Too often, website designers think of images as merely a design element on sales pages. When used correctly, images can do things in our visitors’ minds that words simply can’t. Images can work faster than words to sell a product to the user. They can encourage customers to perform an action, automatically evoke a mood, complement sales text, and net you higher conversion rates.

Conversely, used incorrectly, poor imagery will hurt your conversion rates.

Why Do Images Work So Well for Conversion?

Most people learn visually. The vast majority of people are able to understand a concept through a visual explanation much more quickly than they can learn through audio, text, and even touch. Our brains are just wired that way.

We can identify and process images much faster than we can process text, so images are by all intents and purposes the first thing that visitors take in on your site and the first thing they will use to judge your business.

Through judicious use of images, you’ll be able to get your visitors to understand your products much faster than you could with text alone.

So, which types of images work best for increasing conversion rates? How can we maximize the effect?

Use Larger Images

Images are so important that they should take the place of text center stage on your site.

Bigger is generally better. Conversion testing has shown that pushing text content below the fold by including a large image has no detrimental effect on conversion. In fact, in some cases sales increased by over 60%.

Even better is to align the images with the copy, blending words and pictures together, telling a story congruently.

When using large images, you must also be sensitive to the file size. For background images, you have the possibility to choose from a lot of options, and you can use an image editor to resize, compress, and optimize the choice. This will ensure that your website loads quickly even when the visitor has a slow connection.

Use Images That Clearly Show the Benefits of the Product

When used to demonstrate the benefits of a product in online marketing, images have conclusively been shown to increase sales. Rather than simply showing your product, consider how you can demonstrate a “before and after” effect in an image for your product.

Choose Colors Wisely

Research has shown that people will make quick judgments on products and the most important thing they consider above all others is color. Color has a number of powerful psychological effects.

Depending on context and geographical region, red, for example, can mean passion, victory, excitement, romance, patriotism, life, communism, fire, murder, or rebellion.

A green color scheme, instead, has a much more calming, natural, pastoral overtone. People are almost more likely to click a green button that a red or yellow one!

Think about your brand and the colors that will define it. The images you choose must complement this.

Make sure that the colors you choose are accurately being reflected by the accompanying sales text and vice versa.

Draw Attention with a Gaze

Humans are also hard-wired to follow someone’s gaze. You can take advantage of this in your design by including images of people subtly looking towards elements of your page that you want your reader to zero-in on.

You can find a lot of high-quality images of men and women perfect for this application in the Focused Collection. Subtle images of people gazing in a direction, pointing at something, or even just facing a direction can be enough to subliminally guide a visitor’s eye to what you want them to read. Adding a human touch to your images boosts conversions.

Include Some Real Shots

Stock photos are great for many applications; they’re professionally shot, come in a virtually infinite number of colors and layouts, and are much cheaper than hiring a professional photography studio for everything you do.

However, there’s no doubt that in some cases it pays to have real images. Images of your staff or work you have completed in the past are examples where it pays to make things personal. Think about the points of contact that customers will have with your business (e.g. installers, drivers, delivery men, customer service) and give them a real face.

The good news is that these don’t need to be professionally-shot, high-resolution images. These real shots can improve confidence in your business and drive conversion rates even if used sparingly and without the use of a professional photographer.

Smile!

When you have people in your images, ensure that they’re smiling. It has been shown to boost sales by around 10%. We can’t help but visualize those who are smiling as more trustworthy, attractive, warm, and likable. This is especially important if your company is in the service industry, but can apply to any image of people on your website.

Images are a crucial part of your online marketing effort. Get them right every time, and you’ll see your conversion rates soar.

Images are CC and taken from Pexels.com

Originally posted at RuhaniRabin.com
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