Top hacks to improve your Amazon main image and dramatically boost CTR

TL;DR

• Optimizing your main image can dramatically boost your CTR and make your product stand out.

• Ensure your product photos are high-quality, well-lit, and professionally showcased before editing.

• Over 70% of Amazon traffic is mobile—make sure your image is clear and recognizable even in thumbnail size.

• Use your product’s packaging to highlight key information, but avoid clutter and drastic changes.

• Use A/B testing tools like Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments to find the best-performing image.

So after months and months of consistent, back-breaking efforts, your product is finally ranking on page #1. NOW WHAT? Well, the battle is only half done. The first page of Amazon search results has about 40-50 products. Out of those, how do you ensure that customers choose YOUR product?

These are the elements customers notice about your product on every search result page:

• Reviews: This is the first thing a customer sees on the search results page. If you ask me, they have the most impact on purchase behavior. However, collecting reviews takes time, so be patient.

• Title: I won’t say customers don’t look at the title—some do. But the title is more for Amazon’s algorithm to help you rank higher rather than for customers.

• Price: Ah, it can be a deciding factor. But there isn’t much you can do other than increase or decrease it. Also, with Amazon being such a cutthroat marketplace, I’m sure you’ve kept the price as low as possible.

• Main image: Now, this is the fun part. For years, sellers have ignored this gold mine. But, if done right, the Amazon main image can dramatically boost your CTR (Click-Through Rate).

Out of all these, the main image is the ONLY element that is the easiest to optimize, and if done correctly, it can significantly impact your CTR.

Is it worth investing in optimizing your main image?

I get why you have this question. You’ve already spent so much on optimizing your listing, adding stock, and running PPC campaigns. Do you need another expense on your list?

Trust me, you do. The main image is the first thing a customer sees, and you know what they say: first impressions are lasting impressions.

Besides, if you hire the right Amazon photo editing services, it won’t even cost you that much time or effort. If you already have optimized images but your main image isn’t eye-catching or standing out, it’s probably because you didn’t choose the right Amazon agency.

Hacks to optimize your Amazon main image for improved CTR

#1: First things first, make sure the product image is of HIGH QUALITY

No amount of editing techniques will help if the image itself is of low quality. The way the product is photographed—from the angle, the positioning of the model (if the product is apparel), the model's posture, and the way the product is ironed—all make a world of difference.

So before editing your main image, make sure the product photo you currently have is high quality, well-lit, and professionally showcased.

Your hero image mustn't be cluttered. Ensure there's not too much going on, and if the product is available as a set, everything included should be neatly arranged.

Take a look at this example: It's a set of bath products, but notice how messy and unorganized the items are:

Now, compare that to these images. See how everything is arranged so neatly and clearly? This is what you should aim for:

Now that you understand how much of a difference the way your product is photographed can make, here are some additional tips to keep in mind during the shoot:

• Shoot at a slight angle: Positioning the product at around a 15-20-degree angle can add depth and allow customers to see multiple sides, making the image more engaging.

• Mannequin shots for clothing: For apparel and accessories, using a mannequin often provides the most effective presentation, showing how the product looks in a real-world scenario.

• Three-quarter view for electronics: If your product has key features on multiple sides, a three-quarter view is ideal for showcasing these details.

• Use subtle shadows: Introducing soft shadows can add depth, making the product appear more three-dimensional and visually appealing.

• Highlight the shape and form: Slight angles help convey the product’s shape and form, giving customers a better understanding of what they’re buying.

• Layer components tastefully: If your product has multiple components, consider a layered approach to the shot, which can elegantly display the depth and variety of the items.

We always suggest our clients go for 3D product rendering as it creates a flawless-looking main image. Plus, rendering is more of an investment rather than an expense because once the product is rendered, sellers can not only use it for the main image but also for other listing images, A+ Content, store design, product inserts, brochures, and more.

See below the effects of product rendering

#2: Make sure your hero image looks good on mobile

According to a 2024 report by Statista, over 70% of Amazon's traffic comes from mobile devices. With smaller screens, it’s easy for things to appear cluttered.

Take a look at the image below as an example. You can see there are too many elements competing for attention. For instance, there's a cup of coffee and coffee beans being shown. If the product was a coffee bean grinder, showing beans would make sense, but our product is a frother—the beans have nothing to do with what we're trying to highlight.

Moreover, the packaging mentions "80+ colors," and trying to showcase all these options is making the image look cluttered.

Mobile users tend to scroll quickly, so it’s crucial that your hero image stands out and compels them to stop and check out your products. When scrolling on mobile, the image appears much smaller, so your product must be still recognizable even when the image is thumbnail-sized.

#3: If your product has packaging…

If your product comes with packaging, you can use it to highlight the most important information directly on the packaging itself.

Start by asking yourself: What’s the single most crucial piece of information you want to convey? Is it that the product is sugar-free, available in a value pack, provides a month’s supply, is 100% chemical-free, or maybe that it’s easy to wear?

Take a moment to brainstorm and figure out the key detail you want to emphasize. This will help you focus on what’s most important to your customers, making your product stand out more effectively.

Here are some examples

Avoid making major changes to the packaging. It shouldn't look drastically different. The key is to make subtle adjustments to the packaging or label so that the changes are not noticeable.

#4: If your product does not have packaging…

Now, let’s say your product doesn’t come in box-type packaging. In that case, you can add a label directly on the product. However, this label must be integrated in a way that looks natural and like it truly belongs there. If Amazon suspects that the label is not part of the original packaging, they may suppress your listing. So, any optimizations should be done very carefully and tactfully.

Here are some examples

Now, no one cares whether the labels shown in the above image are actually on the product or not. However, they convey important information that helps boost the CTR (Click-Through Rate).

#5: Show without saying

Let’s say you’re selling a heavy-duty, durable pop-up canopy tent that’s super easy to pack and carry. That’s a lot to convey, right? And obviously, you can’t fit all that info on the main image. So what do you do? You can showcase these features through visuals, just like this seller did in the example below.

Or take another scenario: you’re selling grill gloves that are both fireproof and knife-proof. Instead of just writing "fireproof," you could creatively display those qualities like the seller did in the example below.

#6: Make the image aesthetically appealing

Even if you want to play it safe and avoid adding any text to the images, there are still plenty of ways to make the image look aesthetically appealing. There are many elements you can add to enhance the visual appeal and make the image more engaging.

If your product is transparent or visually plain, you can enhance its appeal by adding vibrant colors to the image:

Or you can also show different angles of the product like the example below:

#7: A/B test your main image

Now that your main image is optimized, it's time to split test to see what works best. You can either use Amazon’s own Manage Your Experiments tool or a service like Pickfu to determine which image performs better for your Amazon listing.

Here’s how you can A/B test your optimized main image for CTR (Click-Through Rate) using Amazon's Manage Your Experiments:

• In the Amazon Seller Central dashboard, navigate to Brands and select Manage Experiments.

• On the experiments dashboard, click Create a New Experiment.

• Choose the A/B test for the Main Image option.

• Search for the ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) of the product you want to test. If the ASIN is part of a variation, select the entire parentage as the reference ASIN.

• Enter a descriptive test name, duration, and desired start date for the experiment. You can also state a hypothesis about what you hope to learn from the test.

• Upload the alternative image (B image) that you want to test against the current main image.

See you next week!

Don't just read and forget this article—get up and start optimizing the main image of your listings! The days when sellers only focused on PPC and nothing else are long gone. Today, even small details like your main images greatly impact your KPIs.

If you can't do Amazon listing image design yourself, contact our Amazon consultants. Whether you need to create your main image from scratch or want to optimize your existing one, we can help!