Every Image you Need for the Perfect Amazon Listing
Getting sales on Amazon starts with a great listing. And the key to a great listing is to have great Amazon images. With over 50% of shoppers now on mobile, getting the images right is crucial to converting enough sales to increase your ranking in the search results.
Getting this right will show that you are serious, professional and trustworthy.
Before we get into the details though, I want to make sure you understand something important. Each image slot is an opportunity to better communicate the value of your product and brand. Take the time to get this right.
“Each Image slot is an opportunity to better communicate the value of your product and brand“
If you want to sell successfully on Amazon, then you need to optimize your Amazon listing with high-quality images and infographics. The more time and effort you put in, the greater the reward.
What we’ll cover:
- Amazon Image Requirements
- Design for Mobile First
- Optimize Your Main Amazon Image – Standing out in a Sea of Products
- The Second Image – Connecting Emotionally with the Buyer
- Amazon Images 3-5 – Communicating Your Product’s Value
- Amazon Images 6-7 – Communicating Trust & Authority
- Images 8+ – Providing additional value (and reassurance)
- Should you work with a Professional?
- How to Find a Professional
- Key Takeaways
Amazon Image Requirements
To start, Amazon provides guidance on what they want to see:

This article will not be going deep into the Amazon Image Requirements, though, so if you want there is a great article on Amazon Image requirements and photography tips over at POW!
What we will be focusing on is design and how to think about the images you need and how to optimize them.
Design for Mobile First
As with all things these days, if you want to sell something online you need to design with mobile in mind. This is especially important with images.
Because of how people browse on mobile (quickly and on smaller screens), it’s important to optimize your Amazon images in a way that makes them easily scannable on mobile. If you’re not convinced that mobile is the way forward, check out our article that makes some good arguments for mobile optimization.
Amazon requires the image be at least 500px and no more than 10,000px on its longest side. When we are designing images, we start with a 2000×2000 image to ensure high-quality definition and keep the image square (1:1 ratio) to maximize the use of space available in the search results and deliver a familiar experience.
Image zoom starts at 1000px so these sizes ensure the customer can zoom in and read everything clearly if they want to.
The most important things to remember are:
- Keep it square
- Keep it zoomable

Amazon also has different ways of experimenting with images on mobile. See the below gif to see how they are showing the images again as the user scrolls down. This is likely due to users not understanding that there are more images to see on mobile because of the way they are displayed.

Mobile is continuing to be adopted as the way to shop, especially on Amazon which prides itself on quick and convenient purchases. So, if you want to get sales on Amazon then you need to understand how to design each and every image on Amazon for maximum impact.
Optimize Your Main Amazon Image – Standing out in a Sea of Products
The main image on Amazon is the most important image. It’s the one image that customers will see and judge your product on in the search results. The rest of your images will not matter if they never click through to your page to see them. In fact, if customers don’t click through it can affect a lot of other things in the whole sales flywheel (read more on that here).
As competition and quality increase it’s incredibly important to get the main image right.
“…the rest of your images will not matter if they never click through to your page to see them“
To figure out how to best stand out, first look up the main keyword(s) you would use to find your product and see what shows up. See what stands out to you and ask yourself these questions:
- How can you stand out in these results?
- How can you catch someone’s eye?
- What can you do differently from your competition?
Assuming you’ve done proper keyword research and written SEO-optimized copy so that you show up for the right searches then catching someone’s eye in the search results becomes the first step in getting the attention of the buyer. For a more in-depth look at SEO and how exactly it works on Amazon, check out our guide.
It’s the combination of this optimized image and what you write in the title that is going to pique their interest enough to click through to your listing. We’ve got a whole article here on exactly how you can optimize your Amazon product titles.
There are some tricks to help you stand out amongst the crowd.
- You can include some of the product out of its packaging to help add color and stand out.

2. You can design great packaging that communicates a lot of the product’s value and is visible in the main image.


3. If you don’t have these packaging options then a simple way to differentiate is to change the coloring.

4. Make sure your main Amazon image takes up as much white space as possible. In the image below you can see how this 8oz jar stands out much more than the other items despite them being much bigger.

Designing in this way provides 3 distinct advantages:
- You can communicate more information about your product to help the customer decide whether or not to click through to the product listing
- You can show off more color, helping to catch the customer’s eye in the crowded search results
- Your product can appear bigger by taking up more of the white space, making it easier to notice and read
At the end of the day there’s no point doing the rest of the work shown below if you don’t spend the time to optimize your main Amazon image first. We recommend finding a local photographer who specializes in product photography before you consider selling on Amazon.
The Second Image – Connecting Emotionally with the Buyer
When the first image is complete then you can start work on optimizing the second image. This image can be the trickiest to get right but sets the stage for success. All of your additional images and text will be read based on the emotional state that this second image puts your customer in.
So don’t bore them, engage them.
“All of your additional images and text will be read based on the emotional state that this second image puts them in“
Speaking directly to the emotional state of the customer requires a deep understanding of the problem your product solves. It also helps to understand their intent – more on why intent matters here. Here are some examples of how we’ve done this:
- For food products we often think about taste, smell or touch. The person is likely hungry or is looking for a feeling that this type of food gives them.
- Maybe you are trying to relieve stress or anxiety in which case you might want a calming scene with the product. This allows the customer to “envision” the experience of the product in their mind to put them at ease and relieve these negative emotions.
Here are some common emotions you might want to think about designing for:
- Hunger
- Warmth
- Stress & Anxiety
- Productive
- High energy
- Happiness
Since we work with a lot of food companies, the most common way we do this is to use an amazing image of food. Think of this like a simple “Instagram shot” but know that it requires an image taken by a professional (or highly skilled) food photographer.
A great photograph can do a lot of the heavy lifting for a listing with minimal design. When we’re working with brands we will often check to see if they already have these images on their Instagram page or website to reduce the cost for the client.
Optimize your Amazon listings with our free checklist

