It’s not only the product/service that is depicted with a

graphic. It’s also the bonuses. Customers can indeed work out
things themselves, but graphics make the very same bonus far
more interesting and desirable.

You may think it’s enough to just list the bonuses, but it’s not.
It’s important to have a complete list + a complete description
+ a complete set of graphics.

So there you go: With graphics, you can quickly create a sequence of events, demonstrate technical facts,
show contents of products or services, or set a mood.

Which takes us to the next part: The components of visuals. What criteria do you need to have when choos-
ing visuals? Not surprisingly, you’re about to find out.

12  |  Visuals and Conversion | Psychotactics.com

 Components of Visuals
How do you make a barbeque look interesting?
How do you make a headphone look interesting?
For that matter, how do you make a keyboard look interesting?

For well over a century, newspapers and magazines have done just that. Day after day, they’ve got your atten-
tion with visuals that instantly get your attention. And you too can put in visuals that are very relevant and
explanatory. All you have to do is follow these three simple guidelines:

1) Use interesting visuals.

2) Non-complex visuals.
3) Caption everything.

When you look at the page of just about any newspaper, you’ll find these rules (or should I say, guidelines) in
place. But does it only apply to editorial? No it doesn’t. In fact, some of the smartest companies in the world
use it on their sales page. And as result move thousands or even billions of dollars of their product. Product
and services that would be
Library.PressDisplay.com harder
- The to Herald
New Zealand sell if- 14itJan
weren’t
2009 - P...for the excellent usage of visuals.
http://0-library.pressdisplay.com.www.elgar.govt.nz/pressdisplay/servi...

Not just a bar-

beque, but one Ordinary bottle:
that’s bursting Shown in inter-
into flames. esting way, by
cropping, and by
aligning (at the
top) with New
Zealand Herald
masthead

A burst of yellow,
blue and orange
in a sea of white Photo of victims
snow. The juxta- that stand out
position of colour because of the
and bare back- relative sizes. The
ground draws you bigger photo is
in instantly. more of a land-
scape, but this one
is more cropped in
for drama.

This border is black. The border at the top of

the page is red. Can you tell why? Yes, every-
thing tells a story. And in all these instances,
the photos are simple (non-complex), interest-
ing, and have captions.

Visuals and Conversion | Psychotactics.com  | 13 

1 of 1 14/01/2009 09:55
Example: Apple MacBook
I’ve rarely seen businesses sell products like Apple. They make their sales pages luscious. A piece of alumin-
ium is turned into a thing of beauty. And here’s how they do it: With visuals. Stunning visuals. And captions.
And simplicity.

There may be nothing dramatic about a laptop. So Apple uses a dramatic image on the laptop itself. The image is simple, but it
tells a reasonable story. It shows colour and graphics. And not just any graphics, but ‘cool’ graphics. What’s also interesting, is
that if you’re into video, you’d very quickly see how the graphic seems to be telling a story about how you could possibly use ‘8
hours worth of video editing’ time on the road (then again, maybe it’s just me). But let’s not lose the point. The graphics are inter-
esting, and simple, and captioned.

14  |  Visuals and Conversion | Psychotactics.com

Colour that’s good enough to eat. That’s the purpose of putting that peacock feather on the screen. But don’t miss the other
graphics on the page. Every one of them is attractive in its own right. And every one is simple, and captioned.

Visuals and Conversion | Psychotactics.com  | 15 

What’s so great about a keyboard? The caption tells you. ;)

16  |  Visuals and Conversion | Psychotactics.com