What You See Should Be What You Get - Why It Boosts Sales - 071
10 years ago social media went mad asking the question "Is it blue and black or white and gold", this was of course related to the viral image of "The Dress".
It gained popularity because many people saw colours differently dependent on the lighting.
If you were to order the dress in a physical environment, you would move it around and place it under brighter light to see the colour - but you can't really do that online.
If you were to order a white and gold dress online, you'd be disappointed to discover it was actually black and blue when it arrived.
That's not what I ordered!
Many photos are doctored.
Even the ones that are not, might use tricks to make the shot more real looking - check out photo tricks if you're working with food.
But landscape gardeners also know a trick or two and when they've taking their portfolio shots, they spray everything with water - giving it all a slick finish, making blacks appear darker.
We on Pinterest and Insta go wow, I want my garden to look like that.
We order some black ice stones and when they turn up they look like they've been swimming in bleach!
Different Lighting or Wet & Dry
So I really love black ice stones, so this week's Swipe and Deploy is actually from the purchasing journey of trying to buy some.
I've ordered before and have experienced that moment of - "well they don't look like the photo", so when I came across this trick, that was so simple, easy and yet so effective - I had to share.
The photo is from The Gravel Shed, and although the buying experience could certainly do some simplifying there, but the practical use of the gallery carousel deserved credit.
What is the magic?
The magic is the fact that they've taken a rigid carousel and created branded images to fit into those spaces.
They've also jumped into Canva or Adobe and made icon photo keys to help the customer identify
You can switch between the photos in the slider to see the expected appearance, therefore not be disappointed when they turn up not matching the photo on the website, like many others.
Another Brucey bonus, is the ruler at the base of the photo.
Many people might also take delivery and say, "hey they're smaller than I thought".
With the stones next to the ruler, you can understand the size too.
It's just a shame that they haven't spent that amount of thought on the product page layout as it is all very confusing.
So What's To Swipe and Deploy?
The big takeaway this week is being inspired by using the simple tools you may have already in your possession; an image slider for example. But also the consideration of how your product looks in different lighting or different environments and understanding the expectation of your customers.
Will they or are they (checking your reviews) disappointed when something arrives, is their any feedback with colour or confusion in size? A photo next to a ruler or a photo of your product in multiple lighting settings will help more people understand what they can expect to receive.
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That’s a wrap for Swipe & Deploy 071 this week. Join me next time where I will share another insight or inspiration piece from around the web.