When choosing wines in a store the consumer will cast their eye over a myriad of labels, pausing at the one that speaks to them. When moved to select a wine the connection deepens as the consumer holds the bottle, feels the weight, sees the reflection in the smooth glass and imagines pouring for friends or family. The objective for your website is to recreate this emotional connection online.
Wines cannot be sampled online so the consumer is moved to purchase based on their experience through your website content. Sometimes the first introduction a consumer has with your brand is through your winery website. Because we process images much faster than we process text the imagery you use to convey your brand is crucial. It is the difference between a consumer wanting to try your wines and not!
The impact that carefully crafted, quality images have on your winery website is often underestimated. Using high quality imagery builds confidence in your consumers. They trust that the quality of the imagery reflects the quality of your product. The reverse is also true. Poor quality imagery, particular product photography, implies that the product is also of poor quality.
Using bad bottle shots gives the buyer pause, weakening their confidence and jeopardizing a sale that should be just a few clicks away. Outshinery does a great job of highlighting the difference between high quality and standard bottle shots on their website. See the “Let your bottles shine” section here https://www.outshinery.com/wine .
The goal of winery ecommerce is to connect with the consumer and move them to purchase. Your brand speaks to your target audience and creates a relationship with them, the imagery you use plays an important role in this dialogue and sets the tone for the relationship. An example of a website using imagery well to set the tone for its brand is HANNA Winery ( https://www.hannawinery.com/ ). The imagery has a casual and relaxed feel and gives a great sense of how to experience these wines.
A different feel all together is found on Opus One ( https://en.opusonewinery.com/ ) here the photography exudes prestigious, luxury and a very formal experience. In both examples the photography does a great job in representing the brand. The photography in both examples is high quality, well considered and professional.
Take a moment to review your winery website, are your images working to represent your brand accurately? Consider how the answer to this question is impacting your online sales.
