We are all selling something. All of us. You may sell jewelry, or toys, or birdhouses. It may be on Etsy or your own ecommerce site. Maybe you are in a service industry that remodels homes, or manage advertising in the B2B arena.
You may think that customers only want to purchase your products or services so that they can fill their immediate need. While they do need to buy that thing for that reason, what they really want is to find a company they can trust. They want to be able to tell their friends, family, or business associates what a great choice they made and how it worked out incredibly.
On the tangible side, nobody wants to go through the hassle of returning items for any reason, let alone because it “wasn’t what they expected”.
If you are looking for a new job or are looking for a candidate for a new job, you want everything in the resume or job description to line up with reality.
Coming up short of expectations is good for no one.
Read that again.
How do we set expectations and establish trust? Imagery is one of the best ways to do this. But not just any imagery…realistic imagery.
What does that mean, Anthony? Aren’t all photos real?
Yes…kind of. The difference is that people would rather see actual photos of you, your team, your products, or your work than they would generic stock photos that you found or bought online. Stock photos are fine in a pinch, but you shouldn’t rely too heavily on them.
In the above example, the photo on the left shows you exactly what you are getting. The photo on the right…..who knows.
Here’s some stats for ya:
In a study by Market Expirments that tested a photo of a real client photo vs a similar stock photo, those who saw the real photo were 35% more likely to sign up with the client.
Two-thirds of consumers said that the quality of product images was “very important” when selecting and purchasing a product. (I can confirm that I have 100% gone back through pages of Amazon to find the product that had the best image and completed the purchase, even if it had a higher price)
Last one: More than 20% of returns, were because the product didn’t look the same as it did on the site it was purchased from.
The point of all of this is that if you show your clients or customers exactly what they are going to get and then deliver that something, you will earn their trust. When you earn their trust you will gain repeat business, or word of mouth advertising, or both.
I heard a great line the other day that I want to share with you: “You put your heart and soul into your work, why not show it off?”
If you want to hear more about how you can build more trust with your customers and how better photos can improve your sales and minimize returns, fill out the form below and let’s have a chat.