eCommerce photos: the key to maintaining brand consistency across channels

Consumers engage with a brand across various touchpoints, from websites to social media platforms and online marketplaces. This underscores the critical importance of maintaining consistent branding across diverse platforms.

Brand consistency is influenced by various factors including:

• Color schemes
• Font and text styles
• Product photos- their background, lighting, and composition
• Brand messaging
• Uniformity across product lines, and more

However, it’s the product photos that often take center stage because images significantly influence how a brand is perceived. In this regard, high-quality eCommerce product photo editing plays a pivotal role in making sure that the product images are consistent across channels.

Inconsistency in brand presentation on different channels can result in the loss of interest among customers. You cannot afford to lose a potential customer simply because your branding wasn’t consistent across different sales channels. In this blog, we will delve into the strategies and techniques essential for maintaining brand consistency through eCommerce image editing. 

Maintain brand consistency through eCommerce photo editing: Tried and tested tips

1. Use a color palette

Strategic use of colors can significantly boost brand recognition. By consistently incorporating your brand’s distinct colors in product photos across all eCommerce channels, you can create a visual signature for your brand. This enhances recall among customers, making it easier for them to identify and associate your products with your brand. Here’s how you can do this.

Source: Crate & Barrel

• Begin by referring to your brand’s official color palette or style guide. 
• Apply the standardized color palette onto the product photos consistently across all eCommerce channels, including your website, social media, and any other platforms where your products are featured. This ensures a cohesive and recognizable look for your brand.
• Utilize color correction tools in photo editing software to ensure that product images accurately represent the true colors of the products. Adjust the color balance, saturation, and vibrancy to align with your brand identity.

2. Replace/remove/alter the background for a professional eCommerce look

This may involve using neutral backgrounds, specific textures, or even brand colors as background elements. A transparent background helps in placing singular emphasis on the product itself, eliminating distractions and enhancing the overall visual impact. This strategy not only contributes to a clear and uncluttered appearance but also allows the product to take center stage, capturing the attention of potential customers.

Beyond the visual benefits, background elimination serves a practical purpose by minimizing small imperfections like the presence of stray hair or threads. Once the background is removed, these minor flaws become negligible, resulting in a polished and flawless presentation.

Background elimination provides a flexible way to integrate product images into the overall visual identity of an eCommerce platform. You can choose to make the background transparent or replace it with a solid color that matches the store’s design. This creates a pleasing and unified display of products, making the online shopping experience look professional and consistent across different platforms.

3. Crop and resize images to have a consistent dimension across channels

Product image cropping and resizing are crucial for creating a cohesive visual identity and maintaining dimension-related requirements. Here’s a step-by-step guide to achieve this.

Establish guidelines: Consider the layout and design specifications of your website, social media platforms, and any other channels where you showcase your products. Define a set of guidelines for image dimensions, aspect ratios, and resolutions that are suitable for each channel.

Use consistent cropping: Set a standard cropping ratio for all product images. This ensures that the size and shape of your products remain consistent across different platforms. Consistent cropping helps in creating a uniform and organized look, especially when displaying multiple products side by side.

Focus on the product: Crop images to emphasize the product and ensure it takes up the majority of the frame. This is essential for providing customers with a clear view of the product details and features. Avoid excessive background space, as it can make the product appear smaller and may distract customers.

4. Consistent lighting adjustments

• Adjust brightness, contrast, and shadows to create a balanced and visually appealing look.
• Pay attention to the product’s highlights and shadows to ensure a uniform appearance.
• Ensure that products shot in different environments or under different lighting conditions maintain a consistent look.
• Adjust exposure levels and color temperature.

5. Uniformity in image style

Develop a clear understanding of your brand’s preferred style, whether it’s a natural, high-contrast, vintage, or modern look. The goal is for customers to easily recognize the brand through the visual style of the images. Consistency in style contributes to a strong and memorable brand image.

6. Logo placement and watermarking

• Determine a standard location for placing the brand logo on product images.
• This could be in a corner, centered, or at a specific position that aligns with the overall composition.
• If using watermarks, apply them consistently and discreetly to protect intellectual property.
• Ensure that watermarks do not cause distraction from the product but serve their purpose in preventing unauthorized use.

Strategies for effective eCommerce image editing

Create style guides for image editing

Develop comprehensive style guides that outline the visual elements crucial to your brand identity. Include guidelines for color schemes, image composition, and other editing parameters. This serves as a reference for anyone involved in creating or editing images for your brand, ensuring a unified approach.

Implement batch editing for efficiency

When dealing with a large volume of images, batch editing becomes a time-saving necessity. Image editing software often includes batch processing features, allowing you to apply consistent edits to multiple images simultaneously.

Utilize AI-powered image editing tools

The integration of artificial intelligence in image editing has revolutionized the process. AI tools can automate certain aspects of editing, ensuring a consistent look across all images. Tools like Canva, Pixlr, and Remove.bg leverage AI to streamline the editing process.

Invest in professional eCommerce photo editing services

Collaborating with professional eCommerce photo editing services can be a game-changer. These services employ skilled professionals who specialize in maintaining brand consistency. Outsourcing to experts ensures a high level of precision and adherence to brand guidelines.

Brands nailing consistency through eCommerce image editing

Apple: Setting the standard for visual consistency

Apple’s commitment to a minimalist and sleek aesthetic is evident in its product imagery across all channels. From the website to social media and advertising, Apple maintains a consistent visual identity. The use of high-quality images, consistent lighting, and a focus on the product itself exemplifies the power of meticulous image editing in maintaining the brand’s visual coherence.

Nike: Dynamic consistency across platforms
Nike successfully presents its visual elements to cater to diverse audiences across various platforms. The brand seamlessly transitions from high-energy, action-packed visuals on Instagram to more product-centric and detail-oriented images on its eCommerce platform. The consistent use of the iconic swoosh logo, standardized color schemes, and dynamic image editing contribute to a cohesive brand experience.

Bottom line

Maintaining a consistent brand image, messaging, and design elements across all online touchpoints is essential for eCommerce businesses. This uniformity instills trust, reliability, and professionalism, ultimately contributing to long-term success. 

As an eCommerce business, you can incorporate the tips discussed in this blog in your eCommerce image editing process. But keep in mind that it can be laborious and can divert your focus from more important activities. Given the time-consuming nature of these tasks, outsourcing product photo editing services can be a practical and efficient option for businesses looking to enhance their brand presence.