Visual Content & Conversion
Increase conversion rate with visual content
I’m currently on the hunt for the perfect Miss Fisher costumer for Halloween – 1920s couture-style glamour. It’s not as hard to find as you might think. Thanks to The Great Gatsby remake a while back, Leonardo DiCaprio inspired a number of clothes-makers to create “Gatsby dresses.”The reproduction designer I have my eye on has the highest quality dresses, and the most expensive (this isn't the first time I've invested heavily in just the right costume) – but they have one, significant flaw:None of the images on their website, their Instagram, or their Twitter – anywhere on the internet, in fact – include photos of their dresses on average-sized women. I have no idea how any of their dresses would look on someone like me.So, being me, I emailed their customer service to ask if maybe they had some user-photos I could see, or knew of a blogger posting pictures of a non-size-zero persuasion. They responded quickly and politely, explaining that they’d love to have more photos with plus-size models, and it’s a market they’d like to cater to more.
Which begged the question: How hard is it to put a dress on an average-sized woman and take a picture?
In Hollywood, apparently, this is a nearly insurmountable challenge.I love their dresses, but their UK competitor does show models in a range of sizes. And those dresses are half the price, but honestly? This isn't a price-based decision for me. It's mostly about quality and design, which makes me...
The Ideal Client
Someone not to be ignored.I do a lot of writing - multiple articles every month - on visual storytelling, visual communication, and how to use visual content to increase conversion rates.Maybe my next post should be on how to RUIN your conversion rates with visual content!Now, including average-sized people in marketing materials doesn't work for every company (but it works really well for most).Abercrombie & Fitch, for example, purposefully excludes larger sized people. Anyone with junk in the trunk or a spare tire around the waist is expressly not in their demographic.I think they're crappy people, but from a marketing standpoint - I'm fine with this. I support this, in fact. Because they are defining their ideal audience, and their ideal audience responds to it.But if you're making clothes with sizes Large and XL on the labels, then it behooves you to make your site more inclusive.
WTF Does This Have to Do with YOUR Marketing?
This isn't just a rant here, folks (though it kinda started out that way). This is a call to check your visuals and your words to make sure you're speaking to real people who are your ideal clients.Real people aren't shaped by cookie-cutters, and you won't find them in most stock photography. Real people don't trust these types of images. They're too slick. Too perfect.This isn't to say that you can't or shouldn't have beautiful, professional images on your site - because you should. It does mean that the images you choose should not only reflect who you are, but who your ideal clients are as well.What are your visuals saying about you? Who are your visuals attracting?
Authenticity in Visual Content
One of my clients is currently revamping his website and updating his head shots. As a personality-driven business, these head shots are important - they're how people get to know him and his work, and they're vital to engendering a sense of trust.And he had a brilliant way of choosing just the right ones.He worked with a photographer he liked. They created images that were true to who he is - using color, tone, simple props, and catching non-posed expressions. Then, my client took these photos and asked a select few of his current ideal clients to choose 3-5 images they liked best and why each image spoke to them.One image showed his sense of humor and made me smile. I can relate to person who doesn't take himself too seriously.One image was confident, smart, and seemed to hold all the answers without being self-important. I'd trust this guy.A couple images felt distinctly bad to me - smug in a way - which is not my client at all.In the end, because my client was A) True to himself, and B) Consulted his current ideal clients - I'm sure that the final images he selects will be perfect to engender trust and confidence in new visitors.That's the trick to authentic, visual, marketing.Be true to yourself ... but sometimes we don't see ourselves in quite the same way as other people, so also....Ask your ideal clients. You'll find out what they love about you, and when you can show that - you've got great visual marketing.And for goodness-sake, show pictures of average-sized people (unless that truly isn't your demographic, in which case, screw you. /endrant).