An Image Is Worth A Thousand Words. And A Thousand Dollars.

One of the great things about Amazon is how easy they make it to set up an account and start selling products. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the many pitfalls—the idea that if you list it, buyers will come. 

Yes, they’ll come, but they won’t necessarily buy unless your product presentation convinces them to.

And that means making sure your product listings and images are completely on point.

As the Amazon Services Quick Start Style Guide states, “The way you present your products influences a customer’s decision to buy your product on Amazon.” A proper product presentation is vital in making your product “Retail Ready,” and vital to that presentation are your products’ images. Because customers can’t physically touch, hold, and/or inspect products on Amazon like they can at typical brick-and-mortar locations, they can only go off the information you provide, and more often than not, the first thing they’re noticing is what the product looks like.

Many sellers completely underestimate what it means to have optimized images for each product they sell, often thinking that one or two professional shots are sufficient. Unfortunately, they’re missing out on the bigger picture—providing an actual bigger picture of their product in the form of multiple images with multiple product highlights. This includes making sure images include different product angles, infographics displaying product benefits and features, size and dimension charts, and even lifestyle shots showing the product being used in real-life situations.

Beyond the above, there are also some common best practices to abide by when creating product images.

1) Try and use white and/or transparent backgrounds.

2) Show the entire product and make sure  the product occupies at least 80% of the image area.

3) Make sure images are at least 1,000 DPIi so they don’t blur out when customers zoom in.

4) Include only what the customer will actually receive. Any images that include any of the following elements are likely to receive a quality alert on their listing:

Watermarks, borders, text, and/or other decorations

• Colored backgrounds

• Product drawings or sketches

• Duplicate colors of the same product

• Additional products or accessories not included in the offer

• Promotional texts like “Sale,” “Buy 1 Get 1 Free,” “Free Shipping,” etc.