Discussions

Home
Discussions
Brandon Chatter
Classifieds. Are ads more effective with pictures?

Classifieds. Are ads more effective with pictures?

Brenda..
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9544

Brenda..
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9544

Classifieds. Are ads more effective with pictures?
6/3/2016 at 6:37 AM

Does anyone, but me not even look at the ad if there is no picture. I was scrolling though this morning and happened to see the price of $1200, so I looked and it is an engagement ring. At that price I would want to see pictures. Sure you can e-mail the person and ask for pictures, wasting yours and the other persons time, if you don't like.

I am guess a lot of people don't look at the ad if there is no picyure?

rant for the day!
Edited by admin, 2016-06-03 07:58:02. Reason: Title
Happy_ Hour
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 918

Happy_ Hour
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 918

I agree
6/3/2016 at 7:39 AM

I don't either.

If there is no picture then how can I be sure it is what I want?
HankV

Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 106

HankV
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 106

Upside down
6/3/2016 at 8:07 AM

If an add has no pictures I normally will not look.
Also if they are upside down I will pass as well.

Edited by HankV, 2016-06-03 08:09:04
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Classifieds and pics
6/3/2016 at 8:36 AM

Great question and one thats definitely worth a deeper explore.
First thing to keep in mind is that the answer might be different depending on the category. There's also a difference in clicking an ad and in the ad generating enough interest to get one to reply after they have clicked.

For me personally if its an ad for a house or a car and there's no picture I'm less likely to be interested enough to reply if there's no picture and there happen to be other competing ads that are just as interesting. If it's an ad for a house that by the description sounds exactly what I'm looking however for I'm probably interested enough to at least do a drive-by and then phone the person to arrange a time to have a look... but without the picture it's harder to get my attention. Rental properties on the other hand you'll not see pictures of very often and the feedback I get from landlords is that they get so many replies that they often have to delete their ad once they've found their tenant to stop the replies!
Job ads also have little need for a picture in most cases, thought employers will often put a logo.

Going deeper, some stats that surprised me.
I ran some numbers on all ads currently in the database. Ads without pictures had an average of 445 views. Ads *with* pics averaged 342 views meaning that pic-less ads are actually viewed more. This is a bit deceptive though since the Jobs category is so extremely popular and the amount of views on job ads bumped the average view total up for the site as a whole. Excluding job ads postings without pictures averaged 288 views, or about 16% less.

Because I like running numbers .... A better comparison still might be to compare numbers within categories. For example, in the Used Cars category ads without pictures averaged 280 views, with pictures averaged 399. Ads in Agricultural Merchandise averaged 345 views without pictures, 499 views with pictures. Furniture had 228 views on average without pics, 362 with. For Baby and Child Items the difference was quite minimal... 160 without, 181 with pics.

Hope that helps!
Edited by Adam, 2016-06-03 08:42:41
plus zero
Joined: This month
Posts: 1236

plus zero
Joined: This month
Posts: 1236

if
6/3/2016 at 11:02 AM

no pictures I pass also and pictures upside down I usually pass too
Tracterz
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 8

Tracterz
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 8

A picture is worth a thousand words!
6/3/2016 at 1:09 PM

Yep. If the ad has no pictures I will not look. Also if it's upside down I will pass as well. Posting a picture with your ad helps cut down on your search time. If done well it might even sell your item quicker.

Edited by Tracterz, 2016-06-03 13:13:52

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 5038

Abbysmum

Joined: Mar 2009

Posts: 5038

Another data set...

6/3/2016 at 1:34 PM

Adam said "
Great question and one thats definitely worth a deeper explore.
First thing to keep in mind is that the answer might be different depending on the category. There's also a difference in clicking an ad and in the ad generating enough interest to get one to reply after they have clicked.

For me personally if its an ad for a house or a car and there's no picture I'm less likely to be interested enough to reply if there's no picture and there happen to be other competing ads that are just as interesting. If it's an ad for a house that by the description sounds exactly what I'm looking however for I'm probably interested enough to at least do a drive-by and then phone the person to arrange a time to have a look... but without the picture it's harder to get my attention. Rental properties on the other hand you'll not see pictures of very often and the feedback I get from landlords is that they get so many replies that they often have to delete their ad once they've found their tenant to stop the replies!
Job ads also have little need for a picture in most cases, thought employers will often put a logo.

