Unlocking Growth Through Optimisation-Led Creative on Amazon

Ads drive traffic. Creative converts it.

Ten years ago, an Amazon listing could get away with a product shot, a title and a few bullets. Competition was low and shoppers expected little. That's over. Today the brands that win treat their listings as conversion assets: rich visuals, infographics, lifestyle imagery and clear messaging, all designed to remove friction and guide the shopper to purchase. Content isn't there to inform any more. It's there to convert.

This session, led by Toucan's Creative Director. Ben Levart made the case for optimisation-led creative: designing Amazon content using real performance data rather than subjective taste. The single line to take away is this: ads drive traffic, but creative converts it. Here's what that looks like in practice.

Watch the full session (34 mins)

The growth ceiling problem

Most brands hit the same wall. At first everything works: you raise ad spend, traffic climbs, revenue follows. Then something breaks. Traffic keeps rising but conversion plateaus. Ad costs climb but efficiency drops. You spend more, yet the listings don't actually improve. Meanwhile competitors with stronger content, better images, messaging and positioning, start taking share.

That gap between rising traffic and flat conversion is where growth stalls. And the fix isn't more spend. If ads drive the traffic and creative converts it, the leverage point is the creative.

What optimisation-led creative actually means

Optimisation-led creative designs Amazon content around real performance data, testing insights and shopper behaviour, with one goal: maximising conversion. Simplify the system and it's traffic in, content, conversion, revenue. Most brands over-focus on the traffic. The real leverage is the content in the middle.

Doing it well comes down to four things: making data-driven creative decisions, continuously testing and iterating, aligning every touchpoint, and designing for how Amazon shoppers actually behave. Creative stops being subjective and becomes a performance system.

Conversion is built across touchpoints, not one asset

On Amazon, no single asset drives the sale. It's a sequence, and if one link breaks you often lose the sale. The main image wins the click. Listing images then explain and persuade. The brand store builds trust and allows deeper exploration. And A+ content reinforces value and removes remaining doubt. Each plays a different role; together they convert.

The main image: win the click or nothing else matters

The main image is the first thing a shopper sees in search, competing against 20 or more products at once. It directly influences click-through rate and sets expectations before the shopper even lands on your page. Win the click, or nothing downstream matters.

A common set of problems: the product sits too small, lacking presence on mobile; the image is less vibrant and sharp than the product looks in real life; it floats with no shadow or grounding; and the angle looks slightly down, as if viewed on a lower shelf. The fixes are deliberate: increase product size to the maximum Amazon allows, boost vibrancy and sharpness to match reality, and adjust shadowing and angle to a more premium "top shelf" view that gives the product presence and confidence.

The result of exactly those changes on one product: a 124% uplift in glance views (the number of times shoppers land on the detail page, a direct measure of how well the main image wins the click). Crucially, that came from improving the creative fundamentals, not from spending more on media. And the levers, scale, clarity, vibrancy, visual grounding and angle, transfer across SKUs, categories and brands, so it becomes a repeatable framework rather than a one-off.

Listing images: answer the right question in the right order

Once you've won the click, listing images help the shopper understand and decide. The highest-performing sets aren't random; they follow a clear structure, where each image answers a specific shopper question and moves them towards purchase. A repeatable sequence: main image (stop the scroll), key visual, key features, in-use image, range image (expand choice and cross-sell), then guidelines and trust-building content.

The power is speed. Instead of forcing shoppers to hunt through bullets, the sequence answers every key question visually, in order, before doubt can build. Applied to a Felix (cat food) listing, that meant a main image with a prominent "120 pack" call-out anchoring bulk value, then flavour variety (with scannable circular icons for mobile), then nutritional reassurance ("is this good for my cat?"), then deeper nutrients, then the wider Felix range for cross-sell, and finally feeding guidelines to remove the last hesitation. The order mirrors the pet owner's natural questions: what is it, what flavours, is it healthy, how much do I feed, what else is available.

The commercial result: a £250 investment in the listing image set drove a 1,540% return on investment, equating to a 4.3% uplift in weekly sales over five weeks, purely from restructuring content, storytelling and image sequencing, with no increase in ad spend. The same assets simply became far more effective through a better story and sequence.

From standard A+ to Premium A+

Standard A+ is a solid baseline: up to five modules to communicate benefits and add storytelling beyond the listing images. But it's static, the module count is capped, and there's no video, hotspots or richer comparison experiences.

