Do I need 360 photography for my products?

360 product photography

The Question

We get this question all the time: “Do I need 360 photography for my products?”

It’s often coming from a smaller or beginning product manufacturer, or a product designer who has not been out marketing their products on the internet. From time to time we also get this question from some of our more veteran product sales customers. Regardless of what they call it – and we’ve heard everything from “turntable or Lazy Susan” product photography, to rotating photo booth-style imagery, to 360 tabletop shooting – we are going to look at this question from the top to the bottom and see if we can help answer whether you need 360 spin photography or not.

The Overview

360 views are not for everyone, or even for every product, for that matter. Some products have enough depth that they need the customer to be able to view all sides of the product. Others are just a little flat, or one-sided, so the additional views do not increase sales, or reduce returns. But this is not the only time that hat we see this question come up.

Sometimes a customer has hundreds of products shot as 360s, but also decides that their other SKUs do not need this treatment. We usually do standard product photography of these products (still images, “hero” style product shots), but due to time or budget constraints, the customer decides that they do not need 360s of all of their product line. The next thing you know, a bit of time has passed and they find that it would have been better to have all of their products shot as 360s.

A case in point that just happened was with one of our great clients, Fill-Rite. When we started working with them, they felt that all of their lower SKUs that are only sold in specific stores did not need to be rotated. It only took about a year for them to have a complete change of heart. They started selling in a new retail location and that retailer was requesting 360 views of some of the limited SKUs. The cost involved in photographing these additional SKUs outweighed what the original cost would have been.

Another potential customer (via our online contact form) was interested in having their artwork prints shot as 360s. We tried to the best of our ability to showcase the product in the best light. But no matter what we did, the added dimensions did not showcase the product any better than simple, straightforward product photography.

The third case in point was a client that had a large chicken finger. We always come back to this example, because it’s probably the strangest example to date of a 360 product photo. To our surprise, the chicken finger came out great in 360. Did it sell more chicken fingers? Hard to say, but it did make a splash for his website and helped to generate more interest in his company. As a secondary, he had a great animation that he was able to use on Facebook and instagram.

The Considerations

  • Product Specifications
  • Usage – Product Listings
  • Product Life Cycle
  • Additional Marketing

• Product Specifications

What is the product – or better yet – what kind of shape is the product? The physical dimensions of the product are a great place to start for “Do I need 360 photography for my products?” In the beginning, we talk to a customer and have them describe their product. Usually the customer has one laying around the office. We found that for them to give us a description, they picked the product up and moved it around. Those types of products do great with 360 spin photography. Is there something important on the back? We can show it. On the other had, things likes tents and swing sets are also great examples of products that can use 360s, but you don’t usually think of them initially. But to get to the heart of it, the first questions we typically ask in response is: Is the product different from different angles? Does that information help your customer decide to buy?

• Usage

Usage is a good second consideration used to answer “Do I need 360 Photography for my products?” Do you sell the product on your own web storefront, or do you also sell on additional websites that “recommend” product 360s of your items?  This type of photography is now being suggested, or even sometimes required, for new product listing on sites such as Amazon, Napa, Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart. They are getting ready for all of their online products to be displayed in this manner.

• Product Life Cycle

We also need to look at how long the images will be in use. Understanding this helps them decide if it is worth the expense to have 360s shot of their products. Now keep in mind, 360s are not that much more in cost than traditional product photography. Most of the expense is in getting the product to the studio and setting up for the first shot. This is why PhotoSpherix offers a discount on pricing based on total SKU count. That being said, if you are only going to sell the product for a short season, or if the product will not return until next year, or if the product only lives on your site, 360s might not be the best answer for you.

• Additional Marketing

Ok, so we touched on this. Where else are you marketing this product? We hope that our clients are using social media, as well as their website and any additional outside retailers. If so, 360 views of products can be used in all of those places. It might not live as a user interact-able 360 view – it might live as a video or even as an animated gif in an email – but the original media is still in use. You should never be short on images of your products when you are marketing online.

The Conclusion

We are biased (you are reading this on our own website, after all!), but we happen to think that almost everything being sold online could benefit from 360 product photography in some way. We wouldn’t be doing what we do if we did not believe in our 360 product photography services. That being said, you must look at the return on investment of having your products shot in 360. As long as the increase in sales outweighs the cost of creation, Yes get 360s of your products. Start here.

The Plan

Now that you have a better idea about why you should have 360s of your products, here are some next steps:

  1. Take a look at some of our 360 product photography examples.
  2. See what the product 360 options are.
  3. Reach out to our photographers to get answers to your questions.
  4. Enjoy great 360 product photography.