The importance of before and after galleries

Is your cosmetic practice willing to turn away nearly 75% of new business because of a PICTURE?

Over the past several months, RxPhoto has surveyed more than 1,000 consumers to better understand the value of a practice’s before and after gallery on a website. Research into the importance of galleries has long underscored that they are the single most searched item by prospective patients during the exploratory phase. Approximately 42% of page views are in the gallery pages alone–more than double that of the homepage.

Given these statistics, RxPhoto decided to carry out our own survey to find out more about how cosmetic consumers carry out research before settling on a clinic, and the role a clinic’s before and after gallery plays in the process.

Our survey yielded some profound insights. Here were some of our key findings:

• 74.8% of consumers would not consider undergoing a procedure at a clinic that does not have a before and after gallery. This number resonates with a finding from RealSelf, which says that 83% of consumers would not consider a practice that does not have a before and after gallery shared on its website.

• 91.3% of consumers will research at least two clinics before choosing one and one quarter will research more than ten. This means that your clinic’s before and after gallery needs to stand out in comparison to other clinics. The before and after gallery is your place to showcase the breadth of your skill, the diversity of procedures you carry out, and the fantastic results of diverse patients.

• Consumers who were researching a plastic surgery clinic ranked the following pages in terms of what initially interested them most: Before and after gallery (42.9%); reviews and testimonials (37.7%); procedural information (28.6%); information about the practice (12.2%) and blog (1.6%). In other words, it’s clear that images pack the heaviest punch when it comes to converting prospects into sales. The surgeons or aestheticians at your clinic could have years of experience, prestigious certificates and degrees, the latest equipment and highest-quality products but none of the above will be as convincing to prospective patients as before and after photos of previous work. 

• Consumers don’t just dip into before and after galleries–they research them exhaustively. One survey respondent revealed the following: “Not only do I look at more than one website and their gallery, I look at every photo of every procedure on their website. I prefer sites with lots of photos and angles.” (Female respondent aged 53).

Infographic of RxPhoto Survey Findings

Overall, our survey findings resonate with those of other major aesthetic businesses and researchers: An effective before and after gallery is absolutely indispensable if you want to capture new clients. As RxPhoto Managing Partner Scott Alten reflects, “ In our image-centric world, before and after photos are a vital marketing tool for converting website visitors into patients.”

There’s evidence that cosmeticians, aestheticians and surgeons are aware of the importance of galleries too. According to Modern Aesthetics Journal, at one meeting of plastic and cosmetic surgeons focused on website marketing, questions about how to build better galleries dominated the discussion by almost 80%.

Before and after photos provide one of the most fruitful opportunities to convert online visitors into patients–but they also may have an opposite result if they’re unprofessional or don’t showcase your work as well as they could. If you think you could improve your gallery offering, take a look at our 11 Rules to a Before and After Gallery that Converts Visitors to Patients.