Premium A+ is where the experience becomes powerful: more modules, flexible layouts, interactive formats, video, hotspots, richer comparisons, and separate desktop and mobile designs. It turns the page from something you read into a branded experience you explore. For an emotionally driven brand like Quality Street, that richer storytelling matters as much as the functional information.

Applied to Quality Street, the move to Premium A+ brought an expanded key visual across two larger banners for a stronger emotional brand moment, scrollable modules for more content without overwhelm, on-hover hotspots to explore specific packs and hero products, and comparison charts pulling together pricing, reviews, attributes and calls to action, so shoppers quickly find the right format for gifting, sharing or a personal treat. The extra modules let the page feature multiple products, pack formats and sub-ranges within a single brand-led story, driving cross-sell, trade-up and basket expansion. It feels less like a product page and more like browsing the brand itself.

Designing for mobile and desktop, not one-size-fits-all

Mobile and desktop are fundamentally different environments, and Premium A+ lets you optimise for both. On mobile, where most Amazon browsing happens, design for speed of understanding: larger, bolder typography, the hero visual prioritised early, key claims landing in the first few seconds of scroll. On desktop, lean into larger hero storytelling and wider compositions for richer immersion and stronger brand moments, especially effective for occasion and gifting brands. The point is removing the compromise of forcing one creative across every screen: less pinching, zooming and mis-messaging, and less friction. Easier to consume means easier to trust and faster to buy.

The brand store: a conversion environment, not a catalogue

The brand store is where shoppers explore, compare and build confidence. A strong one builds trust, shows how products fit together, supports ad traffic and lifts average order value. Many brands get this wrong, treating it as a grid of products with no structure or story. The best treat it as a guided experience designed to help shoppers navigate, understand and choose.

Toucan follows a repeatable five-step process that turns creative into a continuous optimisation loop rather than guesswork: audit (analyse what's holding conversion back), insights (use CTR, conversion and shopper behaviour to understand what drives performance), create (build new assets from those insights), test (validate through AB testing and iteration), and scale (roll out what works).

Underneath that sits a research and discovery foundation: competitive research to find best practice and white space, a review of current live content to find reusable assets and quick wins, and discovery beyond Amazon (D2C sites, landing pages, campaign creative and social) to bring the brand's strongest existing moments into a cohesive store experience. From there the process moves through wireframing (mapping hierarchy, flow and commercial intent before visual design), implementation (introducing brand identity purposefully so every asset works towards recognition and conversion), and data analysis (turning the live store into a continuously improving asset). As with Premium A+, mobile and desktop are designed for from the very start rather than adapted later.

Key takeaways

Across the whole journey the roles are clear: the main image wins the click, listing imagery explains and persuades, A+ reinforces value, and the brand store deepens consideration and intent. The principles that drive conversion are simple and proven: lead with benefits, design mobile-first, always champion storytelling, and make the product dominant. And the one line to hold onto: creative is never cosmetic. It's one of the most powerful drivers of performance on Amazon today.

Frequently asked questions

  • What role does AI play in optimisation-led creative? Beyond the visual side, AI helps understand shopper intent and the questions shoppers have across different categories. In the Felix example, AI functionality helped identify the questions consumers ask when browsing that category, which informed both individual image design and the overall order of the listing images, so purchase intent could build rather than shoppers dropping off midway.
  • If a brand can only optimise one thing first, where should they start? The main image. It's the first touchpoint a shopper sees, whether in search results or when arriving on the detail page via an ad, so optimising it first sets the whole journey up well before any other content comes into play.

Ben Levart is a Creative Director at Toucan, an Amazon Ads Advanced Partner, and leads conversion-focused creative for consumer brands on Amazon. To talk through optimising your creative, get in touch at ben@toucanecommerce.com.

Back to blog
Webinar Transcript

Unlocking Growth Through Optimisation-Led
Creative

April 28, 2026, 1:00PM

34m 13s



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
0:08

Hi everyone. We will get started in maybe around a minute or two. We'll just
let some people filter in first, but we're super excited to have you here
tonight.

How's your day going, Ben?



Ben Levart  
0:24

Yeah, not too bad, thank you.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
0:26

St.



Ben Levart  
0:28

Enjoying the sunny weather now, the cloudy this morning, but it's all good.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
0:31

Yeah, it's always, it's always very nice.



Ben Levart  
0:34

Yeah.

How about you? How's your day going?



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
0:38

Two.

