Product images are essential to selling on Amazon and e-commerce in general. When shoppers buy from you on Amazon, they cannot hold and inspect the item in their hands. The only way for a shopper to truly visualize your product is through high-quality images… and videos. If you want your product to resonate with shoppers, you must ensure your Amazon product photography is on point and adhere to Amazon’s product picture guidelines. In this blog post, we’ll explore Amazon image requirements, the best Amazon product photos, and best practices for scroll-stopping images.
What’s The Importance Of Product Photography On Amazon?
I’ve touched on the primary importance of Amazon product photography. Let’s scratch the surface and explore more reasons why you need high-quality listing images:
First Impressions Matter
As the saying goes, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This is especially true when you’re selling on Amazon. Amazon is a cutthroat marketplace, and your products must stand out to beat the competition. You must show your products in the best possible light and detail through well-lit, high-quality product images to give shoppers a clear visual representation of what they’re getting when they buy your product. This encourages shoppers to explore your listing further and consider making a purchase.
Communicates Value And Quality
A well-executed Amazon product photography strategy helps communicate the value of your product to the shoppers. When you use high-quality product images that accurately represent the product, you help shoppers understand your product and why it’s worth the purchase.
For example, if you sell luxury items, you can use Amazon listing photos to showcase your product’s premium and luxury aspects and show your target audience why they should pay a premium price.
Alternatively, if you sell a budget item, you can use your product images to show affordability without necessarily making the product look cheap and low-quality.
Whatever your product’s value proposition is, it’s essential to use Amazon product images to communicate it to shoppers and help them understand what they’re getting when they buy your product.
Builds Trust With Shoppers
Trust is a crucial ingredient in e-commerce. Shoppers wouldn’t pay for a product they haven’t seen or touched if there wasn’t any trust between them and the seller. Amazon listing images help you create trust with shoppers to the point where they’re willing to pay for a product they haven’t held. When you provide detailed, high-quality Amazon pics, you help shoppers visualize what they’re getting and make them feel confident in their purchase. This builds trust, which translates to increased conversions and sales revenue.
Improves Your Product SEO Ranking On Amazon
Having high-quality product pictures in your listing helps improve your SEO ranking on Amazon. The A9 algorithm considers several factors when ranking products on Amazon SERP. Product images are one of those factors. High-quality images combined with relevant keywords in the file names and alt text help increase your ranking and visibility on Amazon. This, in turn, leads to more clicks and conversions, which are also ranking factors on Amazon. Ultimately, a well-executed Amazon product photography strategy helps you improve your ranking on Amazon in more ways than one. Keep track of your keyword performance on Amazon with My Real Profit Automated Search Query Performance Analytics.
Reduces Negative Reviews And Product Returns
Negative reviews and product returns stem from customers getting disappointed by your product. One of the reasons why a customer may be disappointed is if the product doesn’t meet their expectations, whether aesthetically or in functionality.
Using clear and detailed product images in your listing helps shoppers better understand the product they’re buying to avoid surprises when it arrives. Of course, the product must also function like you say it does on the listing.
A customer who understands a product well before buying is more likely to be pleased with the purchase and to leave a positive review. Customers satisfied with their purchase are also the least likely to return the product. So, proper Amazon product photography directly impacts your reviews and return rate.
Improves Click-Through Rates And Conversions
When a shopper searches for a product on Amazon, they’re shown many related products in the search results. You need a unique and high-quality main image to make your products stand out in search results and compel the shopper to click on it — a scroll-stopping Amazon picture.
A scroll-stopping main image isn’t just a high-quality picture of your image. It also has a “wow factor” to make it stand out among the competing products. Look at the main image in this example:
The CraveBox main image in the screenshot is a perfect example of a scroll-stopper. It’s a high-quality product image that shows the product while breaking the pattern among the competing products. The unique product packaging and contrast in the picture makes their product stand out, and you can see in the number of orders and reviews that this listing image gets them a high click-through rate and conversions.
Your main image determines your click-through rate, so choose it carefully. Look at what the competitors are doing and find a way to make your main image better and unique compared to the competition. For example, if you sell chocolate, you could use a different angle instead of the typical tilted, half-open box of chocolate image that most sellers use. PS: remember to follow Amazon main image guidelines.
Create A Remarkable Brand Identity
Creating a remarkable brand identity combines visual branding, consistent messaging, and a unique value proposition. High-quality Amazon product photos on your listing help you with visual branding and make your product memorable to shoppers. Couple that with a well-developed unique value proposition and consistent messaging, and you’ll create a strong brand identity that earns you customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
Optimizing Your Amazon Product Pictures For Maximum Click-Through Rate And Conversions
We’ve seen the potential of increasing CTR and conversions with Amazon product photography. But how exactly do you do it? Let’s look at some crucial things you must consider to create scroll-stopping listing images that attract shoppers to your listing and persuade them to buy your product.
