Product photos can make a big difference for your click-through rate of your listings. It can also make your designs look more desirable, and therefore easier to sell.

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Luckily, for digital products, you don’t need to print out the design and actually take photos of them. Mock-up generator is a real time saver.

Using mockups is a great way to showcase your designs in a realistic setting, which allows customers to picture themselves using the design more easily. All without you having to print the design out to photograph on an actual product.

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For this, we will be using a tool called Artboard Studio to make mockup photos (they have a free plan for you to test it out, but commercial license is only available for the paid plan starting at $15/month). There are other tools available like PlaceIt and Mockup Zone. Canva also provides some mockup photos but the selection is quite limited. You can also search "free mockup" if you are comfortable using Photoshop to create your own mockup photos.

The reason I use Artboard Studio is that it’s very easy to use. It’s a browser-based application which means I don’t need to install Photoshop. I can replace the design (like wall art, label, phone screen, etc) with my own with just a click. And I can also create any scene I want with their big library of elements. I know it sounds like a sales pitch but I genuinely recommend using it to create clickable product photos.

Step-by-step of creating mockup product photos

After you logged into Artboard Studio, either start by choosing a template or start from scratch. They have a good selection of pre-made designs that you can adjust. All the elements can be edited (move, change colour, adjust the size and more). You can also add/delete elements from templates. Let's start with this dropper bottle label template as an example:

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Once you clicked on the design, it will appear as a new artboard in your workspace. And below that you can see the location where you can replace the design with your own design.

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First, we will delete their original label design, and then drag in your own label design

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Now, resize the label by dragging the corner and adjust the placement until it looks right in the listing photo above.

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I prefer a listing photo that is 4 x 5 in aspect ratio, as I can use it in both on Etsy and on social media without resizing. To do that, click the artboard (by clicking the grey bar above the photo) and change the Width and Height. I chose 1000px width and 1250 height:

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For a label design that says lemon and orange, having lime in the photo may be a bit weird. To replace the graphic, click the "+" symbol on the top left and then mockups. Search the graphics you'd like to find, in this case "lemon".

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After replacing the graphics you prefer, our example template looks something like this. You may want to resize and move elements around to make the photo more balanced.

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To add text to the photo, click the "T" symbol on the left and type in the text you'd like to add. I recommend adding your strongest product benefit as the main text and some supplementary information as smaller text below that. Change the font and size to fit your photo.

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Finally, let's export the mockup photo to use it as the listing photo. Click the grey bar above the artboard where your photo is. Then on the right, click "+" symbol in the export section. Choose 2x so that the size of the photo will be double, which means in our example, the final size of the image will be 2000px wide x 2500px tall, which fits Etsy's recommendation of listing photo size.

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The above example illustrates the important features of Artboard Studio, but for your listing photo, you may or may not need to do all of that. Sometimes a simple photo could work just as well, and requires half the time for you to create. For example, I just duplicated the dropper bottle 3 times to get this listing photo:

First Section - Benefits With Relevant Features

Your first paragraph is important. It should focus on how your product can improve your customer’s life and/or reduce their pain. Put your strongest selling point here:

"Make running your business seamless with Editable Price List Template for Canva (Plus Scan-to-pay template) which are perfect for any service businesses. And the best part - you can easily change colors and photos to match your niche/brand." - price list template from switzertemplates

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"If you’re an individual who is struggling with cleaning, clutter, or home organization, then our Editable Cleaning Planner is going to make your day! Designed with moms, wives, and single women in mind it hits all of the areas that are big and small needed to eliminate the mess in your home and life (because we know that your peace of mind is too precious to be stressing about the chores in your home)." - cleaning checklist from PlannerMomCompany

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"Give your skin care products a professional makeover!" - jar label template from my shop

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The product benefits will be even stronger if you can mix it with relevant features:

"This stunning pastel theme Weekly Planner also comes with a “Habits Tracker” where you can pick out your most important habits you want to follow for the week, such as drinking enough water or exercising often." - Planner from Glocalstudiodesign

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"See your business performance with this Easy Bookkeeping Template. Monitor your total income and expenses and see the true profitability of your business. Monitor your yearly growth with a 5-year Dashboard. Plus, see your business at a glance with Monthly, Annual, Custom and Comparison Dashboards" - Bookkeeping template from Theweeklycrew

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With the new Etsy search algorithm update, make sure your first paragraph include some of your target keywords.

If you have more than one selling points, don’t be afraid to break them up into smaller paragraphs. The aim is to make it easy to read and digest for your target customers.

Optional Sections - Reducing Barriers Of Purchase

Here we can include sections that focus on reducing the barriers of purchase.

Proof Of Expertise

You want customers to trust that you know what you are talking about. Mention the evidence that can prove your expertise to your customers without bragging.

"You can be confident at your interview with these modern templates created by a professional resume writer and a designer with 10 years of experience." - Resume template from CoResume

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Guarantee

A good product guarantee can minimise the doubts in customers’ minds. Make sure it’s not limiting and easy to be initiated by your customers. However, this is less common for digital products.

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Social Proof

You can put some relevant reviews in your product listing as social proof if you don’t have a large following. Make sure to ask for your customers’ permission beforehand.

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"My unique planner system has over 2,000 five star reviews, and people who’ve been using this planner for MONTHS AND MONTHS - for the first time in their life!" - ADHD planner from FutureADHD

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Product Effectiveness

This can be a good idea for result-based products.

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"97% of our clients landed a job with this template. Now it’s your turn." - Resume template from Ideasthatsell

Feature List

This is the essential product information about your product. I would recommend writing them as dot points to make it easy to read.

Some common information to include:

• Size
• Colour
• Flavour
• Material

Delivery Information

Sometimes it may not be clear to the customers how they will get the digital product. So describe the ordering and delivery process to them with clear, concise bullet points.

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Brand Or Seller Story

This is another way to establish trust and increase the perceived value of your product.

You can talk about the story of what drive you to start your business in the first place, how you are inspired, etc. Try bring the story back to your customers and why you are creating the product to benefit them.

Product Description Formula

To summarise, here is the product description template:

• Benefits (mixed with relevant features) - Focus on how the product can solve customer’s problem and make their lives better
• (Optional) Proof of expertise - e.g. Trained for xx years/Featured in xx magazine/Crafted using xxx method.
• (Optional) How quickly will customers see results - Essential for result based products. Best used with social proof.
• (Optional) Guarantee to make customers easier to commit
• (Optional) Social proof - e.g. Loved by xx happy customers/Review quotes 
  

• Feature list - Use dot points to make it easy to read

• Delivery information

• (Optional) Seller/Brand story