Whether you’re a million-dollar seller or just starting out, you may not know that your Amazon image ratio could be working against you.
What we mean by that, is that it could be costing you thousands in sales! This is because your main product photos aren’t capitalizing on all the possible interactions in search. Especially so if you’re not optimizing for BOTH mobile and desktop users.
What even the most experienced sellers don’t know is that even if you rank on the first page, you’re probably still being overlooked by buyers. We’ve made it our job to make sure it isn’t.
As a full-service Amazon optimization agency, we’re always looking for ways to help our clients stand out in their niche. We’ve optimized hundreds of thousands of Amazon product images and have found the best dimensions for main and secondary images.
This blog won’t go in-depth about technical image basics. If you’re looking to learn about the basics of what to include in your images, review our Ultimate Guide to Amazon Optimization.
Otherwise, this guide includes some of our top-secret and SIMPLE tips for seller success, so read on!
Understanding Amazon Image Size & Ratio
Before we go any further, you may be wondering, what is an aspect ratio?
Aspect ratio is the proportional relationship of the width to the height of an image. The first digit represents the width and the second digit represents the height.
Think of it as calculating your pixels into reduced fractions. We don’t need to talk too much math here, but image aspect ratios show up in your everyday life:
- Most cinema films are displayed on a horizontal 16:9 widescreen
- Photos on Instagram are sized reflect a 1:1 square.
Specific ratios serve the purpose of framing a film or photograph’s story in its best form. You see everything you want to see inside the frame and nothing else outside of it.
Wouldn’t it make sense that businesses need to leverage this strategy when selling products as well?
On Amazon, this means besides optimizing the way that your main image looks, you should be conscious of the dimensions of your first images are.
Optimizing main images isn’t a new thing. Some sellers will even go as far as split-testing their Amazon product image before uploading.
Save yourself the money it costs to split-test with audiences who aren’t even relevant to your business. The optimization experts at Lab 916 have created an infographic to help you visualize it!
Why Amazon Image Aspect Ratio is Important
It is, arguably, the single most important factor you can control in the selling process. The image aspect ratio of your product’s main Amazon thumbnail depicts how much space it “takes up” in results, as well as how it looks on the product page.
By “taking up” we simply mean that Amazon allots every product a certain amount of space to display your product. You want to be sure you’re choosing the right image size so that it takes up all of the space given to you.
Your main Amazon product image is the photo that customers will see first in search results and Amazon product pages. Think of it as a first impression–you only get 1 chance to draw a customer in.
Compare the listing above as it appears in search with other results. Does it stand out or do your eyes naturally pass over it?
In this section, we’ll familiarize you with Amazon image requirements and the BEST main image aspect ratio.
Basic Amazon Image Requirements
Though there isn’t much information about Amazon’s preferred image aspect ratio, the general consensus on the widest image dimension you can upload is 5:1.
However, in general, you’ll want to avoid uploading an image with 5:1 dimensions. More on this later.
Amazon technical requirements specify that images must meet these minimums:
- Amazon Product images must be at least 1000 pixels on its longest side and 500 pixels on its shortest side
- The product must fill at least 85% of the image, meaning that white space should only take up 15% of the entire image
- Images are required to have a resolution minimum of 72 dpi
- Images must not exceed 10,000 pixels on its longest side
- Maximum image size is 10 MB
- Main Amazon images must be on a pure white background
Like basic rules state, you should opt for high-resolution images that aren’t blurry if they’re expanded or zoomed in on.
However, when you upload images to Amazon, the site compresses them into a few smaller sizes to display in different places.
This is why sellers should make sure their Amazon product images and product photography are at an optimal resolution. We say “optimal” because super high-res images can become blurry during compression.
Choosing the right image aspect ratio and resolution allows the site to showcase your product image in sponsored ads, search results, or similar product carousels while retaining its quality.
Amazon’s technical requirements exist as guidelines, but that doesn’t mean they are not the most optimized specs for main images. In the next section, we’ll reveal the best practices we’ve discovered for our clients.
The Best Image Size for Main Amazon Images – Mobile
During our research with uploading hundreds of thousands of main images for our clients, we’ve found that the best Amazon image ratio for product photos in all product categories is 4:5, specifically 2000 px by 2500 px.
