A top-notch digital product listing image is an essential element for a successful product. You must capture the attention of your customer and create motivation to click on your product to read more. More clicks is more opportunities for sales and income.
It isn’t necessary to hire a graphic designer or have access to expensive design tools to create a listing image that helps your product stand out and generate strong sales. By following a few key principles and avoiding common mistakes, your product image will be an asset to your product and your pocketbook.
1. Create a digital product listing image template
A listing image template provides a number of benefits. Having a consistent design, colors and format for your listing images makes the process more efficient. Once you design your template, when you create new products, you can simply update product-specific information.
For your customers, a template increases brand recognition. It is easy for them to identify your products. This is especially beneficial if you sell your products on marketplace websites such as RD2RD or Etsy.
Below are examples of RD2RD vendors that utilize a consistent template for their listing images. You can see how this approach creates an easily recognizable brand and also makes creating the image more efficient once the template has been created.
Ashley Thomas from The Fresh Beet
Karla Moreno-Bryce from Nutritious Vida.
2. Use a digital mock-up for product listing images
One of the challenges for both online buyers and sellers is that you can’t physically touch or examine the product prior to purchase. A digital mock-up helps to bridge this gap and give customers the ability to see the product prior to purchase.
A digital mock-up could be an image of pages of your handout fanned out on a desk background or shown on a tablet. The customer can immediately recognize what the product is and gauge the quality of the content.
Dianne Rishihof of Health Takes Guts
Corinne Kantor of Diet Tech Central
3. Make your digital product listing image visually appealing
A digital product listing image needs to be eye-catching. The image will likely be the first thing that people see when shopping online and if your image doesn’t stand-out, you’ll miss out on clicks to your product and sales.
Visually appealing digital product listing images use a combination of color, text and images to create a cohesive design. To find design inspiration, browse online sites such as RD2RD, Etsy, TeachersPayTeachers and Amazon. Once you have identified inspiration images, break them down into individual elements such as text, color, background and digital mock-up.
Karla Moreno-Bryce from Nutritious Vida.
4. Think of your listing image like a billboard
Your listing image should function like a billboard. For your target customer, it should be immediately recognizable that it is a product for them. If you are selling a book or printable, it should be obvious at a quick glance what the product is. In many cases, your listing image will be the only part of your listing that customers see. For example, Google displays images in search results and people click based solely on the visual.
Your digital product listing image should contain enough information about your product to “stand-alone” without your written product description. When you think of it like a billboard and to capture attention and encourage the customer to click and read more information, you will drive more traffic to your product and generate more sales.
5. Use combination of text and images
Text (if included) should support the product’s purpose and catch the attention of the customer. Think of your own experience shopping online and what captures your attention. Most likely, you are first drawn to a stylish image and note a few keywords that capture your attention. You the decide to click on the product and read more information.
It is not necessary to include the complete title of your product on the digital product listing image. You may choose to use a keyword or even ask a question? Your goal with your product listing is to capture the attention of your target customer.
6. Use a background image
A background image can set the stage and help to capture your customer’s attention. For example, using a background image of a cutting board with fruits and vegetables makes a statement about your product and adds visual appeal. A picture of a professional desk and computer would make a completely different statement.
For background images, you can take your own photos or utilize free or paid stock photography. One tip for finding images is to include the search term “background.” Typically, you are looking for images that have space to add a digital mock-up or page image.
7. Optimize the size of your digital product listing image
Your listing image will likely need to be a specific height and width. Typically this information is specified by the online marketplace or shopping cart platform you are using. The image size could be landscape, portrait or square. Not using the correct dimensions for your product listing images will result in parts of the image being cut-off and an unprofessional visual for customers. This will greatly decrease your product sales.
For RD2RD, listing images dimensions are 930 pixels wide by 700 pixels high. Creating a custom sized image can be done for free in design tools like Canva or in paid tools like Photoshop. For more, watch this detailed video tutorial on how to create a custom sized image with Canva.
Summary
Take time to design a top-notch product listing image. Use a high-quality background image to capture the attention of your customer and speak to the product type and content. Include a digital mock-up to show both the quality of your product, but to also peak your customer’s interest and generate a click for more details. Avoid too much text and think of your listing image as a billboard with a focus more on keywords and capturing attention.
Want to find out if your listing image is optimized. Download the product listing audit tool and use it to assess your product listing image and product description.
