Amazon vs Website Visuals: Why Your Website Strategy Won't Work on Amazon (And What to Do Instead)

As a visual branding expert specialising in eCommerce optimisation, I've witnessed a common challenge that keeps cropping up: businesses trying to replicate their website's visual strategy on Amazon. While this might seem logical, it's actually holding back your Amazon success. Let's explore why Amazon demands its own unique visual approach – and how you can master it to dramatically boost your sales. 

Amazon vs Website Visuals: Why What works there won't work here

The Fundamental Difference: Understanding the Amazon Ecosystem 

When shoppers visit your website, they're stepping into your carefully curated brand environment. They can leisurely explore your product range, absorb your brand story, and understand your unique value proposition. Your website is your digital storefront where you control every aspect of the customer journey. 

Amazon, however, is more like a bustling marketplace where attention is your most precious currency. Picture your orange product listing surrounded by dozens of competitors, all vying for the same customer's attention. Your potential buyers aren't browsing – they're rapidly scanning, comparing prices, and making decisions in seconds. 

The Hidden Challenge: Understanding Amazon Shopping Psychology 

Here's a crucial insight many sellers overlook: Amazon shoppers behave differently from website visitors. Even after adding your product to their basket, the battle for customer loyalty isn't won.

Let's break this down with a real-world example: 

Imagine a customer adds your premium hairbrush to their basket. They might also need: 

• A silk scrunchie for gentle hair care 

• Curling custard for style definition 

• A silk bonnet for overnight protection 

• Silk pillowcases to prevent frizz 

• Hair mousse for volume 

• A wet brush for detangling 

The critical behaviour pattern here? Instead of exploring your brand's other offerings (as they might on your website), most Amazon shoppers return to the search bar and start fresh. This means you need a strategic approach to showcase your full product range. 

Your Power Tools for Amazon Success 

1. A+ Content: Your Brand Storytelling Powerhouse 

   a. Create eye-catching branded banners that instantly communicate your brand identity 

   b. Design compelling comparison charts that highlight your product range 

   c. Showcase complementary products strategically 

   d. Master the art of subtle upsells and cross-sells 

   e. Use lifestyle imagery that resonates with your target audience 

   f. Include benefit-focused infographics that educate while selling

   
   
   
   

2. Brand Store: Your Amazon Showcase 

   a. Design category-specific pages that mirror shopping behaviour 

   b. Create solution-based collections (e.g., moisture solutions, scalp care routines) 

   c. Organise by product type for easy navigation 

   d. Leverage the competitor-free environment to build brand loyalty 

   e. Use custom imagery that tells your brand story 

   f. Include educational content that builds trust 

The Brand Registry Advantage: Don't Wait to Apply 

While A+ Content and Brand Store features require Brand Registry, this shouldn't be viewed as a hurdle but as an opportunity. Even if you're in the early stages of your Amazon journey, applying for Brand Registry now puts you ahead of the curve.

Here's why it's crucial: 

• Protects your brand identity 

• Gives you access to advanced marketing tools 

• Enables enhanced brand analytics 

• Provides additional advertising options 

• Offers better protection against counterfeiters 

Visual Branding Best Practices for Amazon 

Primary Images 

• Use clean, professional photography on white backgrounds 

• Ensure perfect lighting and sharp focus 

• Make product size and scale immediately apparent 

• Consider adding a small brand element for recognition

  
  

  Secondary Images 

• Show multiple angles and uses 

• Include lifestyle shots that demonstrate benefits

• Add infographics that highlight key features

• Create size comparison graphics 

• Show packaging and included items 

  
  
  
  

  Brand Consistency 

• Maintain consistent colour schemes across listings 

• Use similar photography styles throughout your range 

• Keep graphic elements uniform 

• Ensure your brand voice remains consistent in all copy 

The Bottom Line: Transform Your Amazon Presence 

Success on Amazon isn't just about having excellent products – it's about understanding and mastering the platform's unique visual requirements. Your website strategy won't translate directly because the customer journey is fundamentally different. With the right approach to visual branding, you can: 

• Stand out in crowded search results 

• Build instant trust through a professional presentation 

• Guide customers to discover your complete product range 

• Increase cross-selling opportunities 

• Boost your conversion rates significantly 

• Create a memorable brand presence 

Take Action Today 

Ready to transform your Amazon listings? I'm offering free Amazon product listing reviews to help you identify your strengths and areas for improvement. In this review, I'll analyse: 

• Your current visual strategy 

• Product image effectiveness 

• A+ Content opportunities 

• Brand Store potential 

• Cross-selling possibilities 

• To book please contact Eleanor on +44 (0) 7806 441 856 or email eleanor@visualisebrands.co.uk

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Join my newsletter for regular tips on Amazon optimisation and visual branding strategies. Follow me on social media for daily insights and updates that will help you stay ahead in the competitive Amazon marketplace. 

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Video Transcript: Amazon vs Website Visuals: Why Your Website Strategy Won't Work on Amazon. Learn the crucial differences that can make or break your Amazon Listings 

Visual branding is crucial for businesses selling on Amazon. If you don't have a strong visual brand on Amazon, you just have multiple listings. Think of visual branding as your secret weapon for standing out on Amazon. It's a way to show people you have more to offer. And it's the difference between a potential customer scrolling past your product or stopping to learn more. 

