👀 GET YOUR HERO IMAGES MOBILE READY for the HOLIDAYS

A 2022 Unilever/Cambridge University study revealed how "Mobile Ready Hero Images" (MRHIs) dramatically boost mobile conversions by making product details instantly visible on tiny phone screens.

This is critical since mobile commerce now accounts for 65.7% of all global e-commerce sales.

Mobile shoppers often add items straight to cart from thumbnail views without opening listings. On phones, standard product photos become illegible. Shoppers can't see flavor, size, or variant details. This leads to wrong orders, returns, and abandoned carts.

Over 46% of shoppers cannot perceive critical information from poorly optimized thumbnails, making accidental purchases likely.

The 4Ws Framework (Make These Pop)

Your hero image must instantly communicate:

1. WHO - Brand name/logo (clearly legible at thumbnail size)

2. WHAT - Product type (coffee, shampoo, supplements, etc.)

3. WHICH - Specific variant (flavor, scent, formula, color)

4. HOW MUCH - Size/quantity (500ml, 20-count, 3-pack)

The 3 Critical Tests Your Images Must Pass

1. Visual Clarity Test

• Text and numerals must remain legible at thumbnail size

• Use the "squint test": blur your vision. Can you still read critical details?

• Unilever now requires ALL images pass the Clari-Fi visual clarity test before going live

• Check Level AA is the minimum standard (46% of shoppers fail to see details below this)

2. Color Contrast Test

• APCA contrast must be >60 (ideal) or >45 (bare minimum)

• White text on dark backgrounds needs high contrast

• Black text on colored backgrounds often fails—test it!

• Critical for the 8% of men and 0.5% of women with color vision deficiency

• Avoid red details on black backgrounds

3. Clean Background Test

Your image MUST have a pure white background with:

• ✅ NO graphics breaking pack edges

• ✅ NO drop shadows or reflections

• ✅ NO floating text or brand assets off-pack

• ✅ NO loose product shown off-pack (except multipacks)

• ✅ ONLY exception: small black lozenge in bottom right corner for size/quantity

Action Steps for BFCM (Do This Week)

1. Audit your main images on mobile

   • View thumbnails on your phone in search results

   • Can you instantly see brand, variant, and size?

   • If you need to tap to read details, you're losing sales

2. Digitally enhance your hero image:

   • Enlarge text/numerals for the 4Ws and make them 2-3x bigger than on physical packaging

   • Remove all clutter (barcodes, small logos, busy backgrounds, shadows, reflections)

   • Zoom in so product fills 80%+ of frame

   • Add bold size badge in bottom right (e.g., "750ml" or "x6 PACK")

   • Boost contrast between text and background colors

3. Use category-specific cues:

   • Laundry detergent → basket icon + load count

   • Food → flavor imagery or color patch

   • Supplements → "60 CAPSULES" in clear text

   • Electronics → key specs like "128GB"

4. Test before uploading:

   • Shrink test - View at 200x200 pixels, still legible?

   • Blur test - Squint at it. Can you read the 4Ws?

   • Contrast test - Use this free tool at contrast.tools

   • White background - Absolutely no shadows, gradients, or off-pack elements

What NOT to Do:

• ❌ No colored banners/strips across the image

• ❌ No marketing claims or badges cluttering the image

• ❌ Don't make the pack unrecognizable—keep it realistic

• ❌ No drop shadows (Amazon compliance issue)

• ❌ Don't add graphics that break the pack edges

Mobile traffic spikes during Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Shoppers scroll fast and make split-second decisions. If your competitor's thumbnail clearly shows "Vanilla, 12-Pack, 750ml" and yours doesn't, they get the click, even if your price is better.

With 65.7% of sales happening on mobile, images that fail the clarity/contrast/clean background tests are literally invisible to nearly half your potential customers.

Mobile Ready Hero Images aren't optional anymore. Unilever tested 30,000+ images with this framework. Amazon's own brands use them. The data is clear: optimize or lose 20-29% of potential sales to competitors who did.

🔭 YOU GOTTA SEE THIS

How to Audit Amazon PPC Campaigns Using Bulk Files and Pivot Tables

If you’re managing Amazon PPC, you need to check out the latest PPC Den Podcast episode. Mike walks you through step by step how to audit your campaigns using bulk files and pivot tables.

What’s really valuable is how he highlights where ad spend might be wasted, which campaigns or products are performing best, and how to optimize match types like broad, phrase, and exact. Mike even covers pivot table examples, double pivots, and placement analysis, giving you a practical workflow you can start using right away.

🖥️  INSIGHTFUL ORDER DASHBOARD for AMAZON SELLERS

Isaac Gross at IG PPC has created a nifty dashboard tool he is giving complementary to sellers to help them better analyze their seller data for insights.

It analyzes all of your Amazon Sales broken down by

✅State
✅ City
✅ Zip code

and BY THE HOUR.

You can also filter By:

✅ Asin
✅ SKU
✅ Business or Non Business Order
✅ Subscribe and Save Order

All you need to do is upload ONE REPORT from Seller Central!

Organically Double Review Velocity in a Compliant Way

Amazon reviews drive ranking, trust, and repeat sales, but old tactics risk suspension.

Learn what’s actually working in 2025.

✅ Stay 100% compliant while increasing reviews
✅ Avoid costly insert and messaging violations
✅ Learn real systems used by top Amazon sellers

Join Andrew Smith (Swapt) & Danan Coleman (eCom Triage) on a  60-minute live deep dive.

🇺🇸  SUPREME COURT CHALLENGES TRUMP TARIFFS

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether President Trump overstepped his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs on nearly every country worldwide.

It's a case that could determine whether billions in tariff payments get refunded and reshape how future trade policy works.

What Led Here:

Trump invoked a 1977 emergency powers law (IEEPA) to justify tariffs of 10-50% on goods from almost every country, claiming the U.S. trade deficit posed an "extraordinary threat."

Small businesses and several states sued, arguing the president can't use emergency powers to impose what are effectively taxes—a power the Constitution grants only to Congress.

The Hearing:

Even conservative justices expressed serious doubts. Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned why countries like Spain and France needed to be tariffed for "national security."

Chief Justice Roberts worried about giving presidents unlimited power to "impose tariffs on any product from any country in any amount, for any length of time."

The administration argued these are "regulatory tariffs," not taxes. The justices weren't buying it. "You want to say tariffs are not taxes but that's exactly what they are," Justice Sotomayor said.

What It Means for Sellers:

• $90 billion in tariffs already paid are at stake. That’s roughly half of all 2025 tariff revenue through September

• If Trump loses, businesses could see refunds, though Justice Barrett warned the process could become a "complete mess"

• If Trump wins, it sets precedent for presidents to impose tariffs at will without congressional approval

• The White House says it has backup plans using other tariff authorities if it loses

Timeline: A ruling is expected by June 2026, though the court may move faster given the economic stakes.

✌🏼 Have a great weekend.

See you again on Monday.

The answer to today’s STUMP BEZOS is
51% of TikTok users are over the age of 30