Plan the Image Gallery Control Sheet

Outcome: Define the main image, benefit frames, comparison frames, dimension frames, use-case images, and trust signals before design work starts.

What to do in this lesson

Watch: start with the lesson video.
Learn: use the summary and key points to capture the operating principle.
Do: complete the action steps against one real product, SKU, campaign, supplier, or workflow.
Submit: write one action card with owner, evidence, next step, risk, status, and review date.

Watch

Hosted on Google Drive.

Lesson summary

This lesson teaches Amazon sellers how to effectively create secondary images for their product listings. It emphasizes the importance of secondary images in converting shoppers, and provides best practices such as focusing on benefits over features, using simple and visually appealing designs, and maintaining consistent branding. The lesson also covers specific guidelines for image order, size, and layout to optimize the customer experience.

Key points

Secondary images are crucial for converting shoppers and building trust in your product
Focus on benefit-led images that show how the product solves the customer’s problem or improves their life
Use simple, clear, and visually appealing designs that are easy to understand at a glance
Maintain consistent branding and styling across all images
Test and optimize your images based on customer feedback and performance data

Action checklist

Craft benefit-led secondary images that highlight the main advantages of your product
Ensure your images are legible, visually appealing, and consistent with your brand
Test and refine your secondary images to maximize their impact on conversions

