Images are arguably the MOST important aspect of a shopper’s journey on Etsy. When Etsy product images match and exceed customer expectations, you make your product irresistible. And making your product irresistible will ultimately, make you more money on Etsy. Cha-ching!
This article includes Etsy product photo tips that I’ve learned over the years of building two successful Etsy shops. Although this article is written for artists who sell prints on Etsy, these tips are also useful for anyone selling physical products on Etsy. Follow these tips to increase your conversion rate and increase views to your Etsy shop. I’m going to go over the images that you need have in this section of your Etsy photos section.
I will go over the ways that I sell this risograph print on my Etsy shop.
I have been selling prints on Etsy since 2014 and have since built out two successful Etsy Shops. Check out my two shops to see how I use images to sell my handmade products. First, I have InnerStellarArt where I sell neuroscience art. Second, I have TinyPinkShoe, where I sell celebrity pinback buttons and my risograph prints.
First, I’m going to go over some very basic Etsy product photography tips. Then, I will take you on a deep dive on the five ways that I’ve learned how to make more money on Etsy.
Etsy Product Listing Size 2022
Let’s go over the basics of your Etsy product images. There are some specifications that you should keep in mind when designing your product images.
Etsy recommends that your product images should be at a ratio of 4:3, however they may be changing this to a ratio of 5:4 in the future. Etsy is not always transparent about these changes so make sure to designed your product images so that your products appear fully in a 4:3 and 5:4 ratio. This will ensure that your image appears in both formats.
Ideally, your product images will adhere to these specs to give the viewer the highest quality user experience:
- Size (in pixels): 2700px wide by 2025px tall
- Ratio: 4:3
- Color Mode: RGB
- DPI: at least 72 DPI, but we recommend 144 DPI
- Image Format: PNG, JPG, or GIF (note that animated GIFs are not supported)
How to Make Etsy Product Listing Photos
There are many ways to make Etsy product listing photos. But, I am going to teach you my method for the most efficient and effective way to take photos.
First you need to make sure that you have good lighting and a clean background. Here’s how I do this:
- Use a non-reflective white cloth or white table top and place it near a light source. I usually push my white dining table up against a wall with a window
- Make sure your space is clean. Nothing is will make your potential customers click off your listing faster than a ketchup stain or smudge on your surface. In other words, clean backgrounds allow you product to take the center stage as it should.
- Add a second light source. This step is often ignored, but it is very important to achieving even lighting. A lamp would work, but I prefer to use my handy Diva light
- Assemble any props you will need. Props are a great way to make your products season friendly. For example, if you are selling winter inspired artwork, it might be nice to throw in a mitten or Santa hat if you’re trying to reach the holiday shoppers. During the spring time, I like to use fake daffodils and butterflies
Okay, now that we have our area set up, let’s figure out how to best use our iPhone to take great pictures.
How to take good photos for Etsy With iPhone
When it comes to taking great photos, iPhone is the ultimate. You can get away with taking good photos on other phones as well, but I’ve been using my iPhone SE for 5 years and I have not complaints. Photography tips;
- it’s better to have an underexposed photo than an overexposed one. This is because it is easier to adjust the lighting in a photo editing software, like Photoshop on an underexposed photo
- Stay away from the square crop photos and take horizontal photos. Remember how Etsy likes 4:3 ratios on product photos?
- Turn on the grid setting in your camera so that you can get perfect proportions
- Stay away from obvious filters because this will confuse your customers.
- Take multiple photos from many angles
After you have taken photos that you are happy with, you can easily plug these photos into an app like Canva to format, add text or use Photoshop.
Make More Money on Etsy – 5 Etsy Product Hacks
Now that we have gone over the basics of how to to create a product image on Etsy, let’s get into the 5 Etsy product photography hacks. Follow these tips to see how I make more money on Etsy by selling this one risograph print.
Make More Money on Etsy Tip #1 – Include a ‘Bundled’ Image
This is the easiest way you can increase your average sales order. To elaborate, a bundled image means an image of a relevant bundled product , I mean that you should include an image that has a photo of your bundled product. For example for this one print, I also include this image of a bundled product.
When you think about your products in a serialized way like this each product can exist on its own, but also exist within a family of products, you can increase your average sale orders.
Let’s say that a potential customer is looking to decorate their walls with unique artwork and they find the ‘Blue Smile’ art. When they are clicking through the images of ‘Blue Smile’ they see that this one print is actually part of a set. And seeing the set, they realize that they like all the prints together. So instead of buying a single print, they purchase a whole set. (And they save money at the same time!) Bundling products in this way is great for you and the customer.
When creating a bundled image like this, make sure that you do these two things:
- Tell the viewer that by getting the bundle they will save money. And make sure that this is reflected in the actual price of the bundled item. Typically, I will offer customer discounts of 10% – 30% depending on how big the bundle is.
