It’s a cliché we’ve all heard thousands of times – an image speaks a thousand words. But when it comes to web design, this age-old phrase certainly rings true: the images you choose to place on your site can have a dramatic impact on the way it performs.
As the internet becomes more crowded and every industry grows more competitive with each passing year, standing out gets tougher and tougher. When you last had your website redesigned, generic stock photos might have been enough – but in today’s world, this is no longer the case. Your choice of images is now almost as crucial as the words you place next to them.
In this blog, we’re going to cover the reasons why. Below, we’ll take a look at the benefits of filling your site with bespoke, high-quality images – and the risks associated with doing the opposite.
Imagine for a moment that you’re choosing between two different companies, both of which offer the same products or services. They both charge a similar price, and they both have good reviews. One of them has a website that’s overflowing with high-quality images, including an ‘About Us’ page with headshots of each and every employee. The other, by contrast, relies solely on stock images: you don’t get to see any of the employees or the company’s headquarters at all. Which business are you going to trust more?
This is a decision that your prospective customers might have to make at some point – and if your website is the one with tonnes of quality photographs instead of generic free images, you’re more likely to make the sale. According to one study, 67% of consumers consider the quality of a website’s images to be ‘very important’ when they’re shopping for a new product. Quality images inspire trust, giving your website credibility and giving your potential customers the confidence they need to convert.
It’s no secret that our attention spans are shorter than they’ve ever been. In today’s world of instant gratification, there’s no room for boring content: if it doesn’t grab the reader’s attention and pull them in within the first few seconds, it’s failed.
The thing is, not every piece of content can do this with words alone. Even if you’ve written an immaculately-crafted, well-researched article, if it’s devoid of images and looks dull and lifeless, you’ll lose a large percentage of your audience straight away.
Images capture our attention far more easily than words ever can, making written content far more engaging and shareable. From artistic photographs to icons and even emojis, adding images to a piece of content can help it connect with customers and keep them coming back for more.
Chances are you own a smartphone. There’s a pretty high probability that you’re reading this article on one – and your home screen is a great example of how images can be used to enhance the user experience. Imagine if your phone’s home screen, instead of being populated with app icons, was just a written list of apps sorted in alphabetical order. Not only would that be terribly boring, but it would also make navigating around your phone more difficult.
The same applies to websites. Images and icons can vastly improve the customer experience, making navigation easier and more intuitive. From pointing out key product specifications to labelling different stages of the checkout process, images can help streamline the user journey, improving your site’s overall conversion rate.
We’re emotional creatures, us humans. Virtually everything we do and every decision we make is driven by some kind of emotion. Whether it’s stress pushing us to invest in a product that makes daily life more convenient or curiosity encouraging us to learn more about a particular subject, everything we do online is related to our emotions in some way.
When you think about the look and feel of your website, it’s important to bear this in mind. It needs to inspire (or feed off) the right emotions at the right times in order to generate conversions – and images are the perfect way to make this happen. Used in the right way, images can prompt an emotional response – be it feelings of aspiration, curiosity, happiness… you name it. Ultimately, well-placed images can not only help generate conversions but, over time, transform those first-time customers into loyal devotees of your brand.
Time to give your website a new look? With more than two decades of web design experience, the team at Brave has the know-how to set your business apart from the rest. From rebrands to ground-up web design projects, we can do it all. Discover more about our range of design services today, or get in touch with us to discuss your requirements.
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