Full transcript

Open transcript

Hello, Titans. Welcome to this Titanway training on secondary images or your Amazon listing. So what are secondary images? These are the images on your product page that come after your main image. They typically appear either to the left of the main image or underneath placement is category dependent. As you can see here on this picture that they are underneath the main image, but you can’t control it. So wherever they are on your category, that’s where they’re going to be. So let’s get back to the shopper journey because we want to understand the perspective of our customers after winning the click from the search results page. The customer is going to click and then land on your listing and the first thing that they usually do is look at your secondary images. You typically only have a few seconds to prove to them that your product can solve their problem before they’re going to dig any deeper. They’re going to visually scan the images before they do anything else. And if the images make them feel like your product solves their problem, then they’re going to look at other conversion factors like price, the bullets or anything else before they make their purchase. Remember secondary images act as a visual guide to help shoppers make informed purchase decisions. So if you think about the importance of these images, you really want to know that each image has to show your customer why your product matters to them and your first three images have to answer all their main questions and concerns. So you have to make every image count. Your secondary images are the hook that keeps them on the page. So let’s look at best practices. The order of the images should mirror the order of ideas on your bullet points. You can add between seven and nine images to your listing, depending on your category. If you plan to feature a video on your listing, it’s going to take the place of one of your images, typically your seventh. These images can be clicked on, scrolled, and zoomed on. And if you have a video as your image number seven, you need to be able to zoom a click on to the zoom for them to see the images eight and nine. They’re only going to show up once you’ve clicked in. These are going to display differently on desktop versus mobile devices. They should be easy to understand and be of consistent design. Well executed secondary images can differentiate your product, elevate perceived quality and build trust. Now the goal, the main rule of your secondary content is to convert, but also it’s there to differentiate you from your competition and to build trust. Your secondary content should directly speak to your target audience and communicate all the benefits and the main features. It’s there to build the perception of quality and value as your customers can’t touch or assess the product for themselves. So you have to show them in a way that matters to them because they can’t touch it. They can’t compare it any other way. In addition to the social proof and reviews, the secondary images are the best way to build trust and convert shoppers into customers. Remember, the content you create should not overwhelm your customers. You do not want it to create analysis paralysis. Shoppers are on Amazon to make fast purchasing decisions and to get the product the next day. The content you create should reflect that behavior and be highly optimized for very fast scanning on a mobile phone. Remember here that the key point is that it’s hard to be text on mobile devices. You have to follow a few simple rules to make sure that your content can be consumed in its entirety. Don’t use too much text. If you have to, make sure it’s large enough to read on a phone. A simple benefit statement is honestly all you need. And don’t construct infographics that are too complex and hard to decode. I’m going to show you some examples of good images so that you can see how simple, clear communication is going to win the day. Now, this approach of Show Me Don’t Tell Me is going to go a long way and I’m going to show you some examples of that. So if your product is like waterproof and shockproof, instead of saying that all over the image, find a creative way of communicating that. And do a few small text overlays that highlight the benefits because people are going to scan your listings. They are very rarely going to actually read them. So let’s talk about image size again, just like in the main image, image size matters, but it is a little bit different here. Secondary images need to be at least 2000 pixels on the longest side, just like with the main image, that’s to make sure that it can be zoomable. But the square format of a five by five is usually what’s best for max to maximize visibility. This format is good for both desktop and mobile in most categories, but Amazon explores different display methods. So you really want to check the display in your category at the time that you’re doing this and really use your best judgment because in some cases adopting a four or five format may offer a competitive advantage. Make sure to check your category and your listing when you upload on both desktop and mobile, that’s key across the board. You constantly have to test and you constantly have to look in the real life environment of Amazon to see how it’s actually displaying and remain open to ensure that your images maximize the available space every single time. All right, let’s look at some examples here is an example of a hook right you need to grab their attention and I want you to think about what is the state of mind of your customer when they go to Amazon and they put that keyword in the search box, what is going through their head. The hero cosmetics is a great job with this pimple emergency literally all they say anyone has ever used these knows that these things are great for a pimple emergency. So let’s look at their hooks they have another hook here. This is showing how the clients life is going to be instantly better if the product is purchased right to do this you have to know what it is. The customer wants in this case they want to trap the gun they want to stop picking their face and they know that if they use this product in six hours they’re going to be in a better state because their pimple is going to be on the way to healing. So this is where your research comes in understand your customer understand exactly what they want. So when you communicate to them make it really, really easy to understand and show them don’t just tell them right you want to use more visuals than textual because they are just going to scan for information. So in this case we have a very simple communication it’s before they use the product and after they use the product and a very clear statement results after six to eight hours and you can see that they start out with this pimple on their face and afterwards they have the patch and the patches is sucked it all out. Remember you must make it very simple for them to understand the exact result they’re going to get in this image does that exact thing you’re going to get results in six to eight hours. Remember here you really want to focus on features on benefits rather than features so let’s go over the difference right features describe what a product is or what it does. A benefit tells how product can provide value or solve a problem for the customer. The key point here is both her important features validate the products abilities and benefits show how those abilities are relevant to the customer how it’s going to make their life better right. So the customers the hero of the story and the product is just the guide you have to let the hero lead show how the hero is going to move forward on their journey in a better state of mind and a better position then before. So here’s some information on benefit led images you want to turn your features of your product and the benefits and you’re going to use the which means that game that we talked about in the bullets tutorial. So what is the instant result of purchasing this product and what is the additional benefit compared to your competitor shoppers care more about how the product makes their life better than the specifics of how it is achieved. Again, sometimes people have difficulty doing that so let’s play the which means that game here using this little table from have spot. So the headphones that I’m selling are wireless which means that I have no more tangled chords. So in this case no more tangled chords what’s going to go at the front of the bullet and it’s also going to go on the secondary image. So the big headline no more tangled chords and then the small subheading wireless for your convenience or something like that let’s do it again. So my this meal kit arrives ready to eat which means that it saves time preparing meals you get the picture so do this for your product think about all the features that you have and play the which means that game. Now here’s another example of turning features in to benefits so we have this beautiful image it’s the resin kit again they have the avatar in the image in this case this is the first secondary image on the listing and it’s incredibly effective it uses the avatar it allows the customer to see themselves using the product. And then they go with the instant result the instant result is creating masterpieces and the additional benefit is it’s going to be on multiple surfaces. And this image does such a great job it shows the state of mind it shows all the different products that you can make with it or at least some examples and it tells you exactly what you need to know and does it in a creative way. So you do need to highlight necessary features don’t let me make you think that you don’t you do need to include information that customers need to decide if your products going to give them the result they want here’s some examples size color quantity material basic functions. And what’s included right the key point here is