Use High-Resolution Images
It goes without saying that your images must be of the best quality to showcase your product in great detail. Amazon product image requirements recommend images of at least 1000*1000 pixels on the listing. This resolution activates Amazon’s auto-zoom feature, which zooms your product picture when shoppers hover their mouse cursor over it. This allows shoppers to look closer at your product to see even the tiniest details.
Include Lifestyle Product Images
In addition to showcasing the product itself, you must show it in use with lifestyle pictures. Lifestyle product images let you showcase how your product works and its benefits to the customer. Lifestyle pictures also help the shopper envision themself using the product and how it can help them solve a particular problem. This helps persuade them to buy and improves your conversion rate.
Highlight Your Product’s Key Features
Not all shoppers will read through the product features section of your listing. But they’ll probably check your product images to understand your product better. Using overlays and text to highlight critical features directly on your product images helps these shoppers quickly understand how your product can benefit them. This allows them to understand your product’s value and encourages them to buy. Additionally, you can use an image of an Amazon size chart so shoppers can get a clear picture of your product size.
Take Product Photos From Different Angles
Taking photos of your Amazon product images from different angles lets you showcase all the product details in your listing. Shoppers can see all the angles and inspect the product to get a comprehensive view and understand the product better. This facilitates informed buying decisions, which results in satisfied customers, positive reviews, and a low return rate.
Optimize Your Product Image Composition
Ensure that the product is the focal point of every product image. That means ensuring the product is visible and the image has no clutter. Besides lifestyle images, all the other product images should highlight your product with a white background so that shoppers aren’t distracted from the product. A well-composed product image improves CTR and conversions.
Optimize Product Image File Names And Alt Text
Descriptive image file names and alt text offer more real estate to include relevant keywords. The A9 algorithm indexes keywords in image file names and alt text. When you upload your Amazon product images, optimize each image’s file name and alt text with a concise and keyword-rich description. This helps improve your product’s visibility by ranking it higher on Amazon SERPS, consequently improving your CTR and conversion rate.
Split Test Your Product Images
Split testing your product images helps you identify the best-performing photos so you can use them in your listing. Amazon provides tools for A/B testing your product images so you can find the versions that convert best.
Showcase Your Product Variations
Does your product come with different colors, designs, or size variations? It’d help to showcase the different variations in your listing images. This allows shoppers to visualize the available options to find the one that best suits their needs. When you make it easier for shoppers to find the best product, you improve your conversion rate.
Amazon Product Photo Requirements
There are Amazon photo requirements that every image must meet before being added to the listing. Let’s break them down.
General Amazon Listing Image Requirements
- The product image should be at least 1000 pixels in width or height
- RGB color mode
- TIFF, GIF, PNG or JPEG format
- The listing image file name should include a product identifier and file extension with no special characters
Amazon Main Image Requirements
- The main product image should include the product and a white background of RGB values 255, 255, and 255
- The main image must not include text, logos, color blocks, watermarks, borders, or other graphics in the background or over the product
- The main image must be a professionally taken photograph without props or excluded accessories
- The entire product should be shown in the image, except for jewelry
- Only one angle shot is allowed in the main product image, and no multiple views of a single product
- A human model that is kneeling, sitting, lying, or leaning must not feature in the main image
- Apparel items must not feature a mannequin in the main image
- Apparel items and accessories should be photographed flat in the main image
- Men’s and women’s clothes must be photographed on a human model in the main image, while kids and baby clothes must be photographed flat with no model
- Main images for shoes should show only one shoe facing left at 45 degrees
Amazon Picture Requirements For Additional Images
- The product must occupy at least 85% of the image
- The product image must match the product title and be an accurate representation of the product
- The image dimensions must not exceed 10,000 pixels on the longest side
- For optimal zoom experience, the longest side of the image must be at least 1600 pixels
- Product Images must be crisp without blurred or pixelated sections
- Image format can either be JPEG, PNG, TIGG, or GIF
- Animated gifs aren’t supported as Amazon images; you can use a video, though
- Children’s underwear or swimwear must not be photographed on a human model
- Nude or sexually suggestive photos are forbidden on Amazon
- Images must never include Amazon badges or any badges that closely resemble Amazon badges, such as “Bestseller” or “Amazon’s Choice”
- Images must never include Amazon logos or logos that are similar to them
The Step-By-Step Process Of Adding Product Images To Your Amazon Listing
Now that you have your high-quality product images, it’s time to add them to your listing. Using the Manage Inventory Tool, let’s look at the step-by-step process of adding product images to your listing.