You’ll see in our examples below that images with the optimized image ratio appear larger in search results, though on product pages it appears the same.
Though it may seem like a small detail, images that appear in mobile garner more attention (and more clicks) because of a simple principle of design called Emphasis.
In a hierarchy, you emphasize elements you want to stand out. Emphasizing an element means toning down the elements that pull attention away from the focus.
Adding emphasis to your main images, in this case, optimizing the image ratio so that it’s displayed bigger than unoptimized competitor images, helps consumers unconsciously classify your product as the primary product choice.
Additionally, not only will your product photos appear larger in searches, it will also be easier to see all the features of your product.
Main Image Optimization
Aside from technical image aspect ratios, our experts recommend paying attention to how your main image looks.
Conduct a little competitor analysis. For example, if you’re selling a facial scrub, check to see how competing items are displaying features in their main images.
Are your competitors showcasing the texture of its exfoliating cream? If it’s a product that’s texture may be important, that should be emphasized on the Amazon image.
Optimizing how your image looks is important because it presents an opportunity for you to target your audience directly.
A Taller Image Aspect Ratio Isn’t Bulletproof
You’ll need to consider the general shape of your product before choosing to optimize it. If you opt for a taller image aspect ratio, you may end up losing some width of your product images.
For example, for square-shaped products like jars of cream, sellers may opt to keep a square cropped image because the entire product takes up more space in the image and so, appears larger and with more detail.
Thus, products that are as wide as they are tall will benefit from staying the regular 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels. If not, our recommended 1:1.5 aspect ratio may crop out parts of your product.
If this is the case for your product, our experts recommend filling the 1:1 ratio space with your product, leaving as little white space as possible. Alternatively, we’ve seen that a 4:5 image ratio works well as a compromised image aspect ratio.
To help you decide what works best for your product, we’ve rounded up an example of what all three look like when displayed on mobile:
The Best Image Size for Secondary Product Images – Desktop
Secondary images are the images that appear after your main image on the product page. You’ll notice the main difference in viewing these depends on whether or not you’re viewing on a desktop.
When designing secondary product images, you’ll want to optimize for desktop. This is because, on mobile, the Amazon app automatically resizes images to fit within a horizontal scroll unless the image is enlarged.
Amazon allows sellers up to 9 additional product images, however, only 6-7 will appear on your product listing’s page. This depends on the product category and whether sellers opt to upload a video thumbnail.
Unlike main Amazon thumbnail, secondary product images on desktop display differently depending on which category it’s in.
If you’re Amazon savvy enough to be reading this blog, you deserve to know one of our secret tips for conversion success: remember that customers eat with their eyes first.
At Lab 916, our optimization team employs this mantra in 2 ways:
- Strategically choosing which categories to upload products to capitalize on image space
- Creating images to the right specifications to provide more informational and visual value
Optimizing Amazon Product Listings on Mobile & Desktop
There’s no absolute answer to whether you should optimize your content for being viewed on mobile or on desktop.
There are pros for either user platform because the way your images are displayed are different depending on which they’re viewed on.
For example, there is a far greater number of mobile users, but more conversions come from desktop users.
Balancing impressions and conversions is a tricky art to narrow down. Ultimately, you’ll need to choose based on your seller instincts.
At Lab 916, we feel that the safe option for our clients is to design for mobile. This is because most mobile browser and mobile app users make up more than half of all Amazon’s web traffic.
Additionally, an Amazon product image viewed on a desktop is more forgiving than on mobile because of the natural difference in screen sizes.
The Takeaway
If you haven’t started optimizing your main image aspect ratios, start now. If your product stands out in search, it’s more likely to gain attention. Call it a little splash of personality, or perhaps a certain je ne sais quoi.
As optimization experts, we feel just meeting the minimum Amazon image requirements isn’t good enough. At least, not when there’s a way to better control how it connects with a buyer.
In an online marketplace that offers everything from A to Z, you’ll need to take advantage of every tip and trick possible.
Do all that you can to increase conversions in a way that few sellers think about. Regulating the amount of space an image takes up in searches and optimizing the amount of information it presents.
What do you think about the different image aspect ratios for specific categories? Do you have any Amazon image discoveries that we missed and that you’d like to share? Feel free to share ’em below.
Happy optimizing!
