Tips For CGI Product Content For DTC Brands (With Top 4 Examples)

With sales numbers exceeding $134 billion in 2023 in the United States alone, direct-to-consumer (DTC) is now one of the most profitable sales models in e-commerce. And enticing revenue potential isn’t the only upside here.

DTC business model:

• Offers better control over your business
• Lets you build a more personal connection with your customers
• Reduces operational costs, increasing profits

But even the most profitable industries come with challenges, and DTC isn’t an exception. Lack of differentiation and rising acquisition costs make this niche tough to crack.
Here, quality products alone won’t do the trick. You need to give your customers an easy shopping experience.

In today’s article, we share the best tips to optimize the DTC shopping experience for your customers and how CGI product content can solve your niche-specific challenges.

While the prospect of greater control over your business and better profit margins can be lucrative, the DTC niche requires some heavy lifting. To simplify it, here are some common challenges DTC brands face and their best possible solutions:

With the emergence of e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, DTC is an extremely competitive field. For a DTC business, a part of its competitive edge lies in how it visually presents the product.

That’s where it gets tricky.

DTC brands must create high-quality product visuals at scale for every new product launch. They are also required to launch new products, update existing product images on the website or online store, and create the visuals used in ads and social media.

All this becomes challenging when you scale your business. Using traditional photography presents various issues as well, such as:

• Finding a proper studio
• Arranging the right props and set-ups
• Transportation costs for products
• Lack of expertise with the right ‘feel,’ lighting, and background in product photography.

Plus, the final shots are static. You can’t change them beyond color adjustment. If unsuccessful, you must start the whole process from scratch.

Virtual photography: CGI product content for DTC brands offers infinite customization possibilities at lower costs. You can edit existing product photos and tailor them for your updated products. This technology also lets you create 3D rendering, giving the customer a more detailed look. It can also generate product photos with hyper-realistic props in bulk, helping you scale your business.

The increasing demand for social media marketing has raised the costs associated with social media ads. According to David Herrman, a social media ad buyer, “In the U.S. the cost to reach 1,000 people on Facebook jumped from $6 to as much as $18 within the past two years”.

As DTC companies have long relied on the affordability of social media ads, this causes a significant dilemma for them.

Marketing automation: Automation flows lets brands personalize and modify messages for their audience across different channels. It helps them nurture existing customers and turn website visitors into loyal customers. For example, you can create email strings to reach out to your customers with the right offers at the right time.

Another obstacle for DTC came with iOS 14 privacy policy changes that made it difficult for these brands to collect the required data and determine whether their social media marketing was efficient. It also prevents them from gauging the customer’s shopping experience in their store and improving it accordingly.

Zero-party and first-party data: The best way out of this problem is to focus on zero-party and first-party data.

• Run regular surveys with qualitative and quantitative questions for in-depth insights into customer preferences.
• Analyze on-page customer behaviors to assess which stages aren’t working efficiently for the customer.
• Make adjustments to the shopping experience accordingly.

To inspire you, let’s take a look at some DTC brands innovating to optimize the shopping experience and how they use CGI product content to elevate it further:

Atticus is a DTC personal care brand for men. It recognized the lack of knowledge about skincare in its target audience and optimized the shopping experience accordingly by implementing a three-step routine. The brand sells product combos, carefully designed as a three-step personalized skincare routine. This makes it easy for the customer to choose the products according to their needs.

Atticus also leveraged CGI-generated content and added 3D-product visualization of their products. Once you hover over their product pictures, it triggers a 360° visualization of the item, helping customers make informed decisions.

Casper is a DTC mattress company that uses CGI product content in their marketing campaigns and online stores to enhance the shopping experience.

The mattresses are showcased in various configurations and settings, using CGI props, proper lighting, and shadows. This gives customers a better sense of how the product may look in their homes. Such an interactive interface makes the shopping experience more engaging and seamless for customers.

Every product page also has a feedback button where customers can submit their shopping and product experiences. It lets Casper gauge customer preferences and improve the shopping experience on their website.

Another brand revolutionizing the DTC shopping experience through CGI product content and interactive elements is Warby Parker.

The brand uses CGI product content for its listings on the website. You can try on every listed eyewear virtually.

Moreover, Warby Parker’s online shop also has a “Home Try-on” feature where you can select up to 5 frames, try them on in the comfort of your home, and return those you don’t like. The customers can also take a “Style Quiz” to find the best eyewear based on their tastes and preferences.

