Resizing and Setting up Product Images in eCom
On your side as you setup your Lightspeed Retail / eCom, of all of your Tasks that you will need to address prior to launch, it is these two Tasks that will take you the longest generally and are so important to the success that they are done right the first time.
1- Build Product Catalog in Lightspeed
2 - Understand Product Image Sizing
1- 'Building the Product Catalog' - Lightspeed Retail or eCom Support will be the best resource to help you through the Product Catalog creation and editing process within Lightspeed.
Having said that, we do have some advice for you as you build the Product Catalog. Make sure to consider the importance of 'meaningful descriptions' of at least 2 or 3 sentences, on each and every product.
The following article outlines the SEO advantage you will give your web store if you build out the product descriptions as outlined.
Article - How to Write Product Descriptions That Sell
Product Descriptions - The import tool for Lightspeed eCom is customer facing and has the fields for both short and long description.
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2- Sizing Images Correctly - AdVision is here to help and guide you on this process of sizing image, and we have the following suggestions from an eCom Development perspective for you.
Image Sizing - What you need to know.
When it comes to image sizing there is only one way to do it correctly and too many ways to get this wrong. We know that poorly sized or inconsistent image formatting will have a significant impact on the users experience (UX).
The following short movies will give you a basic understanding on the process of Image Sizing.
Movie - How to size Images & Why Sizing is so important
* If you have 100s or 1000's you need sized initially, you can ask us to size them for you. Just let me know how many and we can review and estimate that option for you. However, ultimately it is important you learn the process.
AdVision's - Recommended Sizing Guideline
During our meeting, we can decide on a format for your product images - Square, Horizontal or Vertical and you can then size as we recommend and upload the images into your Product Catalog.
Just do a few first and share back your results so we can confirm you are on track.
Here are the sizes we recommend....
Square - 1200 x 1200 | Horizontal - 1000 x 800 | Vertical - 800 x 1000 or for thin products such as bottles - 600 x 1000 |
* Sizes shown in pixels based @ 72 or 96 DPI, RGB - JPEG or PNG files continuous tone images, which a standard photograph. You should only use the GIF file format for halftone images, which are sold colors such as logos or artwork.
Formatting : You can choose more then one format for eg a category Bicycles may show better Horizontally vs Bike Accessories showing better as Square. If you do have different formats per categories, then ALL images in a given category should be the same format.
By sizing and formatting images correctly, this allows us to present to the visitor the experience of the images doubling in size as they browse page to page, example 300 x 300 Category Page, 600 x 600 Product Page, 1200 x 1200 Zoom.
We do not recommend having a 'hodge-podge' of sizes and formats loaded into your product catalog.
Summary : So PNG or JPEGS are ideal for your Product Catalog image you upload into Lightspeed, as outlined above and presently the only formats you can upload into Lightspeed.
But you will also be showing the visitor 'supporting images' as usually seen on the homepage, top of category pages, along side of the product images.
For those images, we have another file format we want you to save as. We recommended WebP image file format that is clearer, sharper and less file sizes then the product images (loads quicker).
• JPEG or PNG for Lightspeed Product Catalog Images
• WebP for all other 'Supporting Images'
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How to Hold the Visitor's Attention, the secret is 'Consistency of Presentation'
AdVision's understands the influences of visual and functional elements within our eCommerce Web Stores, on Human browsing behavior.
Our Development Team, know that the Number 1 # Rule that will help extend the time someone browses on your Web Store is 'Consistency of Presentation'. This means that every page design and their elements, always should load the same size, place and shape as previous pages, with a degree of predictability and a comfortable flow for the 'eye', without having multiple elements competing and on a page for attention.
The Halo Effect of Perception, is a subconscious process your visitor experiences and transpires in under 120,000th of a second, each and every time they navigates through an eCommerce Web Store.
Example : Do I stay or do I go - am I interested or not - am I going to see, next, what I expect to see ? - are the primary questions, that are generally subconsciously assessed, prior to each 'click'.
To that point, Human Behavioral Science have determined that if the Web Store depicts 'Consistency of Presentation' - well balanced - that it will generally provide a positive feedback to the Visitor, each and every click.
During this process the Visitor essentially scores their browsing and is looking for a predictable Navigation in which they are experiencing an understandable design layout & easy to comprehend functionality.
This then categorizes within the Visitor - A Value Added Perception - of your company, that then establishes 'Trust'.