Amazon Images 3-5 – Communicating Your Product’s Value
Images 3-5 are the most straightforward and consist of what you would normally think of to include in your listing. These are the features of your product and how they benefit the consumer. Without them you will have a hard time communicating your value proposition.
There are as many ways to communicate these values as there are value props and, thankfully, there are usually industry standards (found on the top-selling products) that you can get inspiration from for your designs.
Don’t be lazy though, it’s important to consider your brand kit: colors, tones & communication style when designing each image and making sure they all align with the images surrounding it so as to not knock the customer out of the experience you are building for them.
Below is a perfect example of how Earth Chimp optimized their images for Amazon by sticking to their brand kit, using their signature font throughout their images and even bringing in the designs from their packaging. When you scroll through their images, there’s no doubt that it’s the same brand and they do a great job of calling out their benefits and features.
Notice also that they’ve considered optimizing for mobile as well since everything is large enough to read without having to zoom in. These images just make you want to buy!



Each image should flow from one to the next to keep the customer engaged, only breaking the customer out of flow if you are communicating a lot of information and need to wake them up. Just as in designing a website, it’s important that everything “feels right” or else you may lose trust. For this, we generally think about only slight changes in each image.
“Each image should flow from one to the next to keep the customer engaged…”
Here are the 3 main types of images we use most often in this section:
- Benefit-focused
- Feature-focused
- Envision image
One thing to note here would be on consumables and topicals that need to provide nutritional information and/or ingredients. This is where you want to include this information so that the customer can confirm that the product meets their needs in a way they are used to.
Here are some questions to ask yourself when determining what to include:
- What are the most important reasons a customer would buy this product (what benefit will they get)?
- What are the most important features a customer would check for to assure them they will get these benefits?
Amazon Images 6-7 – Communicating Trust & Authority
When a customer has determined that a product will meet their needs, they then come to their most important purchasing decision: is it safe to make the purchase?
A customer not only needs to determine if they’ve found what they need but also if it’s safe to spend the money and commit the time to making this decision.
If the brand does not have strong brand recognition then they need to communicate that it’s safe to buy from this brand. It needs to be a quality product and not some cheap item from someone trying to make a buck.
“A customer not only needs to determine if they’ve found what they need but also if it’s safe to spend the money and commit the time to making this decision.”
Hopefully in your images you have already communicated the quality of the product but now is the time to optimize them further by showing social proof and authority and humanizing your brand.
This is a combination of what we call “trust badges” and then, of course, branding.
There are 3 main ways we build trust with a potential customer on Amazon:
- Awards
- Certifications
- Brand Information
Some examples of trust-building badges right on the product image:


Using simple infographics on Amazon like the ones above is a nice way to cultivate trust and build your brand’s authority.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself if you’re looking for ideas:
- Has our product won any awards?
- How do we show that we are human too?
- How does our brand align with our customers’ values?
- What are our brand values?
If you’d like some inspiration, check out our post to see the creative ways brands are communicating their certifications and labels.
Images 8+ – Providing additional value (and reassurance)
By this point the bulk of your work should be done but in case you need the extra space, Amazon provides three more image slots for you to use.
These are good spots if there are some things you still want to communicate or additional documents you want to provide.
The most common instances of these would be if you needed to provide your actual certification for a product or if you had additional benefits/features that push back your branding images.


Should you work with a Professional?
As you might have figured out by now this is not easy. There’s a lot that goes into building a brand and selling successfully on Amazon, and optimizing the images is just one part.
Whether you work with a professional or not is primarily going to depend on your budget and/or if you already have this talent in-house. If you can afford it then the investment is surely worth it.
Great professionals know all these steps and know how to easily walk you through each step of the process.
What it comes down to is that selling on Amazon, like building a brand, is an investment. It needs to be done thoughtfully, and while saving money is always important, doing it yourself is usually not the best decision. If this is not done right then your product will sit in Amazon’s warehouses and you will pay storage fees, subscription fees and a substantial amount of time. Save yourself the stress and get help.
How to Find a Professional
There are many places to find professional help. Of course, there’s a good chance we would like to work with you so feel free to send us an email to ask (it’s free).
But you can also find professionals on Upwork, other agencies or even possibly within your network (we love LinkedIn!).
Most of all we just hope you will get help, it likely doesn’t cost as much as you think and the investment will be returned to you many times over as you sell more and more over the next months and years.
Best of luck and we hope to hear from you soon. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Tchau! 😊
Key Takeaways
Just to summarize, here’s what we hope you walked away with:
- Your Images on Amazon allow you to better replicate the in-store experience
- Well-designed Amazon images allow you to connect emotionally with the buyer
- Each image is an opportunity to show value and reassure the buyer that it’s safe to make the purchase
- They allow you to better communicate your product’s value in an easily digestible way
- And they provide you an opportunity to create brand recognition to help not just your single product but your whole brand grow