What is BigCommerce? & How to Increase Conversions with DAM

There is no doubt that a good DAM system provides all the necessary tools to simplify digital asset management. However, if not handled well, certain aspects can be a letdown. For example, DAM may not help much if your assets are of poor quality. Using high-quality images and videos that reflect your brand well is essential for increasing conversions and reducing the abandoned cart rates.

BigCommerce Plus users, in particular, can benefit from these integrations, as the platform includes various key features designed to support both B2C and B2B models. Small businesses and large enterprises alike can leverage these tools to manage online and in-store operations more effectively. As the best eCommerce service provider, BigCommerce provides businesses with the necessary infrastructure to store and sell products efficiently.

To prevent frustrations despite using a top-notch DAM solution, you should adopt these best practices.

1. Create high-quality, visually appealing content that showcases your products
   

   Your content should be designed to be both aesthetically pleasing and engaging for the audience. There are several key principles that apply in this regard. 

   One important principle is to focus on quality over quantity. Rather than bombarding your audience with a large number of mediocre images or videos, for example, it’s better to invest in a smaller number of high-quality pieces that really stand out.

   Another key principle is to pay attention to the details. This means thinking carefully about stuff like lighting, composition, and color when creating visual content. It also means ensuring that your product is the focus of the content and is shown in the best possible light. 

   When it comes to specific types of assets, there are some best practices to keep in mind. For videos, it’s important to create engaging videos that tell a story and capture the attention of your audience. This may involve incorporating motion graphics, animation, or other visual effects to make your videos more dynamic and interesting.

   For images, it’s important to focus on high-resolution photos. This may involve using natural light, finding interesting backgrounds, or incorporating props.

   Generally and regardless of the asset type, the key is to focus on quality, attention to detail, and audience engagement. 

   Finally, it’s important to optimize assets for different platforms and devices, such as mobile phones and tablets.

2. Organize and tag assets for easy searching and retrieval
   

   Organization involves arranging assets in a logical and consistent way, using folders, subfolders, and naming conventions that reflect their content and purpose. For example, if you have a folder named “Marketing Materials” and subfolders for each marketing campaign, it becomes easy to locate a specific file related to a particular campaign. 

   Tagging, on the other hand, involves assigning descriptive keywords or labels to files, so that they can be searched quickly and sorted based on their attributes. This makes it easy to search for and filter files based on specific criteria. 

   Tagging can be especially useful when dealing with large collections of files or when searching for specific types of content across multiple platforms or systems. For example, if you have tagged all your photos with keywords like “beach”, “mountain”, “city”, you can easily filter them based on these tags to retrieve photos of a specific category.

3. Use metadata to improve search engine optimization (SEO)
   

   In DAM, you can easily add metadata to assets. This should include relevant keywords that describe the product, such as product name, brand, model, and features. You can also include metadata such as alt text for images, which provides a description of the image for search engines.

   Once the metadata has been added to the assets in the DAM platform, the next step is to sync with BigCommerce store. This will ensure that the metadata is associated with the product listings on your store, which can improve search engine rankings for those products.

   It’s also important to regularly review and update the metadata for your assets in the DAM platform to ensure that it remains accurate and relevant. 

   Example: Let’s say that you sell a popular brand of dry cat food that is made with natural ingredients. You might have several product images on your BigCommerce store that showcase the packaging, the kibble itself, and a happy cat eating the food. You can use a DAM platform to add metadata and make them more SEO-friendly.

   First, you might add tags to each image that describe the product and its features, such as “natural cat food,” “dry cat food,” “high-quality ingredients,” “grain-free,” and “made in the USA.” These tags can help search engines to understand the content of the images.

   Next, you might add a description to each image that provides additional information about the product, such as its nutritional value, the types of cats it is suitable for, and the benefits of using this particular brand of cat food. This description can include relevant keywords that are commonly searched for by customers looking for high-quality cat food.

   Finally, you’ll use the DAM platform to organize and categorize images according to their type, such as packaging images, product shots, and lifestyle images featuring cats. 

   The best part is that when you are done, you simply push the changes to your BigCommerce store. 

4. Optimize images and other assets for fast load times
   

   Online shoppers expect fast and responsive stores, and are likely to abandon a site that takes too long to load. According to BigCommerce, even a one-second delay in page load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. A slow website can also damage a brand’s reputation, leading to negative reviews and reduced customer loyalty.

   Fast load times can also improve search engine rankings. Search engines like Google prioritize websites that provide a good user experience, including fast load times. This means that websites with slow load times may be penalized in search rankings, making it harder for customers to find them online.

   There are several ways to optimize assets for faster load times.

   • Compression:The file size is reduced by removing unnecessary data. 
   • Resizing: The dimensions are changed. DAM can also help with batch resizing, which allows resizing multiple assets at once.
   • Format optimization: With DAM, you can optimize image formats by converting them to other formats as needed – in this case to BigCommerce friendly formats.
   • Lazy loading: Loading images only when they are needed. DAM can help with lazy loading by storing images in a central location and providing a URL for each image that can be used when needed. 
   • Caching: Storing frequently used assets in a cache can reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded each time a page is loaded.
   • Content delivery networks (CDNs): These are networks of servers that are distributed around the world. Assets can be delivered from a server that is closest to the user, which can help to reduce page load times.
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5. Use A/B testing to improve the effectiveness of your assets
   

   A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method of comparing the performance of two different versions of an item, in this case digital assets. The two versions are randomly shown to different groups of users, and their engagement with each version is compared to determine which one is more effective.

   Example: Let’s say you are a fitness products company that is powered by BigCommerce, and one of your newly launched products is a line of dumbbells.

   You can use A/B testing to experiment with different images and videos.

   First, you can test different images of the dumbbells on your product page. One version might feature the dumbbells in a studio setting, while another version might showcase them in a home gym setting. By tracking metrics such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversion rates, you can determine which version of the product page is most effective in driving sales.

   Next, you can experiment with different videos of strength training exercises using dumbbells. One version might show a beginner-level workout using the dumbbells, while another version might feature an advanced-level workout.

   You could also test different images and videos of people using the dumbbells in various settings. For example, one version might feature a person doing a bicep curl, while another version might showcase a person doing a full-body workout with the dumbbells. 

   The goal is to analyze the results of these tests and make data-driven decisions on where to use what version.