in the highest possible manner to enhance the online shopping experience.