The Ultimate Guide to Perfecting Amazon Listing Images

About 75% of online shoppers rely on high-quality product photos, which is why your Amazon listing images are so crucial. Visual aspects of a product are fundamental. You aren’t likely to gain potential customers without having a good picture.

Amazon product listings have a majority of your page taken up by the photo. These photos contain a considerable amount of white space.

You might ask why they would do that, but Amazon’s priority goes back to improving the user experience. With all of your additional photos, you should have the same focus.

If you find yourself struggling with finding the right product images, this guide is for you. In this article, topics such as Amazon listing image dimensions, Amazon listing image requirements, and in general provide you with the ultimate guide to Amazon listing images.

Amazon Product Image Optimization is the process of choosing images that will maximize your conversion rate. Choosing the right photos will encourage buyers to act.

Much like other forms of optimization (Search Engine Optimization), your ultimate goal is to meet the needs of your platform. If you’ve sold on Amazon before, you know the platform can be incredibly picky.

Stage one of product image optimization is meeting the minimum requirements. The following stages are all above the following proven images for gaining sales.

The best-optimized listing images use a mix of all the options listed below. To dive deeper into Amazon product listing optimization best practices, check out this article.

When starting to select images for your product listing, your priority should be relevance. In meeting Amazon’s listing requirements, your photo needs to represent the product and title accurately.

Without making your image relevant, the rest of these tips won’t matter. This starts with meeting the standards that apply to all product images.

•  Your product must fill 85% of your image. This enables Amazon buyers to recognize what they are purchasing with greater ease.
• Your image ideally should be between 1600 and 10000 px on the longest side. Amazon does allow you to choose 500 px, but a smaller image will diminish the zoom capabilities.
• Your images must meet one of the following file formats: JPEG, TIFF, GIF. JPEG is the preferred file type of Amazon. You cannot upload animated GIFs.
• Your images cannot have jagged edges (or other low-quality issues like pixelation or blurriness)
• No adult content is allowed (no nudity or anything sexually suggestive)
• If you sell underwear, swimwear, or other skintight clothing, the products must not be freestanding
• No kid models in all situations
• None of your photos can include a reference to Amazon, its trademarks, or variations. (no references to prime or Alexa).
• You cannot include any Amazon badges on your photos (ex., Amazon’s Choice, Works with Amazon Alexa, etc.)

The guidelines above apply to all secondary images and your main image. Primary images have additional requirements.

• Your primary image must have a white background (255,255,255), RGB
• You must have a professional photographer
• Your photograph cannot include accessories or props, not part of your product
• You cannot make your main image a graphic or illustration
• Your main image can only be from one perspective (no multiple angles)
• Your photo must show a complete picture of the product (nothing cut off)
• No models and your products must be photographed flat (unless you are selling men’s and women’s clothing)
• Clothing images cannot show any part of a mannequin
• If you are selling shoes, they must be facing left at a 45-degree angle

Those who specifically sell clothing have unique guidelines we will go through later. Amazon’s fashion category is incredibly picky. Please do not give them any reasons to remove you.

A big part of product image requirements comes back to dimensions. However, Amazon’s minimum dimension requirements are a bit short of what you should go for.

Amazon requests image sizes of at least 500px. Larger is almost always recommended.

Above, you’ll see length-wise image limits for qualifying for zoom. Ideally, you will want pixels between 1000 and 1600 px. The best image size is about 2000x2000px, as that allows for solid detail.

You will want to save backups of these images on your hard drive. However, you do not want your pixels to become too large.

Larger resolution images are almost always higher quality. However, most people viewing your products are likely doing so from mobile devices.

Primary photos should be incredibly high quality. However, secondary photos lack the exact requirements. Try to ensure you have enough space to save everything you need. Images are of course an essential component of building Amazon A+ content.

Once you understand the technical requirements of Amazon listing images, you can move on to image types. It isn’t enough to choose high-quality photos. You also need a variety.

Multiple forms appeal to different shoppers. Be sure to use the guidelines listed above if you need to remind yourself of Amazon’s image requirements.

The main image, whose technical areas you can review above, is image number one on your available photos. It is a picture of your actual product, not deviating from it at all.