Going deeper, some stats that surprised me.
I ran some numbers on all ads currently in the database. Ads without pictures had an average of 445 views. Ads *with* pics averaged 342 views meaning that pic-less ads are actually viewed more. This is a bit deceptive though since the Jobs category is so extremely popular and the amount of views on job ads bumped the average view total up for the site as a whole. Excluding job ads postings without pictures averaged 288 views, or about 16% less.

Because I like running numbers .... A better comparison still might be to compare numbers within categories. For example, in the Used Cars category ads without pictures averaged 280 views, with pictures averaged 399. Ads in Agricultural Merchandise averaged 345 views without pictures, 499 views with pictures. Furniture had 228 views on average without pics, 362 with. For Baby and Child Items the difference was quite minimal... 160 without, 181 with pics.

Hope that helps!
Edited by Adam, 2016-06-03 08:42:41

"

... might be to see what the average number of days an ad will be up until marked "sold" with pictures vs. without. I realize not everything gets marked, but I bet you might get a rough idea from that too.

Hits mean nothing if the item doesn't sell.

WineNot
Joined: This month
Posts: 32

WineNot
Joined: This month
Posts: 32

yes
6/3/2016 at 10:05 PM

Yes photos are much more effective, I often don't even look at an ad if it doesn't have a photo. Even if I'm looking for something I find a photo close to what i"m looking for just so it draws more attention to the ad
.:openminded:.
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 174

.:openminded:.
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 174

Definitely
6/3/2016 at 10:29 PM

I shop on ebrandon all the time. In fact when I need something, ebrandon is the first place I'll look. I scroll past ads without pictures. I don't even read the name of the ad, I don't consider it at all.
oldcowgirl
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 657

oldcowgirl
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 657

good pictures sell
6/4/2016 at 9:26 AM

There have been a lot of pictures of livestock for sale this spring.

They might be very good bulls or females and the pictures are terrible that make them look bad.

There have been some mediocre bulls and females for sale and the pictures are horrible a bad combination.

We have driven many miles to look at an animal that has had a really good picture and been disappointed but at least the picture got us to the yard. A bad picture won't get a buyer there.
lisaaxx
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 30

lisaaxx
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 30

I Agree
6/4/2016 at 10:22 AM

I skip over ads if they don't have pictures. It saves time for everyone to i:nclude pictures in the first place.
ProfessorFaulken
Joined: This month
Posts: 61

ProfessorFaulken
Joined: This month
Posts: 61

I agree as well
6/4/2016 at 12:30 PM

I wont necessarily pass right on by the add if no picture, but I prefer a picture. Especially when there is an add like "Car for sale" then no description or picture. It also is a bit of a pain when someone says NO calls, NO email, TEXT ONLY, and I have no way to send a text, but I could phone the person or email them. Oh well.

Maybe Adam, just an idea, but if you could write up a "Dummies guide to writing a good for sale add on EBrandon", I know many on here, including me, could sure benefit from one.
momofthree
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 238

momofthree
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 238

YES ALWAYS
6/4/2016 at 5:41 PM

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, Post a picture!!!!
I don't ever look at ads without pictures.
And I don't look at them posted upside down either.
sammy
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 8749

sammy
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 8749

.
6/4/2016 at 8:31 PM

I prefer ads to have a picture......except for the snake ones!! Creeps me out lol
shad06
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 38

shad06
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 38

pictures
6/4/2016 at 8:41 PM

Sometimes pictures won't show up, I recently posted an ad, I put 4 pictures on the ad but when I looked at it afterwards only 1 was on it. Not sure why it didn't work. I can't edit ad on my phone which is frustrating,unless I just don't know how lol, so I need to find a computer and transfer pictures over and then add them to my ad. But I agree ads should have pictures.

traveller
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9145

traveller

Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 9145

6/5/2016 at 6:06 AM

I wonder if the adds without pics get a few more views from people who are curious about what the add is or want to read the des:cription to see if they just might be interested enough to contact the seller

the real question would be how often does an add without a pic generate a sale compared to an add with a pic that may weed out people with the pic that either decide to contact the seller with real interest or decide from the pic that it isnt something that they want and save time for both them and the seller

anyway imo i like adds with a pic and a great des:cription and if the seller is serious then I think they will have the best outcome with both

gopherit
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 488

gopherit
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 488

Agree
6/5/2016 at 9:16 PM

A picture is nice but I'm one who doesn't post one BECAUSE I post on my phone and I don't know how to add a pic.