To talk about the importance of images in communication, let’s start far back, that is, from childhood. You may have noticed that children use markers and paper as a form of expression, even before they speak. In fact, visualization has been used since the dawn of time to share emotions and ideas (just think of primitive cave paintings).
In addition, humans have been shown to depend on vision as a means of processing the world around them, this is because images matter both cognitively and emotionally.
But how does this translate to Web marketing? In a very direct way, as you will find out in a moment.
The importance of images on the Web: let’s run the numbers
The time has come to support the theme of this article, which is how much image matters in communication, with some statistical data.
After all, those who are professionally involved in Web marketing cannot help but measure each element of the various corporate communication strategies. So let’s look at some useful numbers for weighing the importance of images:
- Memory in people is fixed 80% through sight, 20% through reading, and 10% through hearing.
- Out of 100 people on average only 10 out of 20 will be able to remember oral or written information, while more than 50 percent will memorize pictures and colors.
- The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text and can grasp the meaning of a visual scene in a tenth of a second.
- It takes a person about 90 seconds to judge a Web site, and in 90 percent of cases the impressions that determine the judgment are based on colors.
- The average time in which a surfer lingers on a Web site to figure out whether it is worth continuing or not is estimated at 5 seconds-a time frame not suitable for reading text, but more than enough time to look at a picture.
It follows that Web communication cannot do without the visual and visual component: images are able to convey emotion and information in a very short period of time.
Website and social: here’s where the importance of images matters most
As we talk about communication also and especially in the digital sphere, it is appropriate to give an account of how images affect the chances of success. After all, this is what we ask of a performing communication: that it helps us achieve our goals.
The Web site and social media, indispensable tools for effective Web presence, feed ‘voraciously’ on visual elements, simply because they are the ones most in demand by the public.
The importance of images in the Web site
By being able to use the right images in the right way, you get more traffic and therefore more conversions. What does right images mean? To summarize it to the fullest means using relevant, good quality images, tailored and possibly accompanied by punchy copy. By doing so you will maximize the importance of images on your Web site and achieve the following benefits:
- More views: if your site has interesting, useful, or exciting images, users are more likely to give you a click and browse for a longer time, increasing your chances of conversion.
- Good looks: a site that has an attractive design is more likely to be looked at than a site that does not provide a pleasant user experience.
- Better Ranking: tailored and SEO-optimized images are able to give a positive boost to search engine indexing. Images, along with text content, are critical to getting you found in Web searches.
Recommended Reading:
How to increase visits to your site
The importance of images on social networks
Social media is, along with the website, a prime tool for communicating your corporate image. The choice of what to post and how to post it determines the sentiment of the target audience and helps form their opinion about your service/product.
On social media, the image is important because it more easily triggers an emotional reaction that in turn will lead to a digital interaction, such as a “like” (first level of interaction), a comment (second level of interaction), or a share (third level of interaction).
It is a fact that posts with images get more visits and interactions (on Facebook they have 40 percent more shares than texts), just as it is equally proven that videos become more viral.
For an in-depth look at textual content instead, read:
SEO Copywriter: what is
Social Copywriting
Final considerations: image is not everything, but almost
To summarize, corporate communication also comes through the skillful use of images, which are capable of capturing attention and at the same time moving people. Taking care of the details of the visual part of a Web site and social accounts is therefore a way to demonstrate care towards the user, who will repay you by interacting depending on the platform they are using.
This is, after all, the primary goal of those who use Web sites and social networks for professional purposes: to strike the attention of the target audience and elicit an emotion. This is not an easy task: users are distracted by a thousand stimuli while surfing the Web, and the background noise on the Web is increasingly loud. Relying on an experienced partner is an option to consider in order to best optimize time and budget resources.
In Isola Communication, web agency in Milan, we love challenges and achieving goals together with our clients is the essence of the company mission. That is why we bring all our experience and professionalism to bear in various fields of the industry: from graphic design to management of social accounts, from restyling of websites corporate and professional blogs, to the planning of Google Ads campaigns tailored to your goals.
Recommended Reading:
Why create a corporate blog on your website?
The benefits that will convince you to use Google Ads
If you would like to learn more, we are at your complete disposal for a consultation andin-depth analysis of your project. In the meantime, you can learn more about our expertise and look us in the face by taking a look at who we are: you will find out what our ‘super powers’ are and how we landed on our Isola.
