Amazon Product Photography 2019

Customer attention span 

It has significantly dropped in the last couple of years. Researchers say that users mostly react better on visual content vs text content. In plain English, that would mean basically: your product title is there to get you ranked, and your main image is there to make that customer click on your listing. When it comes to your images there are a couple of general guidelines and rules that we want to share with you. So, when it comes to your main image, which is the first image that will drive the initial click to your listing, you really need to think a lot about what exactly will be the best choice for you. 

So here for example, in all of these beard oil sets that you can see – what stands out from the competition? For example: this one listing where they offer a free ebook.

Iis will be something that they are using as their unique selling proposition. USP is something that’s attention grabbing – that will make them stand out from the competition. Of course, you have to have a quality product, but usually, what is used for marketing purposes is exactly that thing – which is adding additional value. Maybe, you can represent your or or product from a different angle. In some cases, simplicity is best. So you will never know. Even some of the most experienced sellers can make the wrong choice when it comes to the main image. You really need to listen to the market first. 

For example, in Amazonia PPC, we use this little tool for split testing purposes of product images. The website is called pickfu.com and you can engage this tool in order to generate quick results. Learn about what users think of different types of images, or which one they choose. So, most of the time it’s going to be what you felt like, but in some cases we’ve seen very different results from what we initially thought would work, and they actually do something else so we were able to turn over conversion rates for our clients by using this little tool. If you can’t use this tool for any reason, then I would definitely advise you to test out live, over a certain period of time.

In a practical example this would look like this:

1) let’s say for 30 days you will be using image number one

2)  during the next 30 days you will be using image number 2 etc.

See and then compared results. That way you will know for sure which one works best. If I would say there’s one general rule to choosing your main image – it’s split testing. 

 There are two general rules that you really need to respect with choosing your main image. 

1) Make your images zoomable –  images have to be big enough for users to see them really well,  when they click on the listing.

2) Make your main image consume as much what white space as possible white space.

In this example you can see that at all these white corners are almost filled out with the product image: 

What would you achieve with this type of thing? Your product will look closer to them, like it would look like on a traditional retail storefront. It will look closer to them like they can almost grab. That’s one of the best advice we give to our clients 

So, why is this so important? Well, there is no other way for users to know no anything about the product unless you don’t show it to them. You have to make sure that the product representation and images is relevant to your product offer.  

This was the first image type (main image). The second image type is expressing the pain points that your customer has. 

For example in this image here: it is a memory foam knee pillow.

So, basically need pillows are pillow types that are between knees and they alleviate knee pain. In this product image, we have a perfect example of exposing the pain points that your product solves. Also, there are many different good examples of how this could be utilised. Make sure that you think this whole thing through. Hopefully your product does solve a problem so you can use this as an additional  USP to to increase sales.

The third image type would be the solution to that problem. For example, if the problem is knee pain then you can showcase improvements after using the product. Increased hip mobility, or happy customers and similar. 

Another great idea for a product image to show how the product works, or showcasing product features. 

Like this gardening tool set. Here we have all these elements that are included in this set, and also showing product features. 

They showed that this set consists of flower mister, garden gloves and 5 piece digging tools.  This is a very good example of how they showed their product’s specific features, that the competitors don’t have. 

This is a very important part of the competitive strategy. 

This type of product photography, that emphasises the product feature is especially important when you have a product that was tuned.

This means: you took a specific product and picked it. You want to sell the same product your competitor is selling. Before you even started sourcing your product, you decided to improve upon the existing features of the product. 

Once you have your manufacturer improve any of the four product dimensions (design, functionality, time and price), you have to make sure that you advertise those improvements to your audiences. This is a very persuasive element of your product photography.

The fifth image type is a lifestyle image, like in this example here:

Basically, it’s a product image that shows the product in action. How it’s being? What are the possible scenarios of usage? Where can it be used? What is this product’s natural environment? For example, if a product is a kitchen product – the lifestyle image will be showing how this product is being used in the kitchen. 

Obviously, for this type of gardening product, they’ve shown an outdoor environment. It’s very important to help your customers visualise what it could possibly look like if they bought your product. It’s very persuasive. 

This kind of photography is usually done with the help of professional photographers. But, you can do this on your own. Doing something will always be better than doing nothing.

The last thing we want to share with you is social proof. This is not easy to get.

One of the most imperative things when it comes to online shopping that will persuade your customer to make a purchase are: customer reviews and product images. 

So, once you have all the basics of product images covered, you will basically focus on generating great reviews and making sure your product is credible in front of your audience. You can also combine these two concepts, and showcase social proof in your product images. 

For example, if there is any type of user-generated content, harvest it for these purposes. 

In this product we have a very simplified social proof: before and after shots. 

Before and after photos show how your customers are achieving success with your product. This is a well-known effect in online marketing when customers see success stories of similar profiles to them, they relate to it and purchase more frequently. 

So, think about how you can use any type of user-generated content to your advantage. If you add that to your product images for sure it will help you.

Key takeaways from this blog:

1) make sure that you use high-resolution images that are zoomable 

2) make sure that your image consumes as much as white space as possible 

3) make sure that you advertise all the product features 

4) target the main pain points and solve problems 

5) if possible, do a lifestyle photo shoot, to help customers visualise your product

6) continuous split testing 

Always keep in mind just how important product photography is. 

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