Digital Catalog Design Trends to Know in 2022
Written by Matt Berringer
November 24, 2021
Currently, 81% of consumers research online before making any big purchases. Together with a growing emphasis on sustainability, print catalogs are on the decline. Digital replacements open the door to lower-cost and farther-reaching publications with the potential for significant return on investment.
Yet, you must go beyond just knowing how to make a digital product catalog — you need to know how to make one that enhances your brand perception, engages readers and remains accessible to users of all abilities. One way to harness the possibilities digital catalogs deliver is by staying on top of industry trends.
Brand Trust Is Primary
An essential element of a successful online catalog is its ability to reinforce your brand’s perception as a trustworthy source. To prove your brand is credible, you’ll want to start with your products.
Include thorough product descriptions and tell your customer everything about the benefits and features. Offer technical specifications, diagrams, product dimensions and even videos to demonstrate more complex characteristics or applications. Ensure visual elements like photos and videos have a professional look and feel by investing in high-quality production and photography.
Verify your information regularly for accuracy. Double-checking is important when you change suppliers, or when a supplier changes a product. Record those changes in your catalog to keep your information current. You’ll also want to keep product availability up to date. For real-time results, consider integrating your e-commerce with your inventory management programs.
Learn More About Brand Strategy:
Developing a Digital Brand Strategy
What Comes After A Brand Audit
Users Expect Interactive Experiences
The customer experience is today’s driving force for business success, so adept marketers must know how to make a product catalog that delivers on user preferences and anticipations. One such expectation many consumers now have is that your brand will provide an interactive experience for them.
Ways to deliver interactive elements include:
- Hotspots and product overlay: Reveal additional information or visual content based on the user’s clicks and taps. For example, a carousel image gallery can automatically play once a reader reaches the bottom of the product description.
- Animation: Bring movement to text, images, page-turning and more.
- Rich media: Improve the user experience and supplement that brand trust you’ve earned with interactive photos and videos. Provide 360-degree views or show the product in action.
- Functionality: Make it easy to browse and order by embedding purchase links and wisely using tags.
Don’t Forget Accessibility
The concept of accessibility encompasses more than internet connections. The United Nations estimates over 1 billion people worldwide live with a disability that impacts their technology use. That’s a sizable amount of opportunities your business could miss unless you design your digital catalog to maximize accessibility.
Best practices for creating a catalog that serves the needs of users of all abilities include improving navigation options and optimizing text. Ensure users can browse your products through the keyboard and keep copy compatible for text-to-voice readers.
Master Your Digital Catalog Creation
At Nxtbook Media, we’ve developed a digital catalog maker that enables effective content generation for your business. We offer digital publishing tools that let you create dynamic and compelling content based on more than 30 years of industry expertise.
Browse our digital catalog examples for design inspiration, then schedule a demo to learn more.