Amazon’s particular review staff will inform sellers to remove excess clutter if it doesn’t contain a white background and a single product. Of course, this is a bit different if your product is a collection of items.

The image needs to be of your entire product with no aspects cut out. This improves the customer experience by cutting down on confusion.

Ideally, you’ll want to hire a professional product photographer to handle this for you. However, if you are like most Amazon Sellers, you lack the budget to start. If lacking a budget sounds like you, we’ve got a solution further down.

Lifestyle photos are considered additional images. Because of that, they do not need a stark white background. Instead, this gives you an opportunity of showing your product in action.

The image above shows an excellent example of a couple enjoying a dark camping environment together. It emphasizes the LED lighting with a bit of lens flare.

It also uses some of the spare room available in this photo to remind people of a feature. Because buyers’ eyes are more drawn to images over text, this is an excellent use of space.

The idea behind a lifestyle photo is to show an example of how people use your product. It activates the part of their brain that desires visualization.

When prospective customers can see themselves using your item, you increase your chances of a sale. The best way to do this is to show people using your item.

Given people’s tendency to be drawn to images, including data in those images can be used. Infographics enable users to see information confirming the usefulness of your product.

The infographic above is one of the more straightforward examples but still provides you with an excellent example of what image files can do. Provided that you don’t use the main image, sellers can use text in images anywhere.

Infographics combine an aspect of your product’s appearance with the appeal of information. It prevents your customer from looking slightly to the right and down to get reasons to buy your product.

This is another example of using your available image space. However, this image could use improvement, as the product is nowhere in sight. Recall Amazon has a strong preference for products that take up to 85% of the screen.

The image above shows a combination of infographics and product packages. Assuming you have high-quality product packaging, showing it can draw attention to your product’s quality.

Prospective customers are looking for someone who has attention to detail. This shows in the smooth edges and high quality of your images but should also shine through on other aspects of your product.

Displaying product packaging can be incredibly useful if you sell gift sets. High-quality packaging in gift sets is one way you increase that “wow factor.”

If you sell premium products, it is essential not to skimp on anything. This applies to both qualities of images, packaging, and other marketing activities.

Photos showing product dimensions come in two forms: an image showing its size comparable to another thing and those with specific numbers. Both cases enable the shopper to see how the product might look in their collection.

Product dimensions details make you think as though you are looking at an infographic. It also allows you to compare your product with something with known dimensions (such as a 40″ TV).

Big items should take up most of the image, while small items should dominate less. In either case, you don’t want to confuse people into thinking your product comes with accessories.

Before and after photos can be beneficial. They show the effectiveness of your product with an immediate display.

While this photo type is typically limited to the beauty industry, other industries can use it effectively. For example, those who sell garden liners can show how their lining makes a garden look organized.

In many ways, before and after photos are similar to the “product in use” photos. However, these photos put less emphasis on the size of the product.

With the limited space you have on product images, you should avoid frames at all costs. Frames can draw the eye towards the focal points of your image, but another picture on your list can also do this.

Because you do not have a lot of space, you want to be picky with your room. Don’t put something worthless in that space.

Putting nothing in that space could be ideal, as white space makes an image appear less busy.

Lifestyle photos show people using your products. When people look at photo number two, they want compelling reasons to buy.

Photo number two or three should be a different product angle or an infographic providing product details. Remember that all images require a picture of the photograph.

In photo number two, the prospective buyer doesn’t see many reasons to buy your product yet. But if they continue to click through those photos, they will eventually see someone using the product.

Visualization works better when the customer is already seeing how the benefits of your product apply to them. If they see someone using your product right away, they won’t be putting themselves in the shoes of this person yet.

If you want to push your customer away, bury the lead. If you don’t start with your best, you aren’t doing what you can to attract the right audience.

Typically, this means using your more engaging photographs and including small amounts of text with them. An excellent photo number two is a detail-based picture showing a close-up of your product that explains why a close-up is done.

Each photo is another opportunity for you to crush any doubts your prospective buyer might have. Photo number two can contain your most compelling benefit.

Further, (less critical) benefits can follow in later pictures. You can build these into info pieces, lifestyle photos, and other detail-based photos.

Using available space in your photos is always preferred. However, you want to avoid making your photos look like a spammy mess. Keep your word count low.

