Have you ever put together all your photos on your Etsy listing… you do one last scroll though the photos before you hit publish and think…ah this seems kind of bland, it’s not really showing how truly wonderful it feels to have this item. I have done this so many times and I try to put my finger on what’s missing. 9 times out of 10 I havn’t shown my product in a way that creates an emotional response. We are going to walk through what kind of emotional response you want your customers to feel when they have your product in their hands and get to use it! I will guide you through different ways to show that emotional response in your photos before your customer even hits purchase. This emotional response is icing on the cake and what truly will convert browsers into buyers.

Target Market

Let’s think about what you are selling and who you are selling to, this will help define the emotional response you want to convey. Fill in the blank in this sentence… I make X for X. For example let’s take the shop Frostbeard Studios they make soy candles by hand for book lovers. Frostbeard wants you to lose yourself on a lazy afternoon, cup of coffee in hand, while wandering endless aisles of bookshelves. They describe one of their scented candles as a “sweet, cozy blend of earthy fragrances that will have you feeling like home is where the bookstore is.” This description creates an emotional response, you can imagine yourself experiencing the scene they described. Now before you even get to that item description you see the images. Now let’s think of your shop, who is your target market? What are you making and who are you making it for ? How can you create your own scene and feeling for that target customer? 

Discovering your perfect emotional response.

It’s very likely when you did this exercise with your own shop you created a scene that involved a person. For example do you create earrings? Did you imagine someone glowing with confidence in a new pair of beautiful earrings? Do you sell home decor and imagined a home owner perfectly placing your item on their kitchen shelf? Do you sell mugs and imagined a mom sitting down to quietly enjoy a nice cup of tea on their comfy sofa? All of these scenes involve your target customer and invoke an emotion that they will experience once they’ve purchased your item. The more likely they are to see themselves in that scene the more likely they are to purchase and look forward to the experience in real life. 

Photographing Your Styled Scene

Now sometimes taking these styled scene pictures can seem more overwhelming compared to a still life shot of your product. Think about the end result, a higher conversion of browsers to paying customers. When you think about the end results stepping out of your comfort zone is worth it! Remember these photography tips when taking your images. Natural defused light is always best. If you can position your camera to be by a window and let the natural light hit you as the model or anyone else willing to be in your styled photo the better the image will be. If you see too many shadows on your subject try a sheer curtain or sheet over your big window of natural light, this will defuse the light. Remember light and bright images are really great for Etsy listings! There are great photo editing tools like Photoshop, Snapseed or Colorstory, you can edit your images to get the look you want! 

Now that we’ve walked through what emotions your listing photos should evoke you are ready to take action and begin photographing. When you add these photos to your Etsy Listings you will convert more browsers in to buyers. Don’t feel like you have to make every image be one that evokes the level of emotion we spoke about, just make sure you have at least one! Dig in deeper to get your listings to be optimal… you will up you conversation rate of sales! I put together a guide, click here to download it! You will be guided through the different components of your listings that will get you found in Etsy search and how to use all 10 photos to ensure your target customer finds your listing within search, clicks through, and purchases. The emotion driven listing photo is icing on the cake to your listing! Let’s grow our sales together!