A Picture Story is a way for the marketer to maximize the conversion impact of a picture.

50% of our brain’s cerebral cortex (the tissue that covers the brain) is devoted to image processing. This is probably where the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” comes from. You probably weren’t expecting a human anatomy lesson when you opened this article, but I’ll tell you how this relates to product page conversion optimization in a moment.

Why listen to me? My name is Rishi Rawat and I’ve spent the last 13 years breaking my head to better understand why online shoppers behave the way they do. I know a thing or two because I’ve A/B tested a thing or two.

First, I want you to think about your most important product page. Are you running a heatmap on that page? If so, you’ll probably see an image that looks something like this:

The red hot areas are regions of focus. The add-to-cart area receives a fair amount of attention, which is expected. What may be surprising is the massive amount of attention being placed on the product image (and the comparatively very little being placed on the product description).

Pictures are so powerful they pull attention away from everything else, including the product description.

This is a problem. A BIG problem. Why? Because the product description is the most important section for the marketer. It’s where the sales pitch is presented. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your site is—if the necessary information isn’t there, your shoppers will. Not. Buy.

How Does This Relate To Product Page Conversion Optimization?

Since so much attention is being placed on product images (and other images throughout the product page), the marketer has a big opportunity.

Put your most important Selling Angles (learn about selling angles) on your images. That way your images are doing two jobs:

1: They are providing your visitors with a visual representation of your product or some part of your sales pitch.

2: They are increasing the visibility of your most important selling angles, the ones that your visitors might miss in the product description since they’re so busy gawking over your beautiful pictures!

I call this a Picture Story—you’re using your pictures to highlight important parts of your product’s story.

A Picture Story is a kind of like a magazine ad:

Picture Story Example

BOOM! is a super successful direct-to-consumer eCom site. This product page alone has 55,089 reviews:

If BOOM! hired us to help them with product page optimization, and I hope they would, I’d convert that main image into this picture story:

This selling angle is incredibly important for this product. Therefore, it’s equally important that as many shoppers as possible have a chance to see this detail before bouncing or deciding to check out a competitor. By placing this detail directly on the main product image, I know that the vast majority of shoppers will see it. Hopefully, they’ll be intrigued by it and want to read more to find out what we mean. The longer they stay on the page, the higher likelihood they convert.

Watch this video for a better explanation of what a Picture Story is:

You Should Use This Product Page Conversion Optimization Secret Because …

Very few direct-to-consumer (DTC) retailers are using it. But that will change once most marketers realize how effective this simple product page optimization strategy is. So get in on the action while it’s still relatively uncommon.

Love The Idea But Don’t Have The Time?

We use this strategy with all of our clients when helping them with product page optimization. You can check out our Case Studies to see some examples. If you like what you see, reach out to us and we’d love to chat.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the power of a Picture Story it’s time to rerurn to mastering other aspects of micro-improvements.