The pickiest niche when it comes to product photos is the fashion niche. The Amazon fashion niche has a 45-page PowerPoint you should read before getting into it. Have fun.

Otherwise, we plan on condensing some of the most painful parts of that document into a few paragraphs. While we do recommend that you check it out, a short reference guide will be handy.

There are three image types for fashion:

• Main – There is no change with the main photo
• Child – A child has its own ASIN to identify it with unique colors of patterns.
• Variants – A variant allows for different views of your product to help clarify how your product looks. There are six variant photos for each child category.

Because clothing needs to be broken down into more detailed forms, you’ll find that many more quality images need to be included. So expect at least six professional photographs for each variant.

When taking pictures of the product, you are required to do front and back angles. This situation applies whether you are taking pictures of clothing off-model or on-model.

Off-model clothing refers to someone not wearing the clothes (on-model is the opposite).

Amazon also heavily encourages you to do a styled shot. A styled photo is where your model takes a particular pose while wearing your clothing.

The pose should be candid and show a bit of personality. A professional photographer knows just to let the model’s personality come through during this situation.

Amazon only allows two forms of pictures to be done with clothing: Clothing on your model and clothing by itself. Amazon specifically disallows these situations:

• All child or baby models
• Gray backgrounds
• Images of models kneeling
• Pictures of models holding food or other handheld items
• Multiple model positions in a single image
• Obvious mannequins or “invisible figures.”
• Promotional text, logos, or other graphics overlaying on the image
• Anything showing tags to display the brand
• Anything displaying worn or second-hand products
• Images of offensive materials (nudity, violence, etc.)

Specific garments have unique requirements depending on what you sell. Here is a roundup of those requirements:

Full-length clothes that go beyond the knee require a full-length shot. A full-length photo on Amazon is from the neck down and including the entire body.

Shirts, one-piece swimsuits, and jackets require top-body shots. This includes a small amount of thigh as well.

If you are selling underwear, swim tops, or bottoms, a square image is preferred. It should be around your navel if it is a swim top, above the navel if you have a bra, and from the navel to the thigh if you have swim trunks.

Kids’ items and packs of multiple items should always be off-model. Secondary images can be on-model if selling multi-packs, but no kids should appear on your photos.

When selling products on Amazon, it’s great to have regular access to photo equipment. For those on a budget, Amazon recommends two tools:

• The Amazon Basics Foldable Studio Box
• The Amazon Seller App

The foldable studio box is acceptable, provided that you have products that are smaller than 20 inches. The dimensions of this box make it suitable for selling smaller products.

If you are a beginner on Amazon (and you aren’t drop shipping), the studio box is excellent for taking professional photographs. However, it is still a significant investment at about $140.

There are other portable boxes, but those boxes do not come with built-in LEDs. Solid lighting is crucial in taking high-quality photographs.

The Amazon Seller App has a built-in feature to take a picture and perform simple edits. While those edits aren’t quite as detailed as Photoshop, they are enough to provide simple quality improvements.

You will want to be sure your phone is new enough to take high-quality photos. Many phones have pretty impressive cameras these days, but Samsung, LG, and Apple all make those of apparent quality.

Despite how far smartphones have come, they do not hold a camera to a good DSLR.

DSLRs (Digital Single-Lens Reflex Cameras) are just a fancy way of saying “camera.” Unlike video cameras, these are adept at taking single-frame shots.

However, not all DSLRs are suitable for product photography. To start, here are a few things that you do not need for your DSLR:

• Zoom lenses, meant to see far-off objects.
• A fisheye lens
• Cameras with features for better tracking motion
• Smart features that help with face recognition
• Cameras meant to take photographs in low light

Remember that you aren’t a photojournalist here. Professional photographers likely have those features on that camera, but you don’t need them.

Instead, it would be best if you focused on these stats for the best camera:

• Megapixels – To take suitable photographs, you’ll at least want 12 megapixels. This feature denotes the potential quality of your camera by enabling it to handle larger images.
• Standard Zoom Range – While you do not need a telescopic lens, you want a decent zoom. The zoom enables you to focus on product details, providing you with more image opportunities. Go from 10 to 55mm for zoom.
• Solid Image Sensor – A suitable image sensor comes from your f-stop. A good f-stop for product photography is somewhat lower, as you should have naturally high lighting. Your standard 3.5 to 5.6f should be a good starting point.
• A Tripod – A tripod is excellent if you are trying to keep your camera steady. It ensures that you keep a consistent angle if you want to take pictures from the same perspective.

