Is it worth using box shots for online product sales?


10

I am selling professional software B2B online to engineers. Price tag around $1k.

Many online software vendors include an image of their product's packaging, a so-called "box shot". Of course, software delivered over the internet is never physically packaged so often a 3D rendering of a non-existent box is shown. There are free, online services that will render a box shot based on product graphics.

My first reaction is that it's crazy depicting a product manifestation that does not exist. But I can see that it may help to persuade customers that they are buying something real.

What are the pros and cons of making and using box shots for online product sales? Is it worth doing? Are there alternate approaches?

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asked Nov 6 '12 at 23:59
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Paperjam
394 points
Top digital marketing agency for SEO, content marketing, and PR: Demand Roll

4 Answers


9

Sometimes the best answer is experimentation (A/B tests for instance):
You could create a page with a package and measure the conversion rate on that page.

Some other sites, e.g. Autodesk 360, may use images that are not boxes but bear resemblance to boxes.

answered Nov 7 '12 at 01:42
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Pdjota
532 points
  • Good idea but I don't expect to have enough sales volume for A/B test results to be statistically significant over any reasonably short period of time. – Paperjam 11 years ago
  • Making more money relative to the time/cost of creating your test should be all the statistical significance you need. No reason to limit this to a short period of time. – Jeff O 11 years ago
  • I could also lose money (and time) through running the test itself since either the A or the B will have suboptimal sales. If I can find out beforehand whether A or B will be best... that's the best way. Hence this question and other research. – Paperjam 11 years ago

3

Software that is only downloaded is an intangible item. Numrous studies have shown that you can increase sales of intangible items by making them tangible- for example adding a picture of a product package increases the sales of software, even though you only deliver it via download.

You can also make your software tangible by displaying screen shots of the software, and/or allowing a trial of the software.

Finally, who ever said that the product package has to be imaginary? The very act of creating a product box shot gives you enough artwork to produce a full color insert for a DVD case. Any color inkjet or color laser printer can print that insert. That insert, plus a $.30 DVD case and a CD or DVD is your boxed product.

answered Nov 7 '12 at 07:11
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Gary E
12,510 points

2

We use boxed images of our Virtual TimeClock software on our web site even though 99% of our time and attendance software is sold digitally. I don't have empirical data to demonstrate that it is 'better', but it is consistent with the online philosophy built around metaphors.

The entire economy of selling bits and bytes as a software product falls apart if you take a moment and reflect on the cost of goods sold. For software, that number is for all intents and purposes is zero. Looking from this perspective alone, a 'reasonable profit margin' would lead to most software prices being very low.

On the other hand, if you factor in the utility and possession of a useful bit of code, it is absolutely appropriate to think about software as a tangible product. So it makes good sense to reinforce the idea of selling intangible bits and bytes as a product that goes into a box. (As an aside, this disparity between utility and cost of good solds is why software has made men like Larry Ellis and Bill Gates so incredibly wealthy).

The online world has been created largely around building a connection between the digital and real. The concept of an icon is something that represents the function of your code when it runs. We refer to our screen as a desktop. We 'save files' (visually and mentally) when in actuality we're magnetically charging portions of a spinning platter. We delete files by putting them in a trash/recycle bin that doesn't even remotely exist.

Reinforcing the connection between the digital and the real is something you're already doing as a developer. Why not extend that thinking consistently to your marketing?

answered Nov 7 '12 at 02:55
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Keith De Long
5,091 points

2

In addition to the answers already provided, you could also take a picture of your software running on a laptop. Look at how Apple's website sells Macbooks and create the same kind of high-quality pictures with your software on the laptop's screen. Here's another exmaple: http://www.zuora.com/how-it-works/subscription-billing.html

answered Nov 8 '12 at 11:23
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Frenchie
4,166 points
  • This is a superb idea. You are then almost selling a lifestyle (perhaps need to state "PC not included"!). Will someone PLEASE make SAAS that generates laptop shots from uploaded screenshots. I'd pay $10 or so for that service. I like the look of the Samsung ultrabooks (my software is PC based so MacBook would give the wrong impression). – Paperjam 11 years ago
  • Well you start with the laptop picture (or any another laptop picture, one with the keyboard for instance), then you take a screenshot of your computer screen running with your software and use a picture editor to resize that screenshot to the dimensions of the picture's screen and you paste that image on the screen of the laptop's screen. Could you do that yourself? – Frenchie 11 years ago
  • Problems: (1) getting a professional quality laptop picture free from copyright issues (2) superimposing image realistically with a little glare, etc. There are online services generating box shots from top/spine/front images so would be nice to do same with simulated laptop shots. – Paperjam 11 years ago
  • Well I'm sure you'll figure it out:) I think the concept of a laptop screenshot would work well for you software; you're going to choose this option? Here's a source of copyright-free laptop pitcures: http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/laptop/source/basic#1191cbc1 In fact, here the EXACT same picture: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10360006-laptop-computer.php?st=d2fb2c6Frenchie 11 years ago

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