In our first article dedicated to Amazon, we shared the importance of having all your listings retail ready to give your brand the best chance at long-term success.

A common question we’ve received based on that article is “what images should we use for our Product Detail Page”? What a great question!

Product Images

Amazon allows Sellers and Vendors to include up to eight images per Product Detail Page.

PRO TIP: Use all of them. Sounds basic, right? Yes, but you’d be shocked that the majority of brands don’t do that.

A picture is a worth a thousand words and your product should be worth even more than that. The paradigm you should set for creating product images is: By using photos, how can I match the experience customers would have in a store by picking up my product, i.e. size, weight, etc.

What elements of the product do I want my customer to understand about my product in comparison to others, i.e., value, usage directions, etc.

Finally, something you can’t do in a traditional retail store, show your customer what their life would like as a result of using your product, i.e., to accompany a travel water bottle, here’s a cool picture of someone like you hiking Yosemite.

Rendered Product Images

No one likes to share this PRO TIP but we’re giving it to you for free: Use rendered product images for your main product images, such as the bottle, box, jar, etc. A rendered product image is one created digitally, such as in Photoshop—photorealistic or non-photorealistic images from a 2D or 3D model. In this way, you can ensure your product looks as perfect as possible.

Below is an example of a Fish Oil’s Main image, which has NOT been rendered and an example of rendered product image:

We hope you can see the difference. The first image was taken with a camera, the old-fashioned way.

The second image uses a photo design program to make the product look cleaner and sharp so that your product pops on the Amazon Search Engine Response Page.

Use rendered product images for your main product images—such as the front side and directions, or the label if it’s most important.

Your first three images should give the retail experience of seeing what your product is like pulling it off a shelf, so customers can read about it.

For supplements and beauty products, you’ll want to make it easy for customers to read the label to understand the ingredients, directions, and anything else that you think that will give you an edge.

The next five images should be a mixture product shots: Lifestyle, application (if applicable), text overlays to highlight key benefits, and what your product looks like in real life.

Using the fish oil example, you’re probably want to show the size of the pill. Show the type of lifestyle someone who would use this fish oil has.

Is this person living an active lifestyle or is this catering towards someone in business? PRO TIP: Look at Product Detail Page images of the best products in your category. What type of images are working for them that helps them add value to their customers and ultimately get them to convert?

Understanding the importance of product images isn’t rocket science. Most people want easily understood visuals rather than taking the time to read details.

Think about the limited time your customer will spend on your Product Detail Page and how most will skim the Bullet Points, but then shift their attention to the Product Images or A+ Content.

Give your customer confidence by investing time into building credibility about your product through strong visuals, conveying the aspirational side of using your product, and adding value to your customers that differentiates your brand from the competition.