The PackshotCreator‘s White Book on Locita’s Blog

Photography 2.0’s e-business challenges, a white paper from PackshotCreator. A new trend for Rich Media

A new trend for Rich Media

Among the various barriers to online purchase, the lack of attractiveness of the products displayed was limiting both impulsive and thoughtful purchases. If for some products, such as books, expectations in terms of picture quality are very low, it is different for products (textiles, high tech, for example) whose 3D representation is an essential asset to make the purchase happen.

This new trend for the Rich Media is confirmed by the latest white book written by PackshotCreator, the European leader in solutions for creating product animations and photos for e-commerce and marketing. Indeed, the company founded in 2001 has created in 2004 the concept of photo studio that has since revolutionized the e-commerce industry with 360 ° and 3D product views.

Very high expectations confirmed for visuals

We need to note that the advantage of a well shot and staged product goes beyond e-commerce. Good visual information is essential for e-shops because ; it impacts e-business on the way the website, brand or institution is perceived (“being reassured on the reliability”) and thus indirectly on the website traffic.

This white paper teaches us several elements. It first confirms the interest of users for visual quality and for a vast majority, the ability to zoom on products: according to the surveyed users, many elements are often absent on websites: 81% declare that images that are too small or of poor quality are a barrier to purchase. Moreover, the inability to enlarge the pictures is a barrier for 50% of users.

And when users specify their expectations in terms of products viewing, 58% are asking for 360 ° and 3D animations when only 8% prefer videos.

A typical example of a beneficial approach of User Experience Design

Then, even if we can imagine the impact of a user-friendly website on visitors, it is not the most important point for the interviewed users. Their main expectation for website visuals is “to access to a better understanding of the product features and quality”.

Thus e-buyers are facing an essential question:

how to make sure they are not making mistakes when buying a product? Are there enough information to get a precise idea of a product? This is exactly the mission of UX Design (User Experience Design): unblocking a user from a specific situation by offering an online experience tailored to his concerns. The user-friendliness and graphic quality of a webpage are ultimately beneficial.

Moreover, PackshotCreator delivers client business cases, such as OneDirect’s which has witnessed a 20% increase of the time spent on pages and a 15% increase of the conversion rates after having published photos thanks to this equipment. If the use of the PackshotCreator studios has obvious positive effects on the ROI (to better convert visitors into customers), the impact on the user experience seems also positive (in keeping the user on the website). Which was the initial issue: eliminating the stress experienced by web users when they are about to purchase a product on the Internet.

The popularity of this type of web content and the benefits for websites explain why PackshotCreator has been adopted by 5000 companies in 35 countries over the past 10 years.

PackshotCreator is inviting bloggers to test their solutions on their stand of the E-commerce Paris fair. Bloggers can bring a product and get a 3D photo for their blog. The show takes place on 18th, 19th and 20th September: you have two days to visit PackshotCreator’s stand R33.

For those who want to know more about the latest news of PackshotCreator, here is a demonstrative video of the product presented at the Photokina in Cologne.

A joint improvement of e-shops

The user experience has been greatly improved with this type of tool, but it is important to remember that other features or services have enabled users to not be afraid to make mistakes when buying on a website. These include the possibility of returning a free product if it does not fit, a client benefit that have clearly understood websites such as shoe sales (Sarenza, or other Spartoo Pointed Square).

The only negative point about this paper is that the sample interviewed in this survey should have deserved to be a little more consistent (at least 500 users, instead of the 214 announced), especially for a European survey. In this regard, the white paper does not say whether there are differences across countries.

Ask the white book