Yeah, it's going good, man. It's going good. It's nice that, well, it's
actually quite grey back in Belfast, which is always good. Classic.



Ben Levart  
0:48

Hmm.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
0:54

Um...

We'll let a few more people filter in before we get going.



Ben Levart  
1:02

Sounds good.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
1:19

Okay, we can get started. So good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to one of
our Toucan Talks webinars. We're super excited to have you all join us for
today's session. If you don't know who I am, I'm Curtis, our marketing lead
here at Toucan, and we have Ben

who is Toucan's senior creative partner, who will be talking about how you can
unlock growth through optimisation-led creative. The session today will run for
around 30 minutes and we will have a live Q&A at the end of the session. So
if you do have a question for Ben, please feel free to type them into the
Q&A section at any time during the webinar.

I'll be able to collect these while Ben is presenting and then we will try to
get through as many as possible at the end. So I will now hand over to Ben to
take you through today's session.



Ben Levart  
2:11

Cool, thanks Curtis. Thanks for the intro. But yeah, I remember when I first
joined Toucan back in 2018, I think content was in a much different state to
where it is now. And I guess I, along with our senior leadership team, were
kind of on a mission to change that, which of course has led me here today to
kind of talk you through how to unlock growth through optimisation of creative.

But see.

But to understand why this matters, it's kind of helpful to look at how Amazon
has evolved. So I guess about 10 years ago, most listings were like purely
functional, kind of a product image, title, few bullet points, and that was
enough. Competition was also lower, and shoppers didn't expect much in terms of
content. But today, that's completely changed.

Now the brands that win are the ones that treat their listings like conversion
assets. So you kind of see rich visuals, infographics, lifestyle imagery, clear
messaging, kind of everything is designed to guide the shopper to remove
friction to purchase. So I guess in other words, content isn't just there to
inform like it used to. It's kind of now there to make sure it converts the
consumers into purchases.

And that's why exactly why optimisation of creative has become so important.
But one of the most important common, one of the most common challenges we see
across brands is what we call the growth ceiling problem. I guess at first
things look great. You kind of maybe increase ad spend, traffic goes up and
revenue follows.

But then something starts to break. Traffic keeps rising, but conversion rates
plateau. Kind of ad costs continue to rise, but efficiency drops as well. And
despite spending more, your listings don't actually improve. But at the same
time, competitors with stronger content, so better images, better messaging,
better positioning, start to take market share.

This is what it looks like in simple terms. So obviously, like I said, traffic
goes up, but then conversion stays flat. And that gap is where growth stalls.
But I think the key takeaway here is simple. Ads drive traffic, but creative
converts it. So if you want to break through that growth ceiling problem, the
answer isn't just to spend more. It's better creative that actually turns
traffic into customers.

So if ads drive traffic, but creative converts it, the question becomes, how do
we actually improve creative in a scalable way? This is where optimisation-led
creative comes in. Optimisation-led creative is about designing Amazon content
using real performance data, testing insights and shopper behaviour.

all with one goal, maximising conversion. If we simplify the system, it looks
like this. Traffic comes in, it hits your content, which drives conversion and
ultimately revenue. Most brands focus heavily on traffic, but the real leverage
point here is the content. And doing this well comes down to four things.

making data-driven creative decisions, continuously testing and iterating,
aligning every touchpoint, and designing specifically for how shoppers on
Amazon actually behave. In other words, creative stops being subjective and it
starts becoming a performance system.

So if content is the lever, the next question is, what does that actually mean
in practice? On Amazon, conversion isn't just driven by one asset, it's built
across multiple touch points. It starts with the main image. This is what often
wins the click. Then your listing images take over, explaining the product and
persuading the shopper. From there, your brand store builds trust and allows
deeper exploration.

And A+ content reinforces your value and removes any remaining doubt. Each of
these play a different role, but together they drive conversion. And if one of
these breaks down, you often lose the sale.

So let's start with arguably the most important touchpoint, the main image.

This is the very first thing a shopper sees in search, and it's not just viewed
in isolation. It's competing with 20 or more other products at the exact same
time. That means your main image isn't just about looking good, it's about
standing out instantly next to competitors. It directly influences
click-through rate, but also conversion, because it sets expectations

for what the shopper even, before the shopper even lands on your page. And if
you don't win the click, nothing else really matters. And because of that, it
has a direct impact on click-through rate and conversion rate, and ultimately
your ad efficiency as well.

