Keeping it real – consumers want customers’ product photos not professional shots

Consumers around the world agree that authenticity is what they want from brands when they consider buying – and for most that comes from seeing photos posted by other consumers on social media, not big-money professional shots.

The power of real

A new report from Bazaarvoice, A picture’s worth a thousand purchases, found that two-thirds of consumers say they want to see such photos – and that figure rises to almost three-quarters of 18- to 34-year-olds.

Sixty-five percent of 8,000-plus consumers surveyed across Australia, Europe and North America also said they make buying decisions based on the availability of customers’ posted photos.

The detail

When it comes to influencing purchase decisions and buying actual products, Facebook is the most popular social media platform overall; Instagram tends to be preferred by Gen Z and Millennials.
Visual UGC is most important for products that usually have a higher price tag, such as tech and electronics items. Across all categories, though, fresh content is everything.
Younger consumers are most likely to want to see visual UGC, with almost three-quarters saying they prefer it when brands use social media platforms in this way.

Soundbite

“Visual content shared by previous customers can give shoppers confidence to click the ‘buy’ button and reduce basket abandonment. It’s the best way to demonstrate online how the product fits or works, and can help potential customers imagine how they would use the product in their own lives” – Joe Rohrlich, CRO, Bazaarvoice.