Been on Facebook recently?

You may have noticed some of your Facebook friends changing their profile pictures to animated GIFs.

Facebook recently updated their platform to allow for this, and we’re doing the same.

But while Facebook is updating to keep up with the rapidly shifting social standards from apps like Snapchat, we’re adding animated product image functionality not only to keep up with tech trends, but because we believe it’s a genuine opportunity to sell more art.

An artist’s typical presentation of an original painting on a website hasn’t changed much since the early days of the internet.

Static image, price, description.

We’ve gotten better at presenting the art – using a white background so that the image pops, offering trust badges to reassure customers, and including a wall preview tool.

But the static image has remained, and with it, the notion of asking thousands of dollars for a piece customers can only view via one or two photos.

Now, on Art Storefronts, your product images can come to life.

Animated product images serve as short videos, so there’s a ton of possibilities as to how to best use them to sell your art.

You could include a GIF of you signing the piece, panning across it from left to right to offer a sense of scale, or even show yourself painting it.

All of this will be extremely impressive to the visitor who is shopping for original art and coming across site after site with the same old static images.

When thousands of dollars may be on the line, this little spark of magic may just be the deciding factor in what engages a customer long enough for them to click the “Add to Cart” button.

See it for yourself

We’ve updated a test site with animated GIFs, check it out for yourself.

See how an original painting, sculpture, and jewelry look with animated product images.

NOTE: These are just examples – we’ll report back once artists and photographers on our platform have begun using the feature.

More inspiration

Here’s some more ideas on how to use animated images in your product galleries.

Wrapping Up

GIFs are easy to make and make a big first impression.