So what does that actually look like in practice? This is what we typically
see, a standard product image, small, functional, not doing much to stand out.
We analysed the original main image and identified several reasons why it
wasn't performing as strongly as it could.

First, the product visual was a bit too small, meaning it lacked presence in
search and mobile. Second, the image felt less vibrant and less focused than
the product does in real life, so that wasn't fully reflecting the quality of
the brand. The product also appeared to be floating in space with no shadow or
grounding to help it feel more tangible. And finally, the angle was slightly
looking down, almost as if the shopper was viewing it on a lower shelf.

which reduced prominence. So now compare that to this.

As you can see, we implemented a series of intentional creative updates. We
increased the product size, making it appear as large as possible within
Amazon's guidelines. We also increased vibrancy and sharpness, so the pack
better matched how it looked in real life. Then we updated the shadowing and
angle, introducing a more premium top shelf view that gives the product greater
presence and visual confidence.

And all these changes together can have a direct impact on performance. And the
result was 124% uplift in glance views. Glance views are essential for the
number of, are essentially the number of times shoppers land on the product
detail page. So it's a direct measure of how efficiently the main image is
winning the click from search.

In simple terms, the more glance views means more shoppers are choosing this
product over competing listings in search results. What's more important here
is the uplift didn't come from just increasing media spend. It came from
improving the creative fundamentals that influence attention, prominence, and
click intent. And by making the product larger, clearer,

More visually premium, we made it easier for shoppers to stop, notice, and
choose. Now, while these updates are specific to this product, the principles
behind them are highly transferable. The same optimisation levers, scale,
clarity, vibrancy, visual grounding, and angle can be applied across SKUs,
categories, and other brands as well.

So this just goes to show that this isn't just a one-off improvement. It
becomes a repeatable framework for increasing visibility and traffic across an
entire portfolio. And this is exactly how small creative changes can unlock
disproportionate growth against performance gains at scale. So once you've won
the click,

The job of a listing images now is to do one thing, help the shopper understand
and decide. The highest performing listing images aren't just random, they
follow a very clear structure.

What we're looking at here is our recommended framework for structuring a high
converting listing image set. The goal isn't simply to have more images, it's
to present the right information in the right order. Each image should answer a
specific shopper question and progressively move them opposed to purchase. So
again, it starts with the main image.

which again, like we know, has one job, stop shoppers mid-scroll and win the
click. Next comes the key visual. From there, we move into key features,
breaking down what makes the product valuable in a simple, digestible way. Then
the in-use image helps shoppers visualise the product in a real-life scenario.
The range image then expands choice, showcasing flavours, variants, or
complementary products within the Felix product catalogue.

And finally, we close with guidelines and trust building content. But what's
most powerful about the structure is that it dramatically reduces the time it
takes someone to buy. Instead of forcing shoppers to search through bullets or
scroll for answers, the image set proactively removes friction. Every key
question is answered visually in a sequence before doubt has a chance to build.

And for a brand like Felix, where shoppers are balancing maybe things like
flavour choice, nutrition, and feeding confidence, this sequence becomes even
more important, as it helps the pet owners quickly move from interest to
confidence to purchase. So while this example is tailored to Felix, the
framework itself is intentionally loose and repeatable.

The same sequence can be adapted across categories by simply just changing the
shopper question each image is designed to answer. The faster your content
answers these questions, the faster your shoppers can make the decision. But
building on the framework we've just covered, this is how we applied that
structure directly to this Felix listing image set.

The focus here was not to just create better looking images, but to design A
sequence that answers sharpest questions in the most efficient order possible.
Every visual in this set has a very specific role within the conversion
journey, obviously with the main image, which is designed to maximise stopping
power in search with a 120 pack call out, as it's highly prominent,

immediately communicating scale and value, while the Felix branding and flavour
range remain instantly recognisable. The 120 pack banner is doing heavy
conversion work here as well by anchoring bulk value immediately. Second,
flavour variety. We've expanded the desirability through the second image as it
quickly moves into flavour.

showcasing the four irresistible variants within this pack. And for pet owners,
flavour choice is one of the fastest decision levers, so surfacing this early
reduces any uncertainty. Using the circular flavour icons as well makes the
options highly scannable on mobile too.

Next, we move into balanced meals and nutritional reassurance. This answers the
key question, is this good for my cat? Claims like 100% natural balanced meals
and no added colourants help move from emotional appeal to rational
reassurance. The fourth image then builds on that by going deeper into
essential nutrients, vitamins and omega content.

