E-commerce continues to play a pivotal role in the marketing mix. Since the pandemic-driven surge, online sales have stabilized at a much higher baseline—now representing a significant share of total retail sales across most categories. In 2025, consumers are more comfortable than ever blending online and in-store experiences, using digital channels not only to purchase but also to research, compare, and discover new products.
As e-commerce competition intensifies, visual communication has become critical to conversion. Optimizing your e-commerce thumbnail images can have a direct impact on visibility, engagement, and sales performance. Here are 8 ways to make your product thumbnails stand out and drive results.
1. Align thumbnails with the shopper decision tree.
Don’t rely on in-store physical product images for e-commerce. Create new product thumbnail images specifically designed for e-commerce. Understand what’s important for your shoppers when searching for your product and amplify those elements in your thumbnail to make those elements instantly recognizable.
2. Maintain the majority of the physical pack’s key elements to ensure it’s still recognizable on the digital shelf.
Maintaining consistency between the physical package and its online representation reinforces trust, familiarity, and brand recall.
3. Use search engine optimization keywords that align with shopper search terms.
How are shoppers navigating your category? What words are they using and are your product descriptions using those same words to ensure you’re top of search?
4. Ensure your product is represented in search results.
Products in the first 2-4 spots on a results page are most noticed. Ensure that across various search results your product comes as close as possible to the top of the search results.
5. Understand ROI by website & category for search result banner ads vs. promoted products.
Banner ads can often be overlooked in favor of promoted products. Sponsored products (often placed in the first 2-3 items in the search results) tend to align well with areas of visual attention.
6. Maximize image size within the thumbnail.
Not all shoppers are using a large desktop screen – many rely on mobile to understand the product from the thumbnail. Ensure your product takes up as much space within the thumbnail as possible.
7. On the product landing page, keep critical purchase information in the top viewable portion of the page. The less scrolling the shopper needs to do, the better.
Placing key decision elements above the fold reduces friction in the buying journey and minimizes the risk of shoppers abandoning the page before acting.
8. Select the most meaningful product angle for your thumbnail.
Consider what angle best visually demonstrates how the product is to be used or worn and place the product in a way that matches its intended use. Consider providing alternate views on the product page that further showcase product details and/or video to support more complicated use cases.
Contact us to learn more about how to optimize your e-commerce thumbnail images. Click here to download our E-commerce Thumbnail Image Best Practices Guide.
