How to Boost Shutterstock Sales?

After I began working with stock agencies and monitoring my sales, I wondered, “How can I increase my photo sales on stock agencies?” All microstockers surely ponder similar thoughts at some point.

It turns out that most stock photo agencies follow the rule: “More quality works in the portfolio lead to more sales“. However, there’s an exception to this rule. This exception is the stock agency Shutterstock.

It’s known that on Shutterstock, new works tend to sell better and to ensure that image sales on Shutterstock continue to grow or, at the very least, do not decrease, one needs to constantly refresh their portfolio with new works. However, it turns out that the process of adding new works to Shutterstock has its own specifics and optimization nuances, for which there is a special strategy or theory.

This clever strategy for uploading works to the stock agency Shutterstock is known as the decoy theory. When I first heard about it, the only thing that stuck in my mind was the name, which is now more commonly associated with the theory of decoys.

Typically, most stock agencies review submitted images sequentially, so if images are uploaded one day apart, they will likely be reviewed at similar times.

However, Shutterstock has a unique process in that images are checked as a batch; once the queue reaches the first image from that batch, the review happens simultaneously for all submitted images, regardless of when they were uploaded.

For example, if the first image was uploaded on a Friday and others were added on Saturday, they will all be reviewed together on Sunday when the first image reaches the front of the queue.

Other distinctive features of Shutterstock that microstockers have identified through experience include:

• On Shutterstock, the upload time of an image is not as significant as the identification number assigned to the image during upload.
• The numbering of images on Shutterstock follows a standard scheme where each subsequent image uploaded by the author receives a higher number than the previous one. Note that image numbers are assigned not after the review is complete but at the time of upload.
• When customers sort images by novelty on Shutterstock, the stock agency arranges indexed works in descending order based on their identification numbers — from the highest to the lowest.
• Shutterstock inspectors conduct reviews for all images queued from a given author simultaneously.
• Works submitted too late for acceptance (1-2 hours before acceptance) may not make it into the waiting queue.

Microstockers developed the decoy theory based on these features. A decoy is defined as an image that occupies a place in line for review for all other works. It’s clear that a decoy will have a lower identification number, and its position in search results will be lower, thus reducing its chances of sale.

Therefore, decoys are often not particularly promising in terms of sales. These are works that you might think the stock agency may not accept or ones that you wouldn’t mind if they were accepted. So, the decoy allows for earlier acceptance of other works uploaded later with later identification numbers.

How to use the decoy theory on Shutterstock?

On Shutterstock, due to its specifics, sales peaks usually occur on weekdays. On weekends, the number of image purchases on Shutterstock drops significantly.

Hence, most microstockers aim to upload works so that after review and indexing, they go on sale on Shutterstock on Mondays or Tuesdays, which are the peak sales days.

For this purpose, decoys are typically uploaded on Fridays and Saturdays. Note that the review of vector and raster images occurs in separate queues, so a separate decoy should be uploaded for each queue.

After that, it’s essential to take a break of about a day, usually until Sunday, before uploading the main batch of images to the Shutterstock stock photo agency.

Now, we are waiting for the decoy to be reviewed, and at that time, the other uploaded works will also be checked. Following that, Shutterstock image indexing will take place before they go on sale, which typically lasts about a day.

After that, we can start reaping the benefits from Shutterstock.

The essence of the decoy theory is to calculate the average acceptance time and estimate the approximate indexing time on Shutterstock. If your recently uploaded works coincide with Shutterstock’s database update (indexing), your photos and illustrations will appear on the first pages when buyers sort by newest.

As far as I understand, a few years ago, this Shutterstock sales strategy was considered a secret weapon by experienced microstockers to maximize their earnings.

Today, this strategy for optimizing image sales and boosting Shutterstock earnings is well-known among microstockers and remains highly effective, as I constantly confirm while working here.