to ask yourself if you would be willing to purchase a product online if any of that above information was missing from your listing. And if the answer is no then you need to include it so here’s a couple of examples I’m going to give you of a necessary features image in this case this is just the facts right it’s clear. And we know exactly what the basic information is that’s going to inform you until whether or not you want to make this purchase you get two clubs bulls you get two food containers. And it shows you the size of the product it’s really effective and it’s clean and you know earlier I talked about making sure that the images are consistent so as you can see with like main image on the epoxy and that secondary image. There’s the same look and feel to the product the same should go true for all viewers if you have a product a secondary image with blue banding like this you want to kind of include that. Throughout your images they don’t have to be all exactly the same but they need to go they to be obviously complimentary to one another don’t make it a different style keep the fonts the same keep the color schemes the same make it look like it goes together right. Getting back to this image you want to set clear expectations decrease confusion and build trust this is going to reduce the likelihood of returns or negative reviews because they know exactly what to expect. Now here’s an example getting back to our epoxy of how you can take a basic image that just gives you information and make sure that it’s not boring right you can include the end result in that state of mind being here we’ve got the artwork again. They’re highlighting features and they’re doing it in a creative way the key is to convert shoppers into buyers throughout all of your images right but here they’ve done it in a creative way and yet showed every single thing that’s included with the product. Now as we talked about making it easy to read is fundamental it has to be clear easy to read text legibility really drives conversions so make sure that your product I mean your pictures are legible and clear and have a minimal amount of text keep the communication simple and focus on the results that they’re going to get. Keep your text large with bold headlines and a medium subheading as you can see here the headline is the benefit chop without the fear of toxins the subheading is the feature that it’s BPA free material and remember text is much smaller on mobile and as we’ve already learned 70% of shoppers shop on mobile so always keep that in mind. Now if sometimes we have to have more than one idea in an image and that’s where the rule of three comes in you want to limit to three key points per image to avoid overwhelming your audience this is going to promote clarity and simplicity and you can really prioritize your visuals and icons over text here we’ve got three ideas larger cleaning surface absorbs more liquid and drives fast icons that match the text. And a beautiful picture of the product in use by the avatar included in the image you want to emphasize the show don’t tell principle which this picture with the avatar does and stick to concise phrases that support the image this is going to make it easy to scan from left to right. Just remember that the rule of three helps shoppers to quickly absorb information and stay focused so that they will transform from being a shopper into being a buyer. Now let’s talk about how color type and the layout I’ve hit on that a few minutes ago but you want to make sure that your font size is easy to read on all devices you want to test that anything any doubt at all you’re on the side of caution and fix it. When I view it on mobile and on desktop before you launch and you want to select color combinations that are really visually appealing don’t put your text to close together spread it out and organize your content in a way that guides the viewers eyes through the image avoid excessively wide or long text blocks. Now the key point here is to use type in other words a font color and layouts that improve the shoppers experience and increases conversions. And you want to keep it simple keep images clear and concise don’t overburden your customer you want to really help that analysis paralysis because too much information can lead to decision fatigue. You want to keep your content targeted and relevant and valuable and you want to highlight only the most critical and meaningful features of your product that are going to influence purchasing decisions. Now comparison images are often very busy I think you should only use them if it really makes sense for your product but if you are going to use a comparison image like this with all of this data. Make it very clear and communicative in a way that’s not going to overwhelm your customer. Now I would be doing you a disservice if we didn’t talk about lifestyle images because they are a very effective way of communicating ideas you really want to use lifestyle images whenever you can because they create emotional appeal lifestyle images can evoke emotions and create a story around the product. And it really helps shoppers see themselves in that post purchase state of mind these images show the size and proportion of the products the customer can see exactly what they will get. This is going to help reduce returns and then also by including your avatar through lifestyle images you can connect the brands identity and values to the way the shopers see themselves it’s a really important component. The scenario should be consistent with the products purchase purpose rather and the brands messaging to help resonate with its target audience remember guys a picture is worth a thousand words. Showing your products in action can provide a clear understanding of its usage its features and its benefits and it can create an emotional connection to the product and the brand in the mind of the shopper. So let’s show some examples here we have lifestyle images featuring your avatar you want them using the product to create an immediate human connection it lets your customers visualize themselves using your product in their daily lives which fosters a personal and engaging shopper experience. Here’s some things to remember you want to prioritize user experience every time images have to be easy to understand legible across all devices especially mobile. Make sure to be unique and stand out from your competition with unique and distinctive images that effectively showcase your products value and its benefits and make sure that you focus on invoking positive emotions craft images that resonate with your target audience. You want to create your own experiences desires and needs fostering a positive emotional connection with your product and you want to validate with testing continually test and refine your images based on your customer feedback and performance data in our main images video I talked about testing and gave you ways of finding testing companies talk about it on your handle look in the resource library and don’t forget to test your images. So here’s some more things to remember consistent branding makes a difference maintain brand consistency across all your images because this is going to build trust and recognition with customers make sure to highlight your differentiation visually demonstrate with such a product apart from the competition. Above all drive conversions crafted with these guidelines Amazon secondary images are such a powerful tool to significantly boost your conversion rates and drive business growth don’t let this opportunity slip by you. So this is a huge question of debate I get this question all the time on huddles and it’s about the order of your images so I’m going to give you some suggestions and just remember this is a suggestion your category might be different there might be a reason that you would do it differently. So this is what I recommend most of the time but even within this recommendation you can see there’s some room for variables person foremost you have to start with your main image that’s never going to change but what do you make for your second image I recommend benefit led image with your main benefit and ideally with your avatar think about the epoxy one it was a benefit of great masterpieces on multiple services. With the avatar in the image that’s what I want you to think about for your second your second image then we’ve got third image which should either be another benefit led image or maybe something that has a size or some technical information same thing for number four. Then use case another use case for your seventh image another use case or instructions or a tutorial if needed right some products are more complicated and need that in the secondary images that that’s your product and you need to show people how to create how to build it or how to assemble it or have instructions of some kind that’s the place for it. Now the reason I’ve got number three and four being the same with that size technical because obviously you’re only going to include that once I want you to think about your product and think about if there’s a feature that really needs to be highlighted such as the size or if it’s a technical product. If it’s not that crucial based on reviews or a confusion that you think is going to happen then make that your fourth image not your third one right sip with the benefit as your third image unless it’s a really really crucial factor so that’s going to be for you to judge. All right guys now that we’re at the end of this tutorial I want you to use this lesson to provide a blueprint for creating benefit led secondary images for your Amazon listings now you can continue on to the next lesson in this training. We’re going to continue to learn about best practices. Thank you.

Resources

Source lesson: Listing Content Part 5: Secondary Images
Resources: none attached yet.

Track: 03 — Listing, Launch & Review Engine
Module: Listing Conversion System