- Make sure that the viewer knows to check the link in the description because Etsy product images do not link to other products
I love using Canva to make simple text additions and you can sign up for a free Canva trial to get started
By including this image, you:
- Create visibility for multiple products in a single listing
- Fill up the 10 images in your products image section
- Tell customers that you are creating products to works with their needs and desires
Make More Money on Etsy Tip #2 – Correctly label Your Images
This tip has to do more with organization and Etsy SEO more than the actual image themselves. In other words, you will want to label your images in a way that is descriptive and SEO friendly.
For example, I could name the above image file like this:
Image1.jpg
Not very descriptive, right? Etsy’s algorithm doesn’t have much to work with with a default image name like this.
However, if I take the time to label my image like this:
Risograph-print-blue-smile-peach-tone-signature-close-up.jpg
Etsy’s algorithm has a lot more descriptive words to filter this product to a person who is searching ‘peach tone risograph print’ or just ‘risograph print.’
This step of correctly labeling your images will help your images speak the language of Etsy’s search algorithm and give you an edge over other sellers who do not take this step.
Make More Money on Etsy Tip #3 – Positive Reviews
Yes, your customer can scroll down to the review section of your Etsy shop to see reviews, but often they don’t. If you’ve done a good job of keeping customers happy with great products, fast shipping, and easy communication, you should already have a bunch of 5 star reviews that your customers can scroll through when deciding on purchasing your product.
I find that including a positive review image like this adds a level of professionalism and value to not only your product, but to your shop. By include these images of positive reviews, you signal to the customer that not only will they love your product, they will have a great experience as well.
Including a curated review also allows you to focus on an aspect of your product or shop that differentiates you from other shops whether it be:
- fast shipping
- bright colors
- bonus goodies
- handwritten thank you card
- quality
Again, Canva is the best tool out there to quickly add text to your product images.
Make More Money on Etsy Tip #4 – Your Unique Process
I notice that many Etsy sellers who make really unique handmade products do not include any photos of their work process or an explanation of how they do what they do. This is a lost opportunity to sell your customer on your product and what makes your product unique.
There are many ways to communicate your USP (unique selling point) through your product images. I am going to show you how I do it on my two different shops.
Etsy product image of workspace
This is an image that I include for most of my neuroscience art prints on my InnerStellarArt Etsy shop.
Abstract watercolor paintings, paint brushes, sketchbooks, and tubes of ink tell the viewer about my process. This image communicates the handmade nature of my watercolor brain art print. In this way, it adds value to my prints because they see the actual work that goes into their brain art.
Etsy product image with text description
For my risograph prints, I often get questions about what risograph printing is and what the process is like. I love risograph printing because of the ways that it combines traditional screen printing with a more mechanized process. However, it’s not always easy to communicate how the process works. That’s why I always include this image with my risograph prints on Etsy:
This image is a great way to explain concisely about your unique process, whatever it is, to customers. What makes Etsy shoppers different from Amazon shoppers is that Etsy shoppers tend to care more about the seller and their process in addition to the actual product. They want to know the story behind your work. So tell them!
Here’s quick video I made about the risograph printing process:
Make More Money on Etsy Tip #5 – In the Wild
This is another product photo that I see a lot of sellers missing out on. Yes, it does take more work to frame your print and take a nice photo, but it is worth it. Here are two photos of my risoprint unframed and framed.
These two product image serve two important functions. First, the unframed photo shows the customer what they will receive in the mail. This photo and other product photos show details of the print, sizing, etch. However, it is the second framed print which shows the customer how your print could look in their home, office, etc. This framed print is far more aspirational and allows the customer to image this print in their place of choice.
A word of caution, if you include images of framed prints, you need to make VERY CLEAR in the description that prints do not arrive with framing. Although this might be obvious to you, it may not be for the customer.
Also by including a framed image, you might find that people are asking if you can include framing with your prints. This may be a huge money maker for you or a big time sink. I’ve discovered that I don’t want to have to worry about damaged frames and broken glass and would rather focus on my art.
Here’s another product photo of my stickers in the wild.
The image on the left shows the stickers as the customer will receive them in the mail. Alternatively, the right image shows how the customer can use the stickers. In doing my research on sticker application, I found that people used stickers to decorate these items:
- Water bottles
- Laptops
- Notebooks
Therefore, it was important to my business to show these stickers in the most used of these applications.
Always think about your customer. What do they want? How could they use what you have? If you’re ever in doubt about what customers use your products for, just ask them!
Every few months, I reach out to previous customers with a quick Etsy message to ask simple questions like:
- What did you use X,Y,Z for? A gift? Home decor? Etc
- How could I have improved X, Y, Z?
- Would you recommend X, Y, Z to a friend?
Questions like these help you better serve you customers and keep you and your shop at top of mind.
Now Go and Make More Money on Etsy!
I hope these tips and tricks have helped you when creating product images on Etsy. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them down below.
Also, check out my neuroscience art shop and my risograph and pinback button shop on Etsy!