Great camera brands to start with include Fujifilm, Canon, and Nikon. Ideally, you will want to keep this purchase below $500, which can save you money if you use it.

If you have an extensive product catalog, cameras become handy. If you plan on getting into the fashion category, the equipment requirements get a bit higher.

Because you can’t fit a model in a 30x25x30 box, you’ll need something a bit bigger for models. Amazon Fashion provides a solid list of equipment you need to get:

• A DSLR (12 MP minimum)
• Three stand lights (two in the background)
• A pure white background
• Two white bounce cards (To help direct light)
• A grey card(to help with balancing settings in photography)
• Image editing software (preferably Adobe Lightroom)

The bounce cards are unnecessary if you are photographing large products.

Lightroom enables you to set specific background colors with an RGB value of (255,255,255). This color represents white, which is nonapplicable if you use the CYMK color.

You should place the grey card at the center of your background. This grey enables you to balance your camera settings.

Lightroom has a white balance picker tool you can use to select an acceptable gray level. Amazon requires levels between 178 and 184.

When adding text to images, Adobe Lightroom doesn’t excel at this. You’ll need to supplement this tool with another image editing platform.

Below are a few of the more popular options:

• Adobe Photoshop – Adding text to images is simple in Photoshop. You can bundle Lightroom and Photoshop in a single payment plan to save money.
• Canva – Canva is a user-friendly platform suitable for editing images. It has advanced features as well that simplify the creation of marketing material.
• GIMP – GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open-source image editor. It is most known for its ability to be used on Linux.
• Luminar – Luminar is image editing software you can use on both Mac and Windows. It is known for having AI tools that can help in some Lifestyle editing.

Photoshop is the overall winner regarding features. However, its popularity makes it the most expensive option.

With Creative Cloud (adobe’s subscription platform for keeping its programs up to date), you will need to make consistent payments. However, you’ll find the same issue with Canva.

GIMP has a higher learning curve, but it is entirely free.

When people refer to high-quality photographs, they typically refer to resolution. A high-resolution image is usually 300 dpi (dots per inch).

An image with a high dpi has almost no visible pixelation. All images are made of pixels, but you want to avoid seeing them at all costs.

Good cameras all have naturally high dpi; cameras will usually save those images in PNG format, the highest available resolution. If you did your work as a fashion photographer, you likely need to crop your image and move on.

However, it will likely require image editing. Thorugh lightroom, you can follow these steps to improve resolution:

1. Go to the photo menu
2. Select “enhance”
3. Choose “super-resolution”
4. Click “enhance”

Most often, your images will already meet minimum resolution requirements. If you are concerned, all of the image editing programs can scan for dpi.

Lifestyle images make your product look good. However, your product won’t look good if it isn’t interesting. Lifestyle images are an excellent opportunity to help your product stand out.

The image above provides a great example. Athletic gear has a unique opportunity to show people in action.

Action shots are excellent for making products stand out. The next time you sell a frisbee, take a picture of a dog about to catch it.

Action shots are challenging but worth it if you can get the right angle.

If your product isn’t known for action, make sure it looks like your models are enjoying themselves. For example, a board game shouldn’t show a bunch of bored people (pun intended).

Smiling family members and friends tell people your board game is fun.

Ask yourself what you would like people to feel when looking at your product and translate that emotion into a picture.

Zooming in is a simple (and often underrated) form of focusing on product features. It enables you to focus on essential elements.

In the example above, you see a tire swing, where safety should be a top priority. The zooming in enables prospective buyers to see the thick rope. It also allows users to see how firm the tire is put together.

You can also explain the reasoning for the zoom. One missed opportunity of the image is an arrow pointing toward the rope, explaining it is safe and heavy-duty.

If the rope or tire is made of a specific material, it might help your argument. The importance of zooming in cannot be understated.

A 3D cross-section is incredibly useful when proving your point with technology. Giving people the “inside scoop” is one way you can increase their confidence.

