If there is one thing that every business is striving for, it is more sales! If you are looking to drive more sales at your business, one strategy to consider is incorporating attractive imagery onto your website. The right imagery can help to boost your bottom line considerably. 

With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at how images help drive sales, as well as providing some tips and suggestions on choosing images for your website. 

How do images increase sales?

Images help to drive sales because they enable people to view your products in full. Photographs from different angles give people a real feel of what the product would be like. There is no denying that online shopping is thriving at the moment, and it has become increasingly popular as a result of the lockdown measures. 

However, one distinct advantage that in-person shopping has is that you can view the product – you can touch it, see it, and feel it. The same cannot be said for online shopping. Nevertheless, beautiful and high-quality imagery helps to bridge this gap. People cannot only view the product up-close, but they can see it in action as well, which is an advantage you don’t typically get with in-store shopping. 

Therefore, carefully chosen images can give online businesses a clear advantage when it comes to driving sales. But what happens if your business is service based? How do you find imagery that gets across the services you provide?

A photo-sharing solution is a good choice. Fresh photographs are available all of the time via the likes of photo-sharing solution, so you can ensure that your website is filled with interesting, exciting, and original photographs. Most people tend to resort to stock photo sites, but these are too widely used, and you will often find that the photo you download is featured on thousands of other sites, which is not going to do anything in terms of making your business stand out from the crowd.

Connecting your customers

The right imagery helps to create a connection between the consumer and the brand. By showing imagery of the service a business provides in different circumstances, people can help to see the real-life benefit of using the service and this can compel them to buy. Images are critical in purchasing decisions. 

Would you buy a product if you did not know what it looked like? It is unlikely! And this is the same with service-based businesses. Prospective clients need to understand the services and how they could benefit from them. This is what good imagery provides.

You must choose photographs with care to experience these benefits

There are clearly many benefits that are associated with using photographs to boost sales. However, to experience these benefits, you must choose images carefully. You need to ensure that the images you select connect and resonate with your customers. They must relate to your brand, and the products and services that you provide. 

You need to put yourself in your target consumer base’s shoes. You need to understand what appeals to them and what would entice them to purchase a product. After all, irrelevant and unappealing images can be just as bad as not having any photographs at all, if not worse.

By now you should have an insight into great imagery and how it can drive sales. As you can see, images play a critical role when it comes to driving your bottom line and increasing the number of sales that you make. However, if you are to experience these benefits, it is imperative that you select photographs with care. Simply incorporating images for the sake of it will not have the desired effect. 

What Is Customer Self Service?

Customer self service is growing to be the preferred method for most companies. That is because it’s faster for the customers to find solutions on their own. The alternative is long queues and making calls. Incorporating self-service in your organization is fairly easy; you can start with your website and grow from there. Have a page dedicated to that on your website where customers can sign in and find solutions. All the interactions, online or any other way have to be valuable and put customers first. This article will help you understand what is customer self service and its purpose.

Self-service refers to when customers can complete a task and find solutions without assistance from the support team. The service gives access to all the tools the customers need and resources to resolve issues. Most customers prefer the self-service because it’s easy than waiting for days for an email reply. Poor customer services undermine the business in all levels. Using this kind of service helps in minimizing such problems. Nowadays the self-service is not only left to the gas stations and grocery stores, most companies are picking up on the trend.

Purpose of Customer Self Service

Reducing Costs

Companies use self-services on customers for very many reasons and reduced costs is one of them. Every organization has its bottom line, something they are all working towards. And for service providers customer satisfaction is very important. If they can achieve almost hundred per cent customer satisfaction and save a significant amount of cash, most of them will grab the opportunity. If the customers are empowered to find solutions on their own, labour costs will be cut dramatically. The companies can reduce the number of agents handling emails chats and calls from customers.

Efficiency

Almost all consumers have the need for speed. They want their problems to be solved and questions to be answered quickly. Most highlights on customer experience come from how fast the response time was. One more purpose of self-service is operational efficiency. The service helps streamline and speed up operations. You have to ensure you are displaying easy-to-use tools when you are offering customer self-services. The portals also provide detailed answers as knowledgeable staff would have on a phone call. Self-service is equally efficient if not more because they use step-by-step guides, screenshots or videos to convey messages.

Consistency

Self-service ensures that all the answers and solutions given to customers are consistent. It doesn’t matter which channel they use to find help, it will all be the same. The consistency will also help you ensure all the answers provided are compliant with regulations. That is especially crucial for companies in healthcare, insurance and finance. It is also consistent because you can create portals on the website and use social media platforms as well. The constant interactions strengthen relationships with customers and help you build a loyal clientele. It also attracts new buyers and help the business be more knowledgeable about common issues.

Customer Retention

When customers are satisfied they will stick around for much longer. You need to be available however and whenever customers need it. It boosts their satisfaction and make them loyal to your products and services. It’s not easy to make the whole staff prioritise customer satisfaction, but the self-service portals are designed for that. It not only helps with customer retention but also help you sell more. Once your pages or website for self-services are functional, you will notice a difference in sales. In the process you will learn about your customers, their interests and more pressing issues and work on solutions. The data you acquire can be used to make more targeted advertising and marketing messages. Companies use self-service to improve customer lifetime value.

Conclusion

There are very many reasons to use self-service and are all aimed at growing the business while keeping customers happy. Right now it is also a way to stay relevant in the industry and be more competitive. It is a win-win and a useful invention for both customers and businesses. Agents do not need to lose their jobs because of it; they can be used to focus on other valuable tasks at the company.

If you are wondering what type of degree you want to graduate college with, a business degree is certainly worth considering. While many people leaving high school and entering a university setting for the first time may have misconceptions of business students being stuffy and stiff, these days nothing could be further from the truth. With the explosion of entrepreneurial endeavors and creative startups, a business degree is viewed nowadays as a “cool” degree to obtain. Here are some of the reasons why getting one may be your way to go.

Return on Investment

While nothing in life is guaranteed, it is safe to say that business degrees have the potential to earn a higher income than other degrees. That being said, you still need to do your part and research what careers, locations, and other choices you can make to maximize your income.

Paying for It

Paying for a business degree is as simple as paying for any other degree. However, it may be easier to get a student loan from a private lender due to the nature of the degree. Since traditional banking degrees hold high regard for business degrees, you may be able to negotiate interest rates and repayment terms. Best of all, by applying for one, your credit score won’t be impacted by getting started. In fact, a private student loan is a great way to increase your credit score during the repayment process. A positive relationship with a financial institution is definitely something you will want in the future when it comes time to request funding for your business endeavors.

Future Proof

Business degrees have a reputation for being virtually future-proof and for good reason. Let’s face it, business isn’t going anywhere. In fact, there are some concentrations that are experiencing explosive growth. Industry sectors such as healthcare, information technology, e-commerce, and the financial markets are all growing bigger seemingly on a daily basis. By getting a business degree you can take full advantage of these great career opportunities.

Transferability

The skills that you learn when taking business courses are highly transferable. This means that if you enter into a specific industry that you end up not particularly liking, you can always transfer your skills to any number of other industries. There is not an industry sector that exists where a business degree would not be applicable. Versatility is a huge benefit of getting this type of degree.

Not as Stuffy as You Think

Unfortunately, many people think of traditional office settings when they think of business degrees and they get turned off by the idea of pursuing one. However, if you have a great idea that you want to market and benefit from, you will need more than just that great idea to help make it come to fruition. You need the skills that only a business degree can help you cultivate. From marketing to approaching business partners to getting funding, you will learn all of these and more when you get a university business degree.