The Hack to Optimizing Your Listing Successfully
As an Amazon seller, you will recognize this: your product is as good as your customers think it is. In the end, they are the ones who decide to buy your product or not. They’re the ones who define the success of your product.
The importance of the consumer’s perception of your product is well studied. One of the models that gives an insightful representation of this, is the Kano model, named after Noriaki Kano (1).
This model makes it easier to understand which features are crucial to your consumers, which features they like or exceed their expectations, but also which features they do not like. This information is crucial for you as an Amazon seller, because it helps you to understand what consumers really think about your product.
One of the disadvantages of the model is that getting consumer insights is a long and painstaking process. Or should we say: it was one of the disadvantages? At Intellivy, we understand the importance of consumer insights: we put them front and center. The best? With our online member base, you can gather these insights quickly. Also, analyzing the results is a breeze with the automatically generated AI summary.
The Importance Of The Main Image
Just as a captivating storefront beckons passersby, your main image on Amazon serves as the ultimate visual gateway, luring in new customers with irresistible allure. Your main image is the first visual encounter consumers have with your product. That’s why you have to make sure your main image makes a good first impression: without an attractive main image, the customers will stay away, resulting in a disappointing CTR.
What is a main image?
The main image, sometimes referred to as the hero image, is the first image that appears to customers as they search on Amazon. Every main image on Amazon needs to adhere to Amazon’s guidelines. A more in-depth guide on the requirements can be found here.
What is the function of a main image?
The most important function of the main image is to attract customers to click. By clicking, the customer will be taken to the page of your product. There are other elements of your page need to take over the task of continuing the customer to purchase your product.
Other functions of the main image include:
- Entice and engage potential customers
- Convey the essence of your product
- Showcase the unique features of your product
- Highlight the benefits of your product
- Evoke an emotional connection with potential customers
It is important to understand that you optimizing your main image is something you can do 24/7. You can add an endless list of features, and tick all of the boxes above, but the most important thing is that the main image reflects what your customers want to see. Only if you nail that will customers click on your product and purchase it. Their wishes should be your guide for listing optimization.
What numbers can you expect to improve with an optimized main image?
Before going into the details of optimizing your Amazon listing, and more specifically your main image, it is important to understand which numbers will be affected by it. With an optimized main image and a fully optimized listing, here are the metrics that will be affected:
- Increased Click-Through Rates (CTR): By understanding consumer preferences and tailoring the main image accordingly, a higher CTR can be expected. A compelling and visually appealing image that resonates with the target audience is more likely to grab attention and entice consumers to click on the product.
- Increased Conversion Rates: An optimized main image can significantly improve conversion rates. When customers are presented with a visually appealing image that effectively communicates the product’s features, benefits, and value proposition, they are more likely to proceed with a purchase.
- Competitive Advantage: By utilizing consumer data to optimize the main image, Amazon sellers can differentiate themselves from competitors. A standout image that highlights unique selling points and addresses customer pain points positions the product as the superior choice among similar offerings.
- Improved Product Visibility: Amazon’s algorithm takes into account various factors, including customer engagement, when determining search rankings. An optimized main image that attracts higher engagement, such as clicks and conversions, can improve the product’s visibility on Amazon’s search results, increasing the chances of reaching a broader audience.
Optimizing your main image is always a good idea, but it’s hard to predict exactly how much impact this will have on your listing. It’s interesting to mention, though, that we’ve seen examples of a 109% increase in CTR and a 58% increase in sales with main image optimization.
Optimizing Your Main Image Step-By-Step
Optimizing your main image might seem like a daunting task: how do you get started, and where will it end? As said, we cannot exactly predict the end, but to help you get started, we’ve created a poll that will give you a customer’s perspective on your main image, and how you can make it better.
The name of the poll is ‘Get insights about your main image.’ You can find it on your dashboard by selecting the blue button ‘choose poll tye’ of the corresponding goal. A new page will open where you will be able to select one of two options.
#First. Select the option ‘Get Insights & Ideas.’ This will take you to the ‘Insights & Ideas Marketplace Poll.’ The goal of this poll is to gather ideas and inspiration for your main image, compared to your competition, from our member base. Watch this video to understand the main steps in this process. When creating the poll, you can open and close the instructions on the right hand side and we will guide you through the set-up.
#Second. The results of the Marketplace Poll will give you insightful data that you can manually analyze. Or, alternatively, the AI summary examines the data and shows you the strengths and weakness of your main image. It will give you inspiration to try new angles for your main image, and gives actionable recommendations to improve it.
#Third. Based on the data or the recommendations of the AI summary, improve your main image. Some examples of best practices are:
- Adding a packaging to the main image
- Adding icons or keywords to the product or the packaging
- Adding more color or contrast to the main image
We recommend making multiple versions of your main image in this step or asking your designer to do so. This will allow you to test these variations before uploading them on your actual listing.
#Fourth. If you have multiple variations of your main image, you can do two things:
- Optimize your main image right away, and hope for the best
- Put the variations of your main image to the test in a Competitive Comparison Poll before putting it live. The winner can then be uploaded.
Testing an optimization is a safer way, and running a Competitive Comparison Poll will give you the insights you’re looking for. There are, however, various ways to test your improved main image. In a next blog post, we will elaborate on how to do so.
(1.) Kano, N.; et al. (1984), Attractive Quality and Must-be Quality; Journal of the Japanese Society for Quality Control