Amazon product photos are the most critical and valued factor for any potential customer to decide if they want to buy. Unless you are a photographer yourself, you would require the expertise of a professional product photographer.
Now, it costs to hire them; however, let us save you from wasting your precious time, money, and the photographer’s resources.
Read along to understand how to order amazon product images efficiently and better.
Importance of Product Photos
Amazon can potentially turn even the simplest of homemade objects into bestsellers. Certain factors affect this. These factors include Product titles, images, features, descriptions, reviews, and ratings. However, it should also be noted that after the product title, people first see the product images.
According to established research, more than 60% of customers are likelier to buy a product with good-quality images. Of course, anybody would understand that 60% is significant enough to be taken lightly.
Another critical point to discuss here is that first impressions do matter. Therefore, it becomes even more critical to get good images so that the ranking of your Amazon listing may improve.
We already understand that product photos are critical for success on Amazon. To get good images, we need a product photographer. Of course, it costs a bit to hire them. However, it is better to understand the different elements that may cause these costs to increase.
Understanding the different aspects of product photos will help you save money and time when you hire a product photographer.
Amazon Policies for Images
It would be very annoying to have a product shoot done only to get the images declined by Amazon. There can be any rule or policing against the decline. Hence, the very first step in saving both your time and money is to keep up with Amazon’s policies regarding images. You must read the complete comprehensive list on Amazon’s site. However, just to give you an idea, here are some of the policies.
• The format should be TIFF, JPEG, GIF, and PNG.
• Image dimensions should be at least 1000*1000.
• The color mode should be SRGB or CMYK
These are just a few of the policies. Amazon has detailed policies for the main image and ‘other view’ images. You must go over them to save your resources.
Understand the Competition
Before you hire a professional photographer, you need to have some idea of what you require. An easy way to do this is to know what your competitors are doing in that niche. For this purpose, search the name of the product you will sell and then open the images of top sellers of that product. This will give you an idea about the likes and wants of customers.
However, there is no need to be obsessed with their images. You do not want to be a copycat. Just analyze their images to get inspiration from them.
Also, in addition to top sellers, you should look at the worst performers. This will give you some insights into what customers do not like.
The critical part to remember is that you are competing against all of the existing listings. Therefore, your images need to stand out among the rest and be eye-catching if you want to make a profit.
Make a rough sketch
Analyzing the images uploaded by competitors will give you a clear idea of what you want and what you do not want. By this stage, you will have a mental image that you want the photographer to create.
A more streamlined method to convey what you want is to create a rough pictorial description of that mental image. You need to put your idea on paper. It does not matter if they look like doodles or cartoonish. Perfecting them is the photographer’s job; your work is to explain your ideas in the best way possible.
Communicate with your Photographer
You are ready to get the work done now that you know what you seek. While hiring a professional, you need to communicate all the requirements and the essential details with them.
A communication gap will be detrimental to not only your resources but the photographer’s time as well. Therefore, it is better to sort out all the project details before the actual work is started. As we said before, the rough sketch you create will be essential for effective communication.
Another important thing you can use here is to write a detailed note of the requirements. It will also be helpful for the photographer as a way of reminding them of key details.
This brief should include every aspect of the project. For instance, please start by explaining Amazon’s policies. This would serve as a primary constraint, and they may be able to define the scope of the pictures better.
After that, you should describe your sketch and discuss all the texts and infographics you need on the images.
Creativity is the Key
As we discussed, you are competing with all the existing listings. Therefore, your images need to stand out among the rest and provide some value that others do not.
You need a photographer who is creative enough to capture the attention of viewers. You do not need bland images that will generate losses instead of profits. Hence, you should look at previous photographers’ work to know if they can produce creative images.
However, the photographer can only get as much creativity as your resources allow. It does not have to be too expensive, but if you require lifestyle photos showcasing your products, you will also have to bear the cost of models. If your budget does not allow it, you can find stock photos to go with the main product photos. It will save both your time and money.
A/B Tests of Product Images
Amazon has recently introduced a new feature that will help you understand whether your product images are doing good or badly.
You create two variants of your main images and then upload both. Amazon will give you weekly reports about which photos are doing better at no additional cost.
The process takes five minutes to set up, and the results are pretty simple to understand. It can be set up in the Manage Your Experiments tool in Seller Central. This simple experiment will save you the essential time you might otherwise waste if your product photos are not good enough.
Step up the game with 360 Images
Amazon recently introduced the use of 360 spin photos. Although Amazon started testing this feature back in 2018, they have only recently started to implement it for general use. Now, it must be remembered that Amazon has a gigantic customer base, therefore, they faced some technical issues with this.
Amazon also needed to make sure that visual experience and image quality will not deteriorate which made them test it for a longer period. However, the recent 60-day pilot program was quite encouraging which led to the addition of this feature.
As the name suggests, 360-spin photos allow users to inspect the product from every direction and angle. This added interaction has proven to not only increase sales but also lower return rates. Before ordering product images, you should know that 360 images are a bit more expensive than stills, however, they will definitely, improve your listing and product ranking.
Check my 360 product photography work so you can have a better idea if could work for you.
Conclusion
Investing in high-quality product images is essential if you want to maximize your sales and minimize losses. The right photographer can help you achieve this goal, and this guide will provide you with the necessary information and advice to help you make the best decisions for your business.
Taking the time to do your research and invest in good product images is a wise decision that can pay off in the long run.