High-quality product photos are the key factors in customer engagement that help in attracting shoppers and converting them.
And for the same reasons as making your product images look top-notch and eye-catching professional eCommerce photo editing services play a huge role.
But wait. Should an eCommerce choose to create an in-house team or outsource it to the services?
In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of both options to help you decide which is best for your business.
Pros of In-House Photo Editing
Control
When editing your own photos, you have complete control over the final result. You can oversee each and every aspect before you finally upload your images. For many eCommerce, this control and oversight over every process are very important.
Better Communication
When working under the same roof, over one single project, a good communication system can easily be established. Hence, communication with retouchers can be easy and direct.
Speed
Editing photos in-house can also be faster than outsourcing the task. The time of collecting photos in one place, sending them, and waiting for the outsourcing team to work on them can be cut down.
You won’t have to wait for a professional service to complete the work, and you can get your edited photos up on your website more quickly.
Cons of In-House Photo Editing
Time
Editing photos is a time-consuming task, especially if you have a large volume of products. This can take time away from other important tasks, such as managing your online store and marketing your products.
Additionally, if you plan to scale your inventory, you’ll have to simultaneously increase the resources to edit the product images on time. Hence increasing the cost of operations.
Skill
Finding, hiring, and training people to match your expectations of quality and pace is difficult.
It takes the right atmosphere and a dedicated team to ensure that every retoucher knows your requirement and is consistent with every other team member.
Not everyone is skilled at photo editing, and it can take time and practice to become proficient. If you’re not confident in your editing skills, the final result may not be as professional-looking as you’d like.
Equipment
To edit your own photos, you’ll need access to high-quality equipment and software.
And just as you wish to scale or add other creative specifications, you may need another tool to get the result of your desire.
This adds an additional cost if you don’t already have these tools. Hence making in-house photo editing a little costly for eCommerce businesses.
Pros of Professional Photo Editing Services
Quality
Professional photo editing services employ and train skilled editors.
They have in-depth industry experience and know h ow to get the best results from your photos. This results in higher-quality, more professional-looking images.
Additionally, if you plan to upgrade your specification, the time and cost of training the team accordingly are borne by the service.
Time-saving
Outsourcing your photo editing can save you time and allow you to focus on other important tasks.
Once you send your product images to a professional photo editing service, you can start working on the next batch of photography and creative work.
And before you are ready, you will receive your photos back, all set to upload on your eCommerce site.
Consistency
Using a professional service ensures that all of your product photos have a consistent look and feel, which can help build trust with customers.
The teams and workflow are trained to make sure that every background, every shadow, and every alignment of your image is consistent.
Cons of Professional Photo Editing Services
Communication
In case you are not able to reach your retouching partner directly, it can be hard to communicate and get work progress.
Finding right partner
The most common con of outsourcing is the lack of trustworthy and reliable services. Before you pick a service, it is highly recommended to connect with them and learn about their workflow.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to edit your own photos or hire a professional service depends on your needs and resources.
One of the leading and most reliable eCommerce photo retouching services that we came across is PixelPhant. The turnaround time was around 24 hours, pricing was competitive, and quality was unmatched.
If you have the time, skills, and equipment, in-house photo editing can be a cost-effective option.
However, if you want the highest-quality results and don’t have the time or expertise to do the work yourself, a professional service may be the better choice.
