Regardless of your industry, product visuals play an essential role in marketing your products. To seduce consumers and contribute to their purchase decision, they must be an integral part of the experience delivered on all your digital channels. It is therefore essential to take care of the quality of your visuals. When it comes to creating product visuals, several possibilities are available to you, as there are several types of visuals with distinct advantages. You hesitate between photo studio and 3D modeling? We tell you everything!

Product visual : what is it ?

The classic photo studio visual, also known as a product packshot, is one of the most common visual formats. It is a photo taken in a studio by professionals that presents a close-up of your product captured alone. For this it is necessary to send the specialized studio a sample of the product for which you want to have a visual. Once received, your product is taken in picture by a photographer. It is then lightly retouched (colorimetry, material corrections, removal of the DLC...). Then it is ready to be used on your e-commerce site and to be integrated into your PIM solution to enrich your product sheets.

The objective of the photo studio visual is to allow consumers to perceive the aspect of your product as it is sold in store. In fact, it is important to offer them a visual of each side of your product.

This type of format is also recommended to have a base of quality visuals, clean and compliant with the standards and expectations of GS1.

Why choose the professional visual?

Guarantee your brand image

Opting for the quality of a studio visual  guarantee a good image for your brand. On the majority of e-commerce or drive sites, it is possible to perceive a difference between the visuals realized by a professional photo studio and those realized in a more autonomous way by your care. Indeed, the latter generally have a duller appearance and can be of lower quality, thus giving a more neglected image of your product. In this sense, your professional quality photo packshot offers you the possibility to stand out while respecting the standards. The right light, a transparent or white background, a flash from all angles, quality retouching and a unique look are all elements that will allow you to optimize the impact of your products and thus your commercial performance.

Highlight your products with high definition visuals

The quality and definition of your product photos allow you to reassure the consumer while offering him the possibility to better understand your product and remove all possible doubts to trigger the act of purchase. On a website, Internet users often consult product photos and zoom in on the different product images. When they are in low definition, the photos considerably reduce the conversion rate, which makes you lose a large number of potential customers. 

Visuals of each side of your products

Having a visual of each side of your products gives consumers the opportunity to get a detailed and complete view of your product before making a purchase. With multiple visuals, you will be able to persuade the most eye-catching customers who, more often than not, need to observe the different products from all angles before making a purchase.

What is 3D Modeling?

3D visuals, also known as 3D modeling or three-dimensional representation, are a type of visual that is increasingly used to complement the packshot visual on a white background. As technology has advanced, product presentations have evolved in both form and content: more precision, new devices, better image quality and new web features have been added to old marketing techniques.

Beyond 2D visuals, still images, packshot or not, to allow the consumer to project himself in his purchasing act, the user experience has been completed by 3D. This last one allows to give an impression of touching and especially to see all the details of the object. If they can't hold it in their hands, consumers can imagine it and make it their own virtually.

Why choose 3D modeling?

Prepare your marketing campaigns

The creation of 3D visuals is done with the help of artworks. This has the great advantage of allowing you to anticipate the marketing of a product and to prepare the marketing campaign well before it is manufactured. Indeed, illustrations and artworks are available on average 8 to 12 weeks before the first physical product sample is available. With 3D, you will stand out from your competitors by presenting your innovations in a faster way, both internally and externally.

Optimize your time-to-market

Thanks to 3D, save time and improve your time to market while preparing the marketing phase of your products by putting all your chances on your side. It is also possible to consider the creation of 3D visuals for your products already on the market. This offers great flexibility to adapt or update your product lines quickly.

Benefit from realistic visuals

The visuals resulting from the modeling must of course be realistic. Indeed, it is important for your brand's image to offer consumers visuals that do not clash with reality. If the realization of 3D visuals can be complex, and even more so in the case of certain types of products, the expertise and support of a team of experts will allow you to obtain very realistic quality visuals, as close as possible to reality.

Photo visual or 3D modeling: what is the difference?

Realized by a professional photographer, the classic photo studio visual requires the sending of a sample of the product to be shot. This necessarily implies a particular organization as well as certain logistic constraints which are not negligible, in particular when the products you wish to shoot are fresh products. Moreover, the evolutions of your packaging as well as the major changes in your products require the creation of new visuals in order to be able to update and maintain your product sheets and thus your product catalogs and to answer the demand of the consumers for a reliable and up-to-date content.

As we have seen, the visuals created in 3D are modeled from the product graphics, generally in PDF format. In this, 3D allows, unlike the classic photo studio visual, to get rid of many logistical constraints and in particular to be able to process all types of products whether they are food products or not.

It should be noted, however, that the use of 3D does not exempt you from respecting GS1 standards in terms of visuals (views, angles, resolution, size, etc.), in order to allow their exchange throughout the GDSN network.

You will have understood, to take care of the quality of your visuals, opt for professional quality visuals or 3D modeling! Although different, these two types of visuals will offer you complementary advantages! So, what are you waiting for to call upon the services of our teams of experts?