E-commerce sells pictures, and pictures sell expectations because let’s face it, consumers can’t see the products they’re buying before actually receiving them.
Pictures explain what a product is and does. And 200 Amazon listings later, we are ready to share our insights about why Amazon’s main product image is so important.
To click or not to click
When someone searches for a product on Amazon, many different listings show up, each one featuring a different presentation.
Amazon’s main product image is the most important picture in a listing. Not only is it its first image, but also the first image consumers see, both in organic search results and on paid ads. It is what determines whether a consumer clicks on your product or not.
A product’s perception is based on trust, quality, or differentiation, and that’s exactly what Amazon’s main product image should transmit.
What’s important in the main image of Amazon’s listing?
As the most important international e-commerce platform, Amazon has very strict requirements for product main images. Amazon’s main images are an important display for products and a key element to selling them.
So, what are these specific requirements?
Specific requirements
High definition
Customers need to understand the product through clear pictures, and a high-resolution main picture increases the texture of the product. Especially when consumers zoom on them to get a closer view. Since you can’t touch and feel a product in a listing, image quality can at least make it look real.
Low-definition pictures can be misleading and have a critical impact on buyer satisfaction.
Efficient display
Efficient display of products refers to how one picture shows the actions or effects that consumers want. By efficiently displaying a product’s features, consumers can understand at a glance if it is what they are looking for.
Never use two pictures to show what can be displayed in one.
Strong three-dimensional
Make sure you give a three-dimensional effect to your product photography, and especially to your Amazon’s main image. Products can get a strong texture and really pop out from a flat picture depending on how you combine light and shadow, the direction and quality of light.
Realistic picture
The main picture of an Amazon listing should reflect genuinely all about the product: its shape, material, and color at the very least.
Even if distortion creates a nice visual effect, there’s a time and a place for that, and Amazon’s main product image is not it.
It should not be too distorted, or solely highlight the texture of the product.
The image below shows the final result of the raw image. You can see the entire post-production process in the video below.
Creating the main image for an Amazon listing
Format
Use 2000 x 2000px images to get the best balance between quality and picture size. It works great for zooming in, and maintains the sharpness of the image, thus improving the overall impression.
Especially now that Amazon allows viewing all images without opening listings on its mobile version.
Background
Cut any backgrounds off and set a pure white color. That will give you more control over how light and shadow are distributed to highlight your product and leave no room for confusion.
Studio backgrounds are a great and affordable help.
Size
Products should always take most of the space in the frame. At least 85% for products to be recognizable on any device. Consumers can thus see at a glance if a product is what they are looking for.
Surfaces
Clean all impurities and fix all product damages for a perfect presentation. Be careful, though, not to abuse it.
Would you buy a product that looks scratched or has over-edited pictures?
Color
Do slightly oversaturate colors to make them pop out. That will make your product more eye-catchy. But be careful: going too far may result in losing depth and detail in certain colors.
Light
Increase the contrast, lighten darker areas, and redraw the light scattered in reflective materials. Remember how important it is to control the light according to the background to provide an accurate idea of depth and texture.
Brand
If you are developing a brand your images should reflect so. Add your company’s logo in postproduction only, for better visibility. Otherwise, any changes you make on the images afterward will affect it too.
A few final notes
User Experience has become one of the deciding factors to set this sort of requirement. They are the result of analyzing users’ behavior with specific functions, features, and layouts rather than just a whim. Measuring listings’ success through Amazon’s main image sets the direction, and those who follow it are more likely to succeed.
So, if your numbers are not working out as you expected, you may want to have your Amazing listing or your product content audited by professionals. At Content2Sell, we’ll be happy to help.
Simply schedule your call!