This reinforces health credibility and helps justify multi-pack choice as well.
We then introduce the Felix range, helping shoppers understand the wider
ecosystem and other available variants. This is particularly powerful for
cross-selling opportunities, repeat purchasing, and increased average order
value.

The branded shelf visual makes the wider range feel cohesive and easy to browse
mentally as well. Finally, we close with the feeding guideline, which removes
the last layer of hesitation around positioning and usage. For pet food, this
is a critical final reassurance point because it directly supports confidence,
impact value and longevity.

But on the right, you can see how this translates into mobile detail page
experience as well. The order ensures that the shopper first understands
flavour and benefits, then quickly moves into reassurance and usage. That
dramatically reduces the time it takes them to make a confident purchase
decision. The power of this structure is also speed.

by sequencing the Felix images around the natural questions a pet owner has. So
what is it? What the flavours are? Is it healthy? How much do I feed? And what
else is available? With all of those, we reduce friction and shorten the path
to purchase. And this ultimately is what optimisation-led storytelling looks
like in practice. Every image here has earned its place.

So, this next slide brings in the transformation into brings the transformation
into focus by comparing the original Felix listing image set against the
optimised conversion-led version.

On the left, the original set contained all the right ingredients, but not in
the right structure. The first issue was weak visual storytelling. While the
images themselves contained useful information, the sequence didn't guide the
shopper through a clear decision journey. The shopper was forced to work harder
to connect flavour, benefits, nutrition, and usage.

And the second issue was that the unoptimised order with the second issue was
the unoptimised order. The key decision driving visuals like flavour variety
and nutritional reassurance were not positioned early enough in the journey.
That's important because these are some of the fastest questions pet owners
need answered before buying. And then finally,

There was no dedicated range visual either. This meant Felix was missing an
opportunity to expand shopper choice, reinforce the wider product ecosystem,
and increase average basket value. But on the right, as you can see, we
restructured the same content in a much clearer conversion path. First, we
championed the most important visuals.

bringing flavour, variety, and balanced meal benefits much earlier in the
sequence, which answered immediately the emotional and rational questions, will
my cat enjoy this and is it good for them? Next, the order itself was
optimised. The image set now follows the natural thought process for a pet
owner. What is it? Flavour choice.

Rational reassurance, essential nutrients, broader range, and finally, the
feeding guidance.

That dramatically reduces the cognitive effort required to make a purchase
decision. In addition to that, we also introduced this range visual, which is a
critical commercial lever. It helps shoppers understand the broader Felix
ecosystem, encourages trade up and cross-sell, and reinforces confidence in the
brand.

What's most important here is that the changes aren't just aesthetic. They're
designed to reduce friction, improve clarity, and answer the highest priority
shopper questions earlier. That means faster decision-making, stronger
confidence, and ultimately higher conversion potential as well. The same assets
became significantly more effective simply just by improving the story, the
sequence, and the overall shopper journey.

was how efficiently the uplift was delivered. With this, a £250 investment in
the listing image set in itself, the optimised content drove a 1,540% return on
investment. And when translated into top-line impact, that equates to a 4.3%
uplift in weekly sales over a five-week period. And importantly, this came
purely from improving content structure, storytelling, and image sequencing.

not from increasing ad spend. This more creative investment, as you can see,
unlocked a disproportionate commercial return.

So next, the next evolution optimisation-led content is a shift from standard
A+ to premium A+.

As those with keen eyes can see, on the left, we have standard A+ content. This
gives brands a solid baseline, allowing up to five modules to communicate
product benefits, showcase imagery, and add a layer of storytelling beyond the
listing images. For many brands, this is often where the journey starts. It's
functional, clean, and effective at reinforcing key product messages.

But the challenge is that it's still relatively static. The number of modules
is capped, interactivity is limited, and there's no ability to introduce richer
elements like video, hotspots, or enhanced comparison experiences. So while it
informs, it doesn't fully immerse the shopper.