Strong visual branding builds trust and it communicates value. And it helps shoppers to understand why they need your product in their lives. 

Let's dive in and explore why Amazon is so different to your website. If somebody lands onto your website, then they're going to see all of the products in your range. They can click through your shop and they can explore only your products online. On Amazon, it's different because you're fighting against the competition. 

So if we look at the diagram that I've put on the screen for you now, imagine that your listing is the orange one. If somebody's searching for hairbrush, they're going to be brought up with all of these other listings that you can see and you need to stand out. You need to attract their attention for them to click onto your listing and see what you're doing, to look at why you're different and to think why they might want to purchase your product over somebody else's. 

So let's now imagine they've found your listing. Amazing. That's exactly what you want. They've added your hairbrush to their basket and they're going to buy, but they're still shopping. There are other things that they want to buy, and you sell some of those things that they want to buy. 

Imagine that the shopper is now looking for a silk scrunchie. They might be looking for some curling custard to style their hair. They might be looking for a silk bonnet to sleep in to keep those curls looking amazing. Maybe they want some silk pillowcases or a hair mousse or a wet brush. 

There are other things that you sell that they want. On Amazon, you need to work out how can you tell the shopper that you sell other things that they want? And the difference on Amazon, if you think about it from the shopper's point of view, is that they don't necessarily understand how shopping on Amazon works. 

They're not thinking, oh, I'm going to be loyal to this brand and I'm going to search for their brand to see what other products they have in their range. They've added you to the basket. And a lot of shoppers will then just be going back to the search bar and searching for the second thing that they want to purchase. 

They're not going to be searching for your brand to see what else you sell, unless you can educate them and tell them that you have other products. But that's the key, isn't it? How do you do that? How do you show the shoppers that you sell other products in your range and it's not just the hairbrush that they've got in their basket? 

If you can work out how to do that, then you will start selling more on Amazon. 

I want you to succeed on Amazon. I want you to get to the stage within your Amazon account where people will recognise you. People will be able to easily tell that all of these products belong to you and that they can purchase multiple items from you within Amazon. 

I don't have time to tell you all the secrets today, but let me talk about some of my favourite things that you can do within your own account to help you start making more sales today. 

Let's talk about A+ content. When somebody lands on your listing, they're going to first start by browsing the images, they're going to read the copy and the descriptions and they're going to scroll down the page. They're probably going to read through your reviews and see all the wonderful things people are saying about your products. 

What's great about A+ content is if you, if they haven't made a purchasing decision yet, this is your time to sell to them. So in the a content, you can have branded banners, you can have more images, you can have more written copy. 

But one of my favourite features is the comparison charts. So you can use this to showcase other products in your range. So if somebody lands on your listing but it's not quite what they're looking for, you might have other hair brushes in your range that you could showcase because they're similar products. 

So if the one that they've landed on isn't quite what they want, then perhaps they can then see another one in your range that they did do want to purchase. Or alternatively, it can also help to encourage upsells. So if they do love the hairbrush that they've already got and, um, they see that you do a wet brush, for example, and they're also looking for that, then it can encourage people to do upsells and cross-sells across other products in your range. 

Now, I want to show you why the Brand store is great. So I've just got an example on the screen for you here and you can see where the red ring is circled. So your brand store would be listed underneath your, um, product title. And I'm just going to explore and show you some reasons why having your own brand store is so great. 

Brand store is like a mini website within Amazon, so you can shop by range in the example here. So you can see they've got moisture, recipes, scalp recipes. So you can search by problem, you can also search by product. So if you're looking for shampoos, you can click on them and you can see all of the different shampoos that are in the range. 

So you can really separate each page of your shop within Amazon to help showcase all of the different products in your range. You can also separate by sizes. You could do colours depending on what products you are. Obviously, this would be different for depending on what you're selling. 

But the thing that is most amazing about a brand store is that your competitors can't advertise against you within your brand store. So it's a way to keep people within your own product range, showcase what you do and encourage them to buy more products from you and in turn encourage more sales. 

I just want to point out that to have a content and a brand store, you need to apply for brand registry. It's not given automatically. There are a few things that you need to comply with. I'm not going to go through those today, but you can easily find that information out on Amazon within your account settings. 

And the one thing I would advise is that even if you're not planning to have a brand store now, you should apply for the brand registry to make sure that you get it. And that as soon as you want to launch properly and you want to make more sales on Amazon, you have everything that you need in order to get started. 

Having these special features makes a massive difference and really does help you to stand out on Amazon and look more professional. And having these features help you to show the other products in your range, which of course in turn will enable you to sell more within the Amazon platform. 

Thank you so much for listening. I hope that today's video showed you. Why Amazon is so different from your website, and how you've learned why having a strong brand presence on Amazon can really help to drive better conversion and more sales for you within the Amazon platform. 

I really want you to succeed on Amazon, so I'll be really happy to offer you a free Amazon product listing review where I'll have a look at what you're doing well and what you might need to do a little bit of work on that will really help drive better conversion within the Amazon platform. 

I'll drop the links to that within the descriptions, along with how you can sign up for my newsletter and where you can follow me on my social media channels for more useful, um, tips and updates. So I hope to see you soon. Have a great day.