Want to beat your competitors on Amazon? Try including high-quality images in your content.
You read that right. Images are essential elements of effective eCommerce and Amazon is no different. Customers have several options to choose from on Amazon and before they even click on a product, they look at the images.
Just like customers have the liberty to check and feel of a product when they visit a store in person, images influence a person’s buying decision on Amazon. The quality of your images can make a huge difference to your product ranking page of an Amazon search query.
Here are 11 useful tips for optimizing your images on Amazon.
1. Focus on your main image
Amazon is very particular about your main image. That said, it is important to review the seller support page regularly as the guidelines can change. However, some of their fundamentals haven’t changed in the last 10 years;
Show only the product
Your main image should not include any text, borders, props or items that show the scale of the product. Simply put, it needs to be an image of the product you are selling.
White
Amazon insists on a particular type of white on the main images – RGB 255, 255, 255. This helps the products to appear floating in the interface.
A few service providers may edit your photos to this color for a fee.
Close-up image
The product in the main photo should take up 85% of the image.
Loosely cropped images make your product appear small in the thumbnail in search as well as your ads. This can not only decrease your click-through-rate (CTR) for your ads but also reduce the amount of organic traffic your listing gets.
2. Use-up every single space
You will be surprised to know that Amazon offers most categories with seven or more image slots. So, use this opportunity and add as many images as you can. This will help customers get more information before they buy.
Do note, while several categories allow you more than seven images, you will see only seven slots on the main product detail page. The additional images will show only if a customer clicks them to get more details. However, make sure to add important images in the first 6-7 slots of your listings so they can be seen from the product detail page. Your video will use the 7th slot on your listing.
One common reason for people to leave the slots open is that they forget it can be used to show more products.
Additionally, you will have to upload pictures of the front, back, and the packaging along with scale, use types, and functionality.
Lifestyle images show your product being used and can go a long way to help conversion.
You may also include infographic images with callout text making it a powerful tool for conversion on Amazon.
3. Size
The size of your image plays an important role in the way it is viewed on Amazon.
Exceptionally small images can appear pixelated and can also disable the zoom feature for desktop.
According to Amazon, you must include images that are at least 1000 pixels on the shortest side so that the images are zoomable.
Additionally, the proportion is an important aspect as well. The aspect ratio for images on the product detail page is 1:1 or square. While you can upload rectangular images, inconsistent image sizes will only make your products look less professional and lower your conversion rate.
Remember, proportions hold a lot more importance on your main image. Amazon will adjust your images for thumbnails that will be displayed in search results and ads.
You can try removing the reflective shadow on a bottle to increase the size of the image in the thumbnail to improve the conversions.
Scaled items near your product to show scale can help reduce returns and increase the number of positive reviews on your product.
Make sure that you are not going to miscommunicate on the size of your item with your customers.
4. Pay attention to bullets
Amazon puts a lot of emphasis on titles and bullets. They play an essential role in indexing and ranking.
Note that images have less to do with getting traffic to your listing but more to do with converting the traffic that your listing receives.
The best way to optimize Amazon listings for mobile is to make sure to include beautiful and informative images.
The only content that appears on mobile above the fold is the product title and images.
Most customers never scroll down to where the bullets are located. Therefore, it is important to highlight the main benefits of your images to increase conversion.
Interestingly, mobile and desktop experiences on Amazon are not the same. As most people view their products on mobile browsers and their mobile app, it is important that you view your product detail page on mobile, desktop, and Amazon App.
While reviewing your bullets for ideas for images, it is important to consider customer questions and reviews. Also, by considering what your customers are saying, you will be able to understand what information they need to make a purchase.
(Image Credit: Search Engine Journal)
Here is an example that shows how you can combine the images of your product or lifestyle images with callouts in infographics that highlight your product's benefits and features.
5. Let your customers relate to your products
It is important to do psychographic research for your customers when creating your images. Understanding your customers’ income, beliefs, etc., will help you create compelling images.
For instance, if you are selling coffee to people having an annual income of over $100,000, you could use an upper-class kitchen in the background and probably a middle-class kitchen for people making $40,000 a year.
Simply put, your customers should be able to relate to the products and see that it fits their needs and lifestyles.
6. Concise text
There’s no denying that text on images in the form of infographics can be a powerful tool for conversion. However, long texts can prove to be ineffective.
Think whether a customer would need to zoom or pinch to read the graphic especially if you have an older demographic that finds reading small text annoying.
You can consider using a larger call-to-action or benefit statement combined with limited text for those customers that need more information.
Avoid mirroring the bullets word for word.
7. Avoid Photoshop
While there is no harm in photoshopping your images, avoid a few mistakes;
Shadows
Let the shadows fall where they need to. While the customers might not know what is wrong, they will figure that something is wrong.
(Image Credit: Search Engine Journal)
In this image, shadows of the blocks should be going in the same direction as that of the girl's foot. Also, if these blocks are smaller in size, your customer will not be happy to receive the item. This example shows how a poor image can lower your chances of returns.
Scale
Make sure your images are to scale especially if you are photoshopping in props. Remember, scale issues can cause returns and restricted ASINs.
8. Check category requirements
Amazon has specific rules that vary per category, in addition to specific rules for images.
Rules such as whether you are allowed to use a mannequin, nutritional labels, the placement of shoes, etc. So, make it a policy to check the style guidelines every quarter as Amazon can change them without notifying the sellers.
9. A+ Content
In addition to the image slots at the top of the product detail page, you can use images in the A+ content modules as well.
Use A+ content to bring out;
Unique Selling Propositions
To use instructions
Brand Story, Values or Longevity
Comparison charts
Extra lifestyle images
10. Test
When you create your first listing, you often tend to assume that you have found what is important to your users. However, after running ads for a few weeks, you see questions coming to your listing or reviews from your customers. You can then reassess to see if your assumptions were right.
You can use tools such as Splitly and Sellerly that allow you to split test listing changes or you may use Detail Sales and Traffic Report to split test manually by comparing the data. You can then use the data to test new copy and images.
Try to use the hard data and avoid running split tests on images when there is unusual buying activity such as changes in seasonality. Also, ensure that you test one variable at a time.
Wrapping up
Your images must be compelling enough to answer all the questions that a person intuitively knows by picking the product in the store.
Showing close-up details of your product or how the product is used, how it will look in their house,etc., will enable a buyer to pick your product over your competitors.
Use these guidelines to maximize your potential sales.