But on the right, we move into Premium A Plus, which is where the experience
becomes significantly more powerful. Here, brands unlock additional modules,
more flexible layouts, and interactive formats that create a much richer
storytelling environment. The inclusion of hotspots, video, richer comparisons,
and separate desktop and mobile experiences

means the content can be designed around how shoppers actually browse, meaning
that makes the journey feel less like reading a product page and more like
exploring a branded experience. As you can see, the two mobile examples in the
centre really bring this to life. The standard version does a good job of
presenting the range in a structured, modular way, but the premium version

feels more immersive and emotionally engaging, with stronger visual hierarchy,
more storytelling depth, and a more premium brand presence. And for a brand
like Quality Street, that richer storytelling is especially powerful because
the emotional value of the product is just as important as the functional one.
But for brands, Premium A Plus creates a

creates more space to tell a story, showcase craftsmanship, demonstrate usage
moments, and guide cross-sell journeys. It transforms the overall PDP from a
product information page into a truly branded experience. And for shoppers,
that means less friction and more confidence to purchase. The experience is
also easier to navigate.

more visually engaging, and answers questions in a more intuitive way that
reduces decision time and increases trust. So while standard A plus is a strong
baseline, premium A plus is where brands move from simply informing shoppers to
truly influencing purchase decisions as well.

But moving on, this slide shows exactly how we translated the move from
standard A+ into an optimised premium A+ experience for Quality Street. On the
left, we have the original standard execution. It does a good job of showcasing
the product range and key confectionery favourites in a structured way. The
visuals are strong, but the storytelling is still constrained by the standard
module layout.

The shopper gets the information, but the experience remains fairly linear and
static as you move down the page. In the centre, we've rebuilt this into a
premium A plus journey, but the same core assets become significantly more
immersive. Our first major update is the expanded key visual, now spread across
two larger banners.

This gives the hero creative far more prominence, improves visibility on
mobile, and creates a stronger emotional brand moment. Following that, we then
introduce scrollable modules, which add an extra layer of interactivity while
allowing us to have significantly more content without overwhelming the
shopper. This is especially valued for brand

valuable for a brand like Quality Street, where multi-pack product variants,
gifting moments, and seasonal packs all need space to be featured. Another
major upgrade is the addition of hover hotspots. These allow shoppers to
explore specific sweets, packs, or hero products in more detail directly within
the content experience that turns the PDP into a more discoverable,

self-guided journey. On top of that, we also introduce comparison charts, which
bring together pricing, reviews, product attributes, and call to actions. This
helps shoppers quickly understand which pack or format best suits their needs,
whether that's gifting, sharing, or personal treat moments as well. But one of
the biggest advantages of Premium A Plus is the large number of modules and
flexible layouts.

that gives us the ability to feature multiple products, pack formats, and
sub-ranges within a single brand-led story. Instead of focusing on just one
SKU, the page becomes a branded discovery experience that reflects the full
Quality Street ecosystem. This is hugely powerful for increasing cross-sell,
trade-up, and basket expansion as well.

But for consumers, this feels, like I said, like less like a product page and
more like a browsing, more like browsing the Quality Street brand itself. And
for the brand, it creates a far more, far more space to tell stories around
occasions, favourites, sharing, gifting, and the wider product portfolio. But
in a whole,

Premium A Plus transforms that static product content into a branded shopping
experience that consumers will enjoy.

But one of the most powerful advantages that I touched on previously for
Premium A Plus is the ability to design specifically for the viewpoint the
shopper is using. Mobile and desktop are fundamentally different browsing
environments, and the way shoppers scan, scroll, and absorb information and
make decisions, changes depending on the screen size,

pace and intent.

Premium A+ gives us the flexibility to optimise for both. So as you can see on
the left, you can see how the content is first built as a modular Premium A+
structure, which gives us the flexibility to control hierarchy, spacing,
comparisons, and storytelling depth. But the real power comes in how these
modules are then adapted to the final viewing environment.

For mobile, the design needs to be highly scannable and immediate. Typography
becomes larger and bolder. Hero visual is prioritised earlier. Key claims and
branding need to land in the first few seconds of scroll. And this works
particularly well because most Amazon browsing happens on mobile, where
shoppers are moving quickly and making fast decisions.

On desktop and on desktop, we can lean into larger hero storytelling moments
and wider compositions. The extra horizontal space allows richer visual
immersion, stronger product staging, and more impactful brand moments. And this
is especially effective for emotional brands like Quality Street, where the
occasion and gifting story matter as much as the product itself.

The reason this works so effectively is because it removes the compromise that
comes from one-size-fits-all design. Instead of forcing the same creative
across every screen, we optimise the hierarchy, readability, and visual impact
for the shopper's actual content, meaning less pinching, less zooming, less
mis-messaging,

and less friction. The shopper gets the most important information in the
format that's easiest for them to consume. And when the content is easier to
consume, it's easier to trust and faster to buy.

