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The photography problem most brands are ignoring

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My wife and I were shopping for a new coffee pot recently. Usually, we're doing pour overs for every single cup of coffee, but we wanted something kind of simple because we wanted to have more coffee when family came over, friends came over, and it wasn't like making individual cups of coffee.

We also didn't want to spend like a ton of money - although I am a coffee snob, I didn't want to spend like $300 plus for a fancy coffee pot. I just wanted something simple that we could use.

So we looked at things on Amazon and different websites.

Yes, there's a lot that we could compare, but one of the biggest things was just like what does the photos look like so we could see how big this thing is in the space? Will that fit on to our counter? Will it look good? Is it the colors that we want? But then also, like, how does this thing work? So we're looking at video and seeing if it works well.

And I was just so surprised by how there was just not a huge attention to detail to the carousel on the product pages. The better the photography was, the better the video was to explain how the features worked, the more likely we were to buy.

Now somebody that I'm always watching on how they're shopping and what motivates them is my wife, and it was so interesting to see how she was making decisions because I probably was focused a lot more on the utilitarian part of the coffee pot, whereas for her, she was focused on the looks.

If you have bad photography, then she's not gonna want to buy that coffee pot even if it was a good coffee pot, if it didn't look good in the space, she wasn't gonna say yes.

If we don't focus on the visuals, we are missing out on a lot of the buying decision.

This has been bugging me lately. I keep seeing brands obsessing over their ad spend, tweaking their targeting, analyzing their ROAS down to the penny... and then I visit their website or Amazon listing and it's like they completely forgot that people actually need to see what they're buying.

Look, I get it.

Ads are exciting. There's something addictive about optimizing campaigns and watching traffic pour in. But here's the thing everyone's missing.

What happens when that traffic actually lands on your page?

What are people experiencing on your website?

There is a lot of talk about CRO (conversion rate optimization). And yes, website layout matters, user experience matters, all that technical stuff is important. But I'm telling you, one of the biggest factors that gets treated like an afterthought is your photography and video content.

Think about it from your customer's perspective for a second.

They don't have the same emotional connection to your brand that you do. They're not thinking about your mission statement or your founder's story when they first land on your page. They're looking at it almost like a detective, trying to figure out: What exactly is this? How does it work? Is this legit?

This coffee pot experience really drove home something important which is we're not as logical as we think we are when making buying decisions. Especially when we're not experts in the product category or we're shopping for something for the first time. The visuals create a feeling that either says "oh, this would be nice to have in my life" or "nah, I'll keep looking."

And here's what I see happening over and over again.

Brands create some basic product photos when they first launch, stick them up on their site and Amazon, and then never touch them again. Meanwhile, they're pouring thousands into ads to drive more traffic to those same tired, unconvincing photos. It's like trying to fill a leaky bucket.

The crazy part is, this is such low-hanging fruit. A few tweaks to your visual content can make a massive difference in how people perceive and interact with your products.

What content you need today

First, get some real lifestyle photography. I'm talking about actual people using your product in real situations. Not just the product floating on a white background - though you need those too - but images that help people visualize themselves using what you're selling.

Second, create stylized product shots that show your product in its natural environment. If you're selling kitchen gadgets, show them in an actual kitchen. If it's skincare, create that spa-like bathroom setting. Help people see where this fits in their life.

Third, and this is huge, create information-rich graphics that work like a visual story. Think of your product page photos like a carousel that walks someone through everything they need to know. You've got your clean product shots, your lifestyle images, and then you need those graphics that break down the ingredients, highlight the benefits, answer the common questions. Make it so someone could understand your entire value proposition just by scrolling through your images.

If you can swing it, add a simple explainer video. Nothing fancy - just something that shows the product in action. This works incredibly well on both your website and Amazon.

The value of fresh content

And here's the thing that makes this investment even smarter: these aren't just photos for your website. You can repurpose this content for your email campaigns, your SMS marketing, your social media ads, your static advertising.

One photoshoot can feed your marketing machine for months.

I know it doesn't sound as exciting as launching a new ad campaign or testing a new audience. But I've seen brands increase their conversion rates significantly just by updating their visual content.

At the end of the day, people need to trust what they're buying, and trust starts with being able to clearly see and understand your product.

The simple stuff often makes the biggest difference. While everyone else is chasing the next marketing hack, maybe it's time to make sure the basics are actually working for you.

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Thank you for reading. It really does mean the world to me. I am here to help so just reply here and ask for anything you need.

Oh - we also have a podcast that expand on a lot of the topics I talk about here in on the newsletter.

Until then, keep creating!

Matthew Gattozzi

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