- Log in to your Amazon Seller Account
- Hover over the Inventory tab in the top menu and click on Management Inventory on the dropdown menu. This will take you to the Management Inventory page.
- Locate the listing to which you want to add product images on the Management Inventory page. You can use the search bar or filter options to find a specific listing if you have a lot of listings.
- Once you find the listing, click on the Edit button in the right-hand column to open the Edit Product page for that particular listing.
- In the Edit Product page, click on the Images tab near the top of the page to add, edit, and manage your product pages.
- Click on the Add Images button to open the file upload dialog box.
- You can drag and drop the images you want to add or hit the Choose Files button to select the image files manually. Select your product images and add them.
- Arrange your pictures in order by dragging and dropping them in your desired sequence.
- Click on the Save button to save the changes.
- Review your listing to ensure your newly uploaded product images are displayed correctly, and if everything checks out, click on the Publish button to update your listing with the new product photos.
Common Issues Sellers Face When Uploading Their Product Pictures To Amazon
With so many product image requirements on Amazon, it’s not uncommon for sellers to face some technical difficulties when uploading their product images to Amazon. Here are some of the most common technical issues that you might run into:
Failure To Meet Amazon Seller Image Requirements
We outlined Amazon’s product image requirements earlier. You must adhere to every requirement for Amazon to accept your product images. If you submit photos that don’t meet all these image requirements, Amazon will reject them, and you’ll encounter technical difficulties.
Image Count and Variety
Amazon allows up to nine product images per listing, although only 7 or 8 images will be shown on the listing. More listing images mean more angles and details for the customer, which can significantly reduce doubts and increase conversion rates. Make sure to fill all the image slots with high-quality photos showcasing different perspectives of your product.
It’s also essential to have variety in your product images. Mix it up with lifestyle images and close-up shots. Lifestyle Amazon pics show products in a real-life setting to help shoppers visualize how your product fits into their lives. Close-up shots will show your product in greater detail and enhance transparency to eliminate any doubts shoppers might have about your product. Just remember to follow Amazon photo guidelines when adding images to your listing.
Inconsistent Branding and Product Representation
Color inconsistency between your product images and the actual product can lead to returns and negative reviews. Ensure that the colors in your images are as accurate as possible. This can be achieved through proper lighting and post-processing.
Additionally, maintain the same styles and themes in product images for the same product to avoid confusing shoppers. If you redesign or update your product, remember to update your product images as well. Using old images that no longer represent the current product version can lead to customer dissatisfaction and complaints.
Using Improper Product Image File Formats
Uploading listing images in unsupported formats (like TIFF or BMP) can lead to upload errors on Amazon. Stick to JPEG, PNG, or GIF formats to ensure smooth uploads and compatibility with Amazon’s platform. You should also consider the Amazon product image file size. Huge file sizes can slow down the loading time of your listing page, negatively affecting user experience. Optimize your images to balance quality and file size, ensuring quick load times without compromising clarity.
Wrong Image Orientation and Cropping
The wrong Amazon photo size or orientation makes you look unprofessional and causes shoppers to lose trust in your brand. Always double-check your product images after uploading them to ensure they’re upright. If you crop your images, ensure not to crop out parts of the images, or leave too much empty space around the product. You want your product to be centered and fully visible to maximize its visual impact.
Ignoring Legal and Ethical Issues
Legal and ethical issues are a serious concern for Amazon. Using product images you don’t own can expose you to legal issues and might even result in Amazon removing your listing or suspending your account. Also, adding images that exaggerate the product’s size is unethical and misleading to customers. Always ensure you own the rights to the product images you upload to Amazon and that the images accurately represent your product.
Uploading Lewd Photos
Product images showing the private areas of a model, suggestive poses, expressions, and sexualized content are forbidden on Amazon. Amazon frowns upon any lewd pictures, and censoring the private areas of a model isn’t an acceptable option either. You must ensure your Amazon product pics don’t contain implied sexual messaging. Otherwise, Amazon will reject them.
Resubmitting Previously Rejected Photos
You can’t successfully upload a product image if it was previously rejected for that ASIN. Depending on why it was denied, you need to ensure it meets all of Amazon’s image requirements before uploading again as a different file.
Enhance Your Amazon Product Images
Without great product images, your Amazon business will inevitably face a bottleneck, no matter how much money you throw at PPC campaigns. We can’t overstate the importance of Amazon product photography in your business’ growth on Amazon. Speaking of growing your business on Amazon, did you know growth comes from making data-driven decisions? That’s why at My Real Profit, we make accessing all your Amazon metrics easy. Project how changes in each metric affects your bottom line and grow your business on a solid foundation of accurate analytics.
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