The quality-based breakdown gives them a bit of insight into how their chosen product works. Understanding a product increases your potential for a sale.

Cross-sections typically come with infographic information. Liberal use of text enables visitors to know why they see the inside of this product. Otherwise, you run the risk of confusing your customers.

The power of a cross-section doesn’t apply to every product. Showing the inside of a solid oak table would be confusing. You can say it is made of solid oak.

Alongside product inserts, product images are an excellent way to show how to use your product. These instructions enable curious users to understand how to use your product before they get it.

With products, understanding how it can help people is half the battle. The features behind the product are excellent, but those features don’t always translate directly into what people want.

Providing instructions also soothes one of the primary reasons people hesitate to buy: being afraid to break something. Nobody (even the customer) wants to call customer service to find out how to fix a problem.

If you can solve a problem before it becomes one, you should do this every time. It saves you time, money, and the need to address an entire product line for quality concerns. To learn more about Amazon product compliance check out this other blog article.

Good marketers are always experimenting with new tests. If you think an idea will work but have no experience with it, testing is a great way to find out.

Choosing one of your ASINs for testing lets you see what techniques work and others that do not. Keep in mind that each product category has different techniques that work better by default.

It is essential to be innovative in the things you try. Product images are a great way to help your listing stand out when compared to the competition.

Without putting effort into your products, you risk being outpaced by someone who will. Just remember the main photo must be straightforward.

Research is vital in all aspects of your business. Discovering what works typically is a simple process of looking at the top performers in your niche.

You’ll find that comparing your general and more specific product categories will be necessary. Targeting a low-competitiveness area might mean you don’t want to emulate the top performers. Instead, you want to emulate ideas from more competitive fields.

It is vital to paint your product so that it communicates quality. Top performers know how to do this, so your inspiration comes from there.

People will not trust your product if you do not communicate quality through your images, packaging, and information. All of your claims will be worthless, as people will only focus on how well other products look by comparison.

Swatch images are another way to say variant images. These images show different colors, sizes, fabrics, or other choices. Each swatch image has images inside that can total up to seven per variant.

The reason that your images don’t show on Amazon’s wishlist typically relate to two problems:

• The product image does not meet Amazon’s requirements
• There is an error related to data

If your image does not meet Amazon’s requirements, you will find the same problem on your product listing. Accessing the Seller Central dashboard will tell you what issues you need to correct to have your item reappear.

Otherwise, your missing product image could be related to old webpage data. Clear your browsing history (or mobile data cache) and see if it works from there.

If neither option works, contact Amazon customer service to see about a solution.

No, you are typically required to go through SiteStripe. SiteStripe is Amazon’s affiliate link platform built in on their website. You will only see it if you are an Amazon Affiliate.

By accessing your chosen product pages, SiteStripe will enable you to get an image/text link directly from the page. This tool automatically selects an image Amazon deems usable.

Not following this process leaves you with the potential of grabbing the wrong image on the affiliate program.

The limit on a per-product basis is nine images. This includes one main image and eight secondary images. On Amazon Fashion, this number is reduced to seven but includes multiple swatches.

On the overall Amazon selling platform, Amazon does not limit how many images you can post. Provided that you follow the per-product limits, you don’t have to worry about further limitations.

Amazon images that are too small will not resize to meet the limit. As a result, they are stretched to fill the gaps, causing greater pixelization and blurry images.

To ensure our images are not blurry, you will want to have a minimum of 72 dpi. Your pixels should be at least 1000×1600. However, you will want to exceed that limit and go for a length of at least 2500px.

In the world of image optimization, there is a plethora of knowledge. It might seem overwhelming, but using this guide in chunks will make it much more manageable.

When running an eCommerce business on Amazon, it is essential to have general knowledge of many things. However, you’ll likely want to reach out to a specialist to fill in the gap.

By bookmarking this guide, you can use it as a reference to help you out as a new seller. But having high-quality images is only a tiny part of your battle.

The rest of your battle is data-driven, and knowledge often translates into new ideas for your product images. You can also use Datahawk’s Amazon product listing optimization tool to benchmark changes to determine when you need updates. It enables you as a seller to gain a competitive advantage.

With a unique combination of skills and high-quality photos, you can gain a competitive advantage for your Amazon business!