But for brands, this also means they can preserve the richness of the desktop
brand story without sacrificing the speed and clarity required on mobile. It's
the best of both worlds, immersive on desktop and efficient on mobile. But
Premium A Plus allows for that experience to flex around the shopper, rather
than forcing the shopper to adapt to the content.

So, the final piece of the puzzle is the brand store. This is where shoppers go
when they want to explore, compare and build confidence.

A strong brand store builds trust, shows how products fit together, supports
your ad traffic, and ultimately increases average order value. But this is
where the many brands get it wrong. They treat their store like a catalogue, so
just a grid of products with no real structure or story. Whereas the best
brands treat it like a guided experience.

designed to help shoppers navigate, understand, and choose. So it's not just a
store, it's a conversion environment. And when done right, it drives higher
value purchases, not just more clicks. So how does that look like? What does
that look like in practice? So at Toucan, we follow a simple, repeatable,
five-step process.

First, we audit, analysing images, identifying what's holding conversion back.

Then we move to insights. Oops, sorry. Then we move to insights using data like
click-through rate, conversion, shopper behaviour to understand what's actually
driving performance. From there, we create, we create, building new assets
based on those insights. We then test, validate through and validating through
A/B testing and continuous iteration.

And finally, we scale, rolling out what works to maximise impact. This turns
creative into a continuous optimisation loop. Not guesswork, but a system that
consistently improves performance over time.

Mm-mm.

And taken together, these five phases give us a robust but flexible process,
one that allows us to build stores that are both strategically grounded and
commercially effective. Because we've applied this approach so many times, we
know how to adapt it to different brands, categories, and shop permissions
while keeping the same core discipline the same. So essentially,

It's not just as not just a design process, it's a repeatable framework for
building brand stores that perform.

So just taking a look at, so just taking a look at the first phase of our
process in research and discovery, this is where we like to create the
strategic foundation for everything that flows in the brand store. The goal
here is to understand not just what the store could be, but what it needs to be
in order to outperform the competitors.

We begin with the competitive research, which means analysing how other brands
in the category are structured, structuring their stories, what content themes
they're leading with, how they're guiding navigation, and where the white space
opportunities exist. We're looking for both best practice and missed
opportunities.

And this gives us a clear benchmark for what shoppers are already used to
seeing and where we can then create meaningful differentiation.

The second step is understanding what is understanding where the current
content is like is understanding where the current live content is today.
Review the existing store PDP ecosystems to assess what's already working, what
content can be reused, and where the biggest friction points are. This is an as
this is an important efficiency layer.

because often the brand already has strong assets that just need to be
restructured, reprioritised, or better aligned to the shopper journey. And
additionally, it also helps us identify immediately quick wins, immediate quick
wins before moving on to the new net new design. And the final part is
discovery, is discovery in looking beyond Amazon.

Review direct to consumer websites, landing pages, campaign creative, and
social channels to understand how the brand is already telling its story
elsewhere. And this is especially powerful because some of the strongest brand
moments often already exist outside the marketplace. And by bringing
inspiration from DTC and social to the store strategy,

We create a much more cohesive brand experience across different touchpoints.

But...

Once the discovery phase gives us the strategic inputs, we then move into phase
two, wireframing. This is where we translate insight into a structured shopper
journey. At this stage, we're not just focused on visual design yet, we're
focused on hierarchy, flow, and commercial intent. And the key objective here
of wireframing is to map the order in which shoppers

encounter content, ensuring every module has a clear role within the design
journey. This gives us a blueprint for how the store should educate, inspire,
and convert.

Yeah.

So once the wireframing is approved, we then move into phase three,
implementation, where the structure becomes a fully branded shoppable
experience. This is where we introduce the brand's visual identity in a
purposeful way, making sure every asset is working toward both recognition and
conversion. We also look to introduce brand assets with purpose.

So the first priority of this phase is integrating key brand assets in a highly
intentional fashion. That includes logos, colour systems, campaign visuals,
typography, pack renders, and hero imagery, all introduced in a way that
reinforces the brand world without disrupting the shopper journey.

Nidhi.

And the final phase of the process is data analysis. This is where we move from
design assumptions to real world shopper behaviour. So once the store is live,
the data tells us exactly how effectively the experience is performing and
where the next optimisation opportunities exist. The goal of this phase is to
understand how shoppers are interacting with the store, where the engagement is
strongest, and where friction may still exist.

