Sometimes, after your listing has been live for a while, you see that you didn’t do as good a job as you thought you did. That can be particularly the case with photos. First time round, you got photos that met Amazon’s requirements, and you thought you’d done okay.
But we live and learn. And it’s distinctly possible that you can improve your photos. In fact, they may even be letting your listing down – getting better photos could really improve your conversion rate.
First of all, look at your customer feedback. Do you have reviews saying things like “Looks better than it does in the photos,” or “I was pleasantly surprised by its looks”? That’s a sure sign that you want to take a new set of photos that does a better job of showing your product in a good light (pun intended).
Also look at what questions customers had. Organize your photos in order to suit the major questions. For instance, if “what size of dog will fit in this carrier?” is a frequent question, or “the carrier was a bit small for my dog” is a frequent complaint, you’ll want a picture of an identifiable breed of dog in the carrier towards the start of the series. If “couldn’t find the on switch” is a frequent cry of distress, make “here is an easy-to-find on switch” your second photo. (It’s easy-to-find now, because you’ve told your customers where it is!)
Secondly, look at your keywords. If you have ‘jazzy’ or ‘funky’ in the keywords and your photos look like they’d fit nicely in your bank’s brochure, chances are you don’t have the right photos. ‘Baby blanket for comfort’ needs a picture of a baby in the blanket looking comfortable – well, you get my point. The more your photos illustrate your keywords, the better.
It’s quite possible that you changed some of your keywords as you found out what worked best for advertising. But you didn’t think about changing your photos as well. That’s one reason why having a look at the photos from time to time is a good idea!
And thirdly, look at your competitors’ listings. Are there weaknesses you could target? For instance, if all your competitors’ products are bulkier, your photos and infographics should stress how compact yours is.
By the way, check the definition of the photos. The higher definition, the more buyers will be able to zoom in. Amazon demands at least 1,000 pixels a side, but if you go for the maximum 3,000 x 3,000 pixel, viewers are going to get a much better experience. They’ll be able to zoom in and see a good sharp photo when they do.
And check that you’ve used as much space as you can in the main product photo. Some vendors leave a lot of white space around the product, which is a waste of real estate. Get your product to occupy as much space, and leave as little border, as you can.
If you’re adding photos, there are two main styles – infographic and lifestyle.
Infographics include topics such as:
• comparisons with other products (eg the smaller/larger version);
• “bundle includes” – breaking down what customers get;
• features or benefits – don’t forget to put a photo of the product somewhere on the image too;
• an exploded image – good for complex products;
• before and after photos – eg pullover before and after using a fabric comb;
• “instruction manual” style photos showing how the product is used;
• unboxing photos.
Lifestyle photos are also important, particularly for garments and baby products. But don’t miss them out for other products such as pots, pans, fitbits or vitamins, because studies show that having a face in the photo can boost sales by more than a third! Check that the models are representative of your target demographic, and also check that the product is clearly the focus of the photo. (You can blur out background that is distracting.)
And finally, don’t forget to split test your new photos against the existing set, to see how differently they perform.
