The impact of product photography on consumer attention and perception : A conjoint analysis study

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the impact that product photography in marketing has on consumer attention and perception. Different elements of a product photograph such as colour, composition, focal element, textual information and props are comprehensively analysed in order to determine the most essential attribute effect consumer attention. The thesis based on previous journal articles, books and online sources about consumer attention and perception, as well as different elements of product photography. A conjoint analysis test was carried out to analyse the relative importance of the attributes mentioned above. Each attribute was divided into two to three sublevels: background colour (white and black), composition (symmetry and the rule of thirds), focal element (shallow depth of field and deep depth of field), textual element (no, script font and modern font) and props (no and yes). The author took consideration of all sublevels and design eight product photographs (visual stimuli) based on the orthogonal array procedure for the conjoint test. After that, an online survey with all designed visual stimuli and related questions was conducted, and respondents gave visual impression for each photo-graph. SPSS was used to analysed the responses. Based on the result, textual information was the most important attribute, background colour and composition were the second and third most important ones, followed by focal element and lastly props. In product photograph, textual information can be the brand’s name, slogan or descriptions. These elements can provide useful information about product usage, the vibe and context of the photograph and eventually have a positive impact on consumer attention and perception.