This turns the brand store into a living asset that continuously improves over
time.

Mm.

But just like with Premium A Plus, our approach to the brand store design is
built around mobile and desktop optimisation from the very beginning. We never
treat one screen as a default and adapt later. Instead, we intentionally design
for how shoppers behave in each environment, always with conversion as a
priority. And for most brands, the majority of the store traffic now comes
through mobile devices, which means the experience needs to flow flawlessly

within a fast-scrolling, high-intent environment. And on mobile, my priority is
speed of understanding. Here, messaging needs to land instantly, product grids
need to surface purchase options quickly, and shoppable lifestyle assets need
to create clear tap points that will shorten the path to purchase.

But just repack it, just recapping quickly.

This was a really like brief run through some of the kind of key touch points
that we focus on at Toucan in terms of optimising the PDP and then moving to
other areas of the Amazon ecosystem, such as the brand store. But as you can
see, main image always looks to win the click. Listing imagery helps explain
and persuade.

A plus reinforces value, and then Brand Store helps to deepen that
consideration and purchase intent.

By summarising those insights, creative principles that drive conversion are
simple, proven principles that guide high-performing Amazon content and
maximise conversion. So some of the key takeaways involve things like leading
with benefits, designing for mobile first, always champion storytelling, and
make the product dominant.

But if there's one final key takeaway to hold on to, it would be that creative
is never cosmetic. It's one of the most powerful drivers of performance on
Amazon today. But with that, that wraps me up. But yeah, I'd be happy to stick
around and answer any questions that the audience may have today.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
31:03

Yeah, thanks so much for that, Ben. It's great to see how creative plays such
an important role today on Amazon and how each of the key creative elements can
work together. We've got a few questions here that we can quickly go through.
One of the first questions we have is talking about AI and



Ben Levart  
31:04

Thank you.

Bye.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
31:24

Kind of what role does AI play in optimisation-led creative?



Ben Levart  
31:29

Yeah, I mean, I guess obviously the big question at the moment is how AI
filters into everything that we do. And yeah, obviously content is one of the
kind of key areas for that at the moment as well. But I think for us at Toucan,
how that can filter in is it can help us not just from a kind of visually
creative standpoint, but it also helps us to understand things like

shopper intent and kind of which questions shoppers might have between
different categories. So if like, if I'm looking back at that Felix example,
you were able to use a lot of AI functionality to help us understand what kind
of questions the consumer might have within that category when browsing on
Amazon for those products. So that was able to help us then inform our design
decisions.

help us kind of help us with each individual image, but also overall help us to
understand how we kind of laid out the product listing image order to make sure
we were answering those questions in the right order, to make sure we allowed
for purchase intent to build rather than rather than someone maybe dropping
off.

midway through the product listing image. So yeah, it can help a lot in lots of
different areas across the PDP and beyond as well.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
32:36

That's great. Thanks, Ben. Another question we have, where should a brand start
if they can only optimise one thing first?



Ben Levart  
32:46

Yeah, I guess, I guess for that, I guess for that one, I think it's kind of
important to obviously understand like your immediate goals. Obviously, there's
a lot of you can come at it from a lot of different areas, but I would say if
we're picking one thing to focus on, I think optimising that main image is
often, as you as you've already seen, like very important.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
33:03

Mhm.



Ben Levart  
33:05

So yeah, I would say optimising the main image first, because obviously that
kind of is the first touch point that a consumer will see on the product search
page, or even if they've navigated to the product detail page via an ad as
well. So it's very important to kind of set the kind of consumer journey up
well by making sure that your main image is fully optimised before any

kind of content is kind of introducing itself to the consumer on that shopping
journey as well.



Curtis Gerald Ritchie  
33:30

Thanks, Ben. Thanks for answering. I'm conscious that we've run slightly over,
so we will we will call it there, but I want to say a massive thanks to
everyone for joining our Toucan Talks webinar today, and we hope it's been
super useful for you. If you would like to get in touch with Ben regarding
today's session, or you would like to maybe see how Toucan can help.

optimise any of your creatives, please get in touch with Ben through email at
ben@toucanecommerce.com. But thanks again, everyone, and we hope to see you at
another Toucan Talks event, whether that is online or in person in the near
future. So I hope everyone has a great rest of their week, and thanks everyone
for coming. Cheers.



Ben Levart  
34:08

Thank you. See ya. Bye.



 
stopped transcription

Collapsible content