Humans are visual creatures and the way we interact with imagery online is no exception. Your website and social media platforms should have consistent, high-quality imagery that effectively showcase your products or services. This will help ensure that your audience is actually engaging with and absorbing your content.

Of all human communication, 93% is visual. Two-thirds of all stimuli reach the brain through the visual system and our brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text alone. Think how often you’re scrolling through your own feed and continue right past a text post, but pause at a photo, graphic, or video.

Even if you aren’t consciously aware of it, your brain will prioritize the visual content. How about when you visit a webpage and it’s just paragraph after paragraph of text? I’m betting you don’t read through all of that or stay too long. That is just another example of our short attention-spans and how a visual can help combat it.

Posts with visuals receive 94% more page visits and engagements than those without. A good visual is crucial for expressing an idea quickly and effectively getting through all the clutter that we experience everyday – online and in real life. For example, Facebook posts with images typically received more than twice as many comments as those without.

People can quickly make up their minds about a business based on their social media profiles. Make sure you don’t turn people away on the first visit. 67% of consumers consider a clear, detailed image to be more reliable and carry more weight than product information or customer ratings. Think of it this way, why just tell someone about your product or service when you can show them?

While a good visual can grab your customer’s attention, a bad one can cause them to dismiss your content completely. What’s considered bad? It really depends, but images that are blurry, pixelated, too dark, have that “stock image” feel, or are just too cheesy can really put people off.

Don’t just throw anything up for the sake of having a visual, make sure it’s good quality and relevant to your brand. Consistently using good visuals with your content can help ensure your customers are engaging with your content and not scrolling right past it. It will help your business feel more professional and legitimate in your customer’s eye.