Lame product pictures

I probably have more pet peeves than it is healthy to have, but one in particular is the generic ¾ product photo.

It seems like so many manufacturers, and by turn retailers, rely on that one photo and almost seem to be telling their potential customers “Too bad.”

While it might give me an idea, it never gives me the whole picture.

I’ll give you a case in point. Bergans. Norwegian company, I’ve always read good things about them, but they seem to have only a Scandinavian/northern European market presence. (Scandinavian outdoor gear makers with great reputations and their stuff nowhere to be found here in Canada is another annoyance, but let’s stick to one thing at a time.) While looking around on Bergans’ site, I came across their Langevann Hip Pack. Looks interesting, and I’m trying to figure out some kind of hip pack that suits my needs. (Although, I suspect that making it myself is what I will end up having to do.)

So, there is a picture and a bit of a written description. 

Another similar, but made in a different material model as well.

I can tell something about it, but certainly not everything. What is that belt like, what can I attach to it, what are the pouches on that belt like, what does the inside of that bag look like, etc., etc., etc. So I run a search, hoping that maybe some retailer has gone to the trouble to take some photos. And no. All the companies, all of them in Europe of course, all use the same manufacturer provided photo. Really, not a single one of you can go to the trouble to take a half dozen extra shots, from all angles, insides, on a person to gauge size, etc.? It’s not like it’s a printed catalogue where more photos add up to more pages which adds up to more paper which adds up to more printing. It’s the interweb, where those concerns are largely moot.

Maybe a kind blogger has gone to the trouble to take photos and write a review. But, no. I know from my own stats that lots of people looking for info on products have come here because I did a little writeup on them. And I sincerely hope that I gave them some good information that allowed them to make a more informed choice. Everything I’ve discussed here has been purchased with my own money, and my reviews were entirely voluntary, and I received no compensation for them. If a manufacturer wanted to send me stuff or pay me for what I did, I wouldn’t say no. And maybe that’s what manufacturers should do. If they aren’t willing or able to give their potential customers more than the generic ¾ product photo, and a bland writeup, and no one has yet written up a review with some photos to accompany it, maybe they should approach a blogger to do just that. I know speaking for myself, an objective 3rd party review, or two, or three, is more likely to sway my opinion than an ad in a magazine. I just find it frankly weird that a lot of manufacturers still seem to think that old fashioned, non-interactive ads in magazines are the way to go. Or that a good reputation alone will sell their products. That picture on Bergans’ website alone isn’t enough to make me want to have it shipped from Europe to me, only to find out that it doesn’t suit my needs. And it also seems that a company that could potentially do very well in a market like North America, when they are an entity known only in certain geographic locales, like Scandinavia or Australia, could benefit from some non-professional, non-commercial endorsement.

So Bergans, or any other manufacturer or retailer reading this – and I may have singled them out, but there are many, many, many manufacturers like them – give your potential customers more info than the scant drips and drabs you give them now – especially more detailed photos. And if no bloggers are writing about your products, and filling in the scant photographic evidence, approach some that appear to be sympatico and offer to send them some products to review. Either as a give-away or a loaner. Or slip them a $100 bucks for their trouble. It is bound to be cheaper than ads in magazines. And if the traffic that comes to my site is any indication, people are hungry for a lot more info than you are providing them. The old ways of doing things are obsolete. A blogger may not take the greatest photos and may not always praise a product effusively if they find flaws with it, but I think the legions of people reading what they have to say appreciate a sincere and honest look at a product, and also appreciate not having smoke blown up their ass. The ability for a real world user to see what a real world user has to say about it, to see photos of the product from all angles, inside and out, filled with the things that would go into it, etc., etc. is the way that things are going. Giving a potential customer a way to ask questions about the product, either through a website, discussion forum or even of a blogger (like me - I’ll happily help a fellow enthusiast) is to my mind really important and very worth it. And pretty cheap in the long run.

Manufacturers and retailers need to adapt to that new paradigm of marketing or see their market share dry up.