E-commerce is a tricky environment to succeed in, and the range of tools you have at your disposal can be overwhelming. While there are many different strategies you can take, and some will work better for certain businesses, images are almost certainly going to be a key element of any online sales strategy.

A key thing that many businesses struggle with is this: how do you persuade someone to buy something they can’t see? Product photography can give you the answers, and turn your website into your most successful sales platform. Here are some commonly cited disadvantages of selling online, and how you can transform them into great opportunities.

Problem: People can’t see your products up close.

Solution: Your product photography can present your products in whatever way you choose. If it’s important that customers can see the fine details and zoom in on your images, make sure your images are very large and crystal clear. Allowing people to see ultra-high resolution product photos will give a better insight than they can get with their own eyes in a physical shop.

Problem: Judging the size of your product is difficult online.

Solution: Again, there is an opportunity here in the content that you deliver. Use images, or even video, on your product pages to show your item in a few different contexts (for example, alongside its packaging, with a model, being used, being displayed and so on). This will prevent buyers from misunderstanding the scale of it and being unpleasantly surprised when their delivery arrives.

Problem: A physical shop gives you a dedicated area to showcase your products.

Solution: A website with great images and other media is arguably much more effective! Online, you can be in complete control of how your products are presented. Get a professional product photographer to handle all your images to ensure they’re as good as they can be, then get creative with your website. You can display a range of related products and show which ones complement each other well. This works especially well for clothes and accessories.