When a try-on looks wrong, the cause is almost always one of four things — the shopper's photo, the product's photo, the print side, or the product type. Each has a fix.
The short version: Work through the four causes in order: the shopper's photo (fitted clothing, full body, good lighting fix most complaints), the product photo (renders work from it — set a cleaner one on the Products page), the print side (back-design products need the front/back setting right), and the product type (simple silhouettes render best; exact fit is out of scope by design). Results always keep the shopper's photo framing — heads and feet never crop.
Most "the render looks off" reports trace to the input: baggy layers over the outfit area, sitting poses, heavy crops, harsh shadows. The render can only be as good as what it can see. The fix is the three essentials — and turning on Photo guidance in Widget Design so first-time shoppers get them before uploading.
Renders work from the product image, so a cluttered, angled, or back-view product shot produces a weaker result than a clean, front-facing one. On the Products page you can set a custom try-on photo per product — pick the clearest front-on shot, ideally on a plain background. This is the highest-leverage fix for a specific product that consistently renders poorly.
If a back-print product renders with the design missing, doubled, or on the wrong side, the print-side setting is the fix. Ello auto-detects which side carries the design from your photos, but detection can be wrong on unusual shots. Set it manually in the product's row — Front / Back / Front & back — and pick the best photo for each side. Your setting sticks. Details in products and coverage.
| Renders best | Needs care |
|---|---|
| Tops, tees, dresses, outerwear, hats — clear silhouettes with clean product photos | Heavily layered or complex garments — occasionally a piece in a stacked outfit edit needs a re-try |
| Front-and-back print products with the print side set correctly | Products with intricate all-over back graphics — verify a render before featuring them |
| Shoes on their own product page (feet-visible photos) | Exact-fit questions — Ello depicts the look; it never measures fit or size, on any product |
A quick product audit: Before featuring try-on on a product — in an email, on socials — run one yourself on that product. Thirty seconds tells you whether the product photo and print side are set up to shine.
Set a custom try-on photo for it on the Products page — the clearest, most front-facing shot you have. If it's a back-print product, check the print-side setting too. Those two fixes resolve most per-product complaints.
Usually the print side: the product's main photo shows the back, but Ello is treating it as a front. Set the print side manually on the product's row and assign the right photo to each side — back designs then render as a proper front/back pair.
No — aspect-ratio fidelity keeps the shopper's original photo framing, and on-photo results are letterboxed into the theme's image box rather than cropped. If you see cropping, something is wrong; contact support.
Yes — each try-on is independent, so they can simply run it again (each run uses a credit within their daily limit). A better photo, per the guidelines, is usually what improves the result.