Boosting Brand Trust: Why Keeping Visuals Consistent Matters
In today’s digital world, where online shopping has become the norm, how products look on screen can make or break a brand’s reputation.
Many brands face challenges regarding the quality and consistency of their e-commerce imagery and video, leaving consumers questioning the reliability of what they see.
In this article, we examine whether a picture is worth a thousand words (short answer: yes) and how you can build trust and credibility through your product imagery.
How Low-Quality, Inconsistent Visual Assets Impact Your Brand
Mixed Messaging: When product images differ significantly in color, style or quality, it can confuse potential customers and make them doubt the actual appearance of your products.
Questionable Reliability: Low-quality or poorly retouched images may lead customers to think your brand also cuts corners in other areas.
Harming Your Brand Image: When your visuals aren’t consistent, it can slowly chip away at how people see your brand. Customers might start thinking your brand is messy or doesn’t care about quality. This can affect their loyalty and whether they want to continue buying from you.
How to Ensure Your Visuals Are Consistent and of High-Quality
- Develop a Brand Style Guide: Create a clear guide that tells everyone how your visuals should look. This guide should cover things like colors, textures, lighting, shadows and how to crop images. A style guide will ensure all your visuals match your brand, no matter who makes them. Check out these tips for Creating a Post-Production Style Guide for Your Brand.
- Create a Master Image: When introducing a new product, create a master image to guide your in-house or outsourced retouching teams. Color-correct and retouch your master image against a physical product sample or a digital swatch.
- Check for Quality: Set up a system to check the quality of your visuals regularly. If there are any issues, you can fix them quickly. This way, every image will look just right and follow your brand’s rules.
- Train Your Team: Ensure the people responsible for creating and retouching your visuals understand and follow your style guide. Keep a record of revisions and markups, and once a month, check in with your retoucher to identify and fix any consistent issues. Training your in-house and outsourced teams helps maintain consistent quality.
- Listen to Customers: Pay attention to what your customers say about your visuals. Their feedback can give you valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not. User comments can be key data points for assessing the effectiveness of your visuals. Negative comments from people who have taken the time to provide feedback offer opportunities to improve the shopping experience.
In online shopping, how your visuals look is super important. By prioritizing consistency and quality, you can create an environment where customers feel well-informed and secure in purchasing decisions, reinforcing your brand’s credibility and driving customer satisfaction.
Ready to enhance your brand’s online presence and boost customer confidence? Get in touch to discover how we can help you maintain consistent and high-quality visuals, ensuring your products leave a lasting positive impression.