Beekeeper's Natural is a DTC brand that sells bee propolis supplements to support the immune system. The brand uses CGI for their product content to showcase a wide range of offerings. In the example below they use CGI lifestyle scenes to create an immersive experience that highlights the natural essence of their ingredients.

As we can see from the above examples, top DTC brands rely on CGI product content to elevate their shopping experiences for customers. But how does it help? Let’s find out:

Consistency and accuracy in product images are crucial to offering a cohesive shopping experience to your customers. But it’s difficult with traditional product photography.

You have limited capabilities to manipulate the lighting and have to take different pictures to showcase every angle of the product. This results in a series of images that don’t align. The final result also may not do justice to how your product looks.

With CGI product photography, however, brands can achieve consistent and accurate images every time, regardless of external factors. You can adjust the props, lights, and product background colors to create a consistent product catalog in your DTC store.

CGI also captures different features of your products more accurately. You can show them from different angles while maintaining a consistent brand tonality.

Generating CGI product content is much more cost-effective than traditional photography. You don’t need to spend substantial funds to arrange set-ups, hire experts, and arrange photoshoots.

CGI product photography doesn’t even require a physical product. All you need is a digital model of the product and a skilled CGI artist — and you can create hyper-realistic photos that offer the best views of your products. This can be especially beneficial for DTC brands, which may not have the budget for traditional product photography.

Want to offer the best DTC shopping experience for your customers? Follow these tips:

Shoppable product photos and videos let customers buy the product directly by clicking on the post or ad. This way, customers don’t have to visit your website and look for the product separately, simplifying their shopping journey.

You can use CGI to create product photos and videos and add a shoppable link while posting them on social media.

For example, Dr.Cuddles has shoppable CGI product content like the above post on Instagram.

Videos optimize the shopping experience better since they let customers familiarize themselves with the product’s look and feel before buying it. That’s why it’s also a good idea to add such videos to your DTC store to optimize the shopping experience for your customers.

Interactive product ads are excellent for letting your customers experience your offering virtually. It shows your products in a flattering light and ensures they know enough about the product before making a purchase. These ads also hook attention much better than overused traditional ads.

In the era of social media, email remains one of the best channels to maintain personal connections with your customers. Regular email communication can also enhance DTC shopping experiences by communicating offers and information at the right time.

You can make your emails more interactive and engaging by adding CGI images. Hyper-realistic photos will also make your emails more shareable, driving more traffic to your site. Ensure you personalize emails, add strong CTAs, and feature interactive widgets.

Mobile phones drive the most e-commerce website visits globally and account for the largest share of orders. Reports show that smartphones accounted for 74% of global retail site traffic, generating 63% of online shopping orders. That’s why you must optimize your online store to be mobile-responsive.

For example, this is how DTC apparel brand All Birds’ website looks on desktop screens.

As it’s mobile responsive, the site’s layout also fits mobile screens perfectly.

Limited payment and shipping options during checkout can ruin an otherwise excellent shopping experience. It can even lead to abandoned carts and lost sales opportunities.
Offer both express and standard shipping. If possible, keep it free of charge. Payments should include all standard gateway options, including credit cards, debit cards, Venmo, PayPal, and PayU.

Many customers are skeptical about buying from DTC brands as they aren’t sure how the product would look in reality. CGI product content can help your customers help them overcome such doubts through virtual try-ons and optimize their shopping experience. You can create 3D product models and let your users try different colors and sizes of those products virtually.

Remember, no matter how good your products are, customers won’t waste their time on your online shops if it has a complex purchasing experience. To retain customers and boost revenue, the buying process has to be short, interactive, and simple.
Here is a TL;DR version of the tips to elevate the DTC shopping experience:

• Use shoppable images for better convenience for the customer
• Leverage interactive ads to help buyers make informed decisions
• Add CGI images and convey personalized offers in your email marketing for greater convenience
• Embrace CGI product video marketing
• Ensure your online store is mobile-responsive
• Provide virtual try-ons and multiple shipping options

The right strategies and CGI product content for DTC brands revamp the shopping experience for your customers. While the former comes from trial and error, we can help you with the latter.

With Commerce3D, you can create hyper-realistic product photos and interactive videos to give your customers a conclusive view of your product.

Want to simplify your DTC shopping experience for your customers with life-like CGI visuals?

Schedule a free demo with us and get your first 2 CGI pictures for free!