How to Turn Your eCommerce Product Photos Into Product Content Using AI
It’s a well-known fact that if you handle content operations or product content for an eCommerce business, you simply don’t have enough time to update all your product descriptions for each campaign (especially considering the number of seasonal events you create campaigns for).
We’d even go on to say this statement holds true even in the age of gen AI, where you can rely on modern tools to do the heavy lifting work of writing descriptions.
Why?
Because you still have to feed key product attributes, features, and information to your AI tool so it can generate accurate results.
The same argument holds true if you hire contractors to take on the task.
So what can be done instead? How can you make the entire process more efficient and entirely automated? And how do you cut downtime while still producing accurate product descriptions?
The answer’s simple: Find out a different use case for AI —- and, in this instance, the use case would be to ask AI to extract product information/features from images.
Enter Describely’s “Images for Product Generation” feature. You can use this feature not only to extract key product information from your images but also to do it in bulk (so brownie points for efficiency)!
On that note, let’s dive in further to explore how this feature works, what are its benefits, and how to use it.
Benefits of Extracting Product Data From Images
Before we further explore how to leverage Describely’s feature, let’s first cover our basics — aka, what are the benefits of extracting product data from images? On that note…
- Increased Time Efficiency: You’ll end up saving a lot of time regardless of whether you’re updating old descriptions or creating new ones from scratch for a catalog launch. This feature will allow you to create descriptions for thousands of products in a matter of a few quick seconds.
- Enhanced Product Enrichment: When writing product descriptions, it might often happen that we miss out on important product features (either because there are more pressing matters at hand or suppliers may have given sparse details). In this instance, the “Images for Product Generation” feature can find additional information about your product simply from the images.
- Helps You Scale Easily: If your business is scaling and your content teams are running a race against time to get newer product launches and catalogs published on your site, you can rely on this feature to produce content for your catalogs (in localized languages and according to the rules mentioned in your style guide).
- Allows Better Image Visualization: If suppose the AI isn’t able to produce results simply from images and asks you to provide product information instead, you’ll know that your images are either missing important information and/or are low-quality.
- Reduced Content Creation Costs: Most importantly, relying on AI to generate descriptions in bulk will not only save you time and resources, but it can also complete the task at a fraction of the cost as, suppose say, hiring agencies to enrich product details and write descriptions.
Automated vs. Manual: Which Approach is The Best?
Let’s say you were to hire contractors or agencies to do the same task of extracting product information from images. How would that differ from using an AI tool and what would the benefits be? Well, allow us to compare and contrast the benefits.
|
Benefits of Using AI to Extract Product Data From Images |
Benefits of Hiring Contractors/Agencies to Extract Product Data From Images |
|
Bulk content generation in a matter of seconds |
Better contextual understanding of the products |
|
Helps you scale easily |
Allows more creative control |
|
Is more consistent (refers to an AI ruleset when creating product content) |
More cultural sensitivity |
|
Lowered costs |
|
|
Minimized human errors (such as typos or grammatical errors) |
|
|
Faster time to market |
Truth be told, in this AI vs. human debate, it’s best not to pick either side, but to rather allow both sides to work cohesively to produce better final results.
That’s to say, if you employ AI to generate product data and ask humans to review the said data, we believe you’ll end up with more accurate and valuable product descriptions.
To optimize these AI-driven results, you can try using AI prompt generator to craft prompts that capture the nuances of product features, enhancing the quality and precision of the generated content.
How to Extract Data From Product Images in Describely?
Onto the important matters — what is the “Images for Product Generation” feature in Describely, and how to use it?
Here’s the gist of it: You can ask Describely to generate product descriptions, titles, keywords, bullet points, and meta descriptions by simply using product images. This task can be done individually for each product, or you can do it in bulk, too.
For reference, you can go to your product catalog on Describely, select an individual product, and click on the “Extract Product Data From Image” button. Our tool will automatically create new descriptions based on the information it sees in the images.
At this stage, you can select your Content Ruleset in Describely so it can adhere to the rules and guidelines set by you and create descriptions accordingly. (Learn more about what a Content Ruleset is and how you can customize Content Rulesets.)
As we mentioned earlier, this task can be done in bulk, too. All you’ll need to do is select the products for which you wish to extract product information and click on “Create Content.”
A pop-up window titled “Bulk Refine” will open, and you’ll be asked to select:
- The content ruleset you want Describely to adhere to
- What you wish to generate (i.e., descriptions, keywords, titles, or bullet points).
Once you made your selection, a crucial step at this point is to tick on the “Use product images for generation” box.
Once Describely is done with the task, it’ll come back with a bulk generation, which can look something like this:
You can either approve the content Describely produces or edit the generated data. If you select the latter option, Describely can either regenerate the content for you (for an unlimited number of times), or you can make manual edits yourself.
Best Practices to Consider
To create truly standout product content, here are some best practices that you can supplement with the “Images for Product Generation” feature.
1. Always Create a Content Ruleset
We previously touched upon the concept of a Content Ruleset in Describely. (Simply put, this ruleset contains a list of your brand style guide elements, including your tone, writing instructions, restricted keywords, etc.)
To ensure your descriptions look humanized and match your brand personality, we’d highly recommend creating a content ruleset in Describely, and selecting it when you’re asking the AI editor to generate descriptions (either with the help of the “Images for Product Generation” feature or without it).
Alternatively, if you don’t create or select any ruleset, the editor will default to a Default Ruleset (no pun intended!).
2. Review Product Claims
Even though AI is known for its accuracy and consistency, it’s entirely possible for it to make an inaccurate claim or mistake a product feature once or twice (e.g., it may have labeled a 3-seater sofa as a 4-seater).
At this exact juncture, Describely’s audit feature can help you out. To use this feature, simply select all the products for which you’d like to validate claims and click on “Audit Copy.”
Post this, a new pop-up will open, and you’ll need to click on the “Provide a list of claims made in the content for human approval” box.
Once you do this, Describely will come back with a list of all claims made in your product copy, and you get to approve or reject each claim. For reference, here’s what it could look like:
Just as a quick PSA, you can use Describely’s Audit feature to not only verify product claims, but also to check for content inconsistencies, correct all grammatical mistakes, and cross-reference it with the rules mentioned in your Content Ruleset. Learn more about this feature here.
3. Attach Multiple Images
We’d also recommend adding multiple product images so the AI has a better reference point and can get a 360-degree outlook on how your products look and what actions they can perform.
Side Note: If you’re unhappy with any images in your product catalog(s), you can use our AI to edit and refine your product images (individually or in bulk!).
4. Leverage Describely’s Editor
If you ever feel your product descriptions are missing some information or features you’d rather add, you can leverage Describely’s editor and ask it to mention the missing details. The same editor can be used for different use cases, too — such as refining your copy, customizing your tone, etc.
5. Get (Human) Contractors to Proofread the Content
Last but not least, we’d highly recommend getting a human to proofread and review your product copy and the claims made in your descriptions so it’s ready for the general public.
Next Steps
Now that you know exactly what Describely’s “Images for Product Generation” feature is and how it works, the next step would be to put theoretics into practical application.
Ready to use this feature of Describely (and Describely as a whole) to create content that sells more? Get started now!