If you are trying to attract customers through your website or social media profile, then there are a couple of things you need to do well; words and images.
Your written content needs to be engaging and relevant. It needs to connect with your customers both in terms of the words you use and the benefit it can offer your audience. Words are definitely important.
But studies show that images are even more so.
Media is what grabs people when they are scrolling through pages of infinite information, such as on Facebook. It is also what connects to people when they are glancing at your website, and what will convince them to take action and convert them into customers.
People also learn better visually than through written content, and visual media is more likely to establish you as a trustworthy and credible authority on your topic than if you only use words.
Here are some interesting ways that images work to connect with your customers.
Colour
Bright and vibrant colour, when used well will catch people’s eye and peak their interest. Different colours can evoke different responses, and bold combinations of colour can also have an excellent response.
There has been a lot of studies done by professionals in areas such as psychology and marketing to establish just how colour affects people but there is still much debate about whether there is such effect or not. Red has been aligned with feelings of excitement and passion, whereas blue is considered to be synonymous with strength and dependability, and green is calm and grounded.
It also might be beneficial however to buck the trend and choose a colour that is completely different to that normally prevalent in your industry or used by many of your competitors. This will make you stand out and can make you easier to remember.
Use of colour works well when it is utilised consistently and regularly to bring your message across. It can be very effective to showcase the same colour or colour palette throughout your website and social media posts, such as Instagram, again because it helps people to remember you and it gives them a sense of familiarity.
People
Potential customers respond incredibly well to pictures of human faces, especially those that focus on the eyes. Pictures of human faces have been shown to convince more people to convert.
Emotional impact
The pictures which create the most response in your website visitors are those that elicit an emotional response within them.
This is true of words as well; words that are classified as emotional or have power behind them are more likely to get people’s attention and have more impact when they are used in headings than other words.
The idea behind media content is to show your potential customers how you can help them, how you can make their lives better, or easier in some way. Make your customers feel good, happy, attractive, proud, desired, or make them feel like this is something you can give them.
Show people using your products happily
Combine images of people and emotional positivity, and your product or services as well. This may sound like Marketing 101, but images that have this combination work so well to encourage people to click through to your page and more likely to take action.
Show images of people using your product, because this helps to explain how it works, but also show their positive responses, because this tells potential customers how your product will make them feel.
When boosted with reviews or testimonials from previous customers (especially if you have a photo of them too!) your conversion rates are further enhanced.
Good quality and original photos
While there are many free stock photo websites that you can get images from, savvy customers and people who spend a lot of time online can recognise cheap photos or those that are too readily available.
The pictures you choose work better if they are good quality, in focus, well lit and properly framed. They also work better if they are original as well as good.
Characters
If you create an original character, such as a logo or mascot, that people can connect with, it helps them to remember your website and brand. If the character is used repeatedly and consistently through your digital marketing, customers are more likely to respond to it, and more likely to remember you later.
Size and Speed
Make sure that your photos are the most appropriate size for your website or the social media page you are using. If they are too small, then images will appear pixelated or blurred when customers use them on closer screens such as smartphones.
Using the right size also enables your photos and therefore your website to load faster onto people’s devices. Faster loading images mean more people will look at your page, and it will also rate better when analysed by search engines such as Google. Using pictures that are of a very high quality can load slower, so it can be better to choose medium quality sized pictures.
When you use pictures in your website, check how the pages load and look on all types of devices.
Video
Putting videos on your website and on your social media pages also connects with people. Customers are again more likely to buy your product or engage your services if you include short videos. These both allow your customers to see the person behind the business and enable them to see your product or service and how it works.
This is even more effective when you create ‘How to’ videos that answer a question or solve a problem your potential customers have been having or help them to learn something new. Younger customers are highly likely to search for ‘How to’ videos and then buy a product if they have seen it used in such a video.
Images have such a strong and positive effect on potential customers, that this part of your digital marketing can’t be ignored. Talk to us today about other ways using images can help promote your business and increase your conversions.