A picture is worth a thousand words. Words may lie, but photos don’t. These two statements prove that images are a core part of communication between people. When we are talking about doing business, photography and graphic design are an intrinsic part of any branding and marketing strategy.
Whatever you want to communicate to your prospects, remember that your copywriting skills are not enough if they are not supported by images which enforce the written message. The human brain is designed to process visual images much faster than written information. After all, 90% of the information the brain absorbs is visual – what we see around us. And this has influenced our ability to store information in our memory and remember it.
Thus, we are able to remember 20% of what we read, 10% of what we hear and a whopping 80% of what we see. As things stand, a simple photo or video of your product being used by someone has the potential to trigger more sales than a beautifully written product description.
But how do graphics build customer trust? In many more ways than you might imagine. Here are the most important ones:
- We Are Conditioned to Trust Beauty
Various psychological studies have demonstrated that people are genetically programmed to trust beautiful people over less attractive people. While this type of judgment is misleading (and thankfully logic and reason temper it), there is no doubt that everyone makes a first impression of any person or object by looking at them.
Thus, having a visually pleasing website is the first step towards gaining your customers’ trust. They will form a positive first impression and will decide to look around and see what your business has to offer.
- Everyone Loves Mascots
If you want to understand the psychological role of mascots in creating human attachment, just look at Disney and the NBA league – both multi-billion dollar businesses. Mascots are a key part of how fans and customers interact with these two entities. From the cartoon characters walking among people at Disneyland to the mascots of rival teams showing off before a match, these characters have the power to create and maintain loyalty towards a brand.
Many global companies also developed mascots and so should you. A simple friendly and fun looking cartoon character can make prospects trust your business more and develop loyalty to your brand.
- Always Add the Human Touch
When you prepare a batch of product photos or select images for your website, brochure or social media ad, don’t forget to include people in these photos. Apart from high quality and detailed photos of your products, potential customers need to see people using them. It is a basic connection that forms in our minds: this product is for me, because that person in the photo is using it.
Smiling faces add trust to any image they appear in. They send out a message of confidence, happiness, relaxation, a carefree life – goals that all your customers want to reach.
- The Photo Proof
High quality, professional photo products are not just for the sake of making your products look their best. A skilled photographer can focus on the key features of your product and make them visible to the eye. Thus, whatever you claim in your product description, people can actually see for themselves in the photos. This builds as much trust as customer testimonials.
- The Principle of the Prototype
We all have a clear image in our minds of how an item should look, like a chair, a bathtub, or a website. No matter how different in style, design and colour they may be, we can see the basic features and we are reassured that we understand how the item can be used.
This means that being overly creative in designing your website – literally having a website like no other – is going to work against you in terms of building customer trust. People will not be certain that they know how to browse it and absorb the information, therefore they will certainly not attempt to place an order on it, either.