Hi there,
On this morning's alumni call, I asked one of our sellers a simple question.
Which image is the most important image on your Amazon listing?
He said the main image.
That's what I said too.
Then I re-watched my interview with Jon Tilley, CEO of ZonGuru. Here's what he told me:
"I can tell you right now that importance of that main image is dropping."
That's a big claim. But the reason behind it makes sense.
Last week I promised to announce the winner of the free AI assessment today. Congrats to Rute in Lisbon! Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey.
Here's the 80/20 of Ecom for this week:
In today's issue:
Why Jon says the main image matters less when shoppers come from Alexa
How COSMO reads your product: the 5-question check
Your image carousel is a comic strip (with a real example)
This week in ecommerce: more time for Black Friday deals, an Oct 31 fee check, a new returns rule, and a customs delay
SPONSORED
A special thank you to our sponsor, ZonGuru
How does your listing score?
In the interview, Jon built two listings for the same product, a kids' curl spray.
On ZonGuru's AI Readiness Report, the listing built with Helix, ZonGuru's listing platform, scored higher than the listing built with a popular published skill.
According to ZonGuru, the gap wasn't the writing. ZonGuru says the skill could only use what it could see on the product page, so it missed the verified facts that shoppers ask Amazon's AI about, like age range, ingredients and safety testing.
Helix gives you a free AI readiness score. The score is ZonGuru's framework, not an official Amazon metric.
80/20 of Ecom readers: 30% off your first month on any subscription with code 30-OFF-NOV15. Ends Nov 15.
Some shoppers are skipping the search results page
For years, the main image had one job. Win the click on the search results page.
Here's how Jon explained what changes when a shopper uses Alexa for Shopping:
"You're having a conversation with Alexa, you're getting a recommendation on a product, and you're going to the PDP without ever seeing the search results page. So who cares about the first image in that scenario, right? The first image is about the connection and the click. You're skipping the whole click, you're just landing on the PDP."
That doesn't mean A9 is dead. Keyword search still matters.
As I told our alumni this morning:
"So we're optimizing both for the human shopper, the A9, but also for Amazon Cosmo, right?"
"So you're writing both for the human, like searching, but also writing for the robot, for the AI bot. So it will recommend you when a human uses Rufus."
What the shopper looks at when they land
Once the shopper lands on your product page, Jon says they're already most of the way there:
"I'm 80% certain I'm gonna buy this product because I've had a conversation with Alexa… I've clicked on the listing. I'm gonna buy it. What I need to do on this page, all I'm gonna do is look at the price, I'm gonna look at the reviews, your review count. And maybe your star average. And I'm gonna read the narrative in your image."
Price. Reviews. Then the story your images tell.
How COSMO reads your product
Jon calls COSMO Amazon's product knowledge graph. It's how Amazon's AI connects your product to what shoppers need.
ZonGuru's checklist builds on Amazon's own published research. As I told our alumni:
"This is based on the Cosmo white paper that Amazon released a couple years ago."
Here's how Jon described it:
"If you can answer your content for these technical pieces, which ultimately means what is it, who's it for, when is it used, if you can give that answer inside of your listing Cosmo is like the dictionary that's smart enough as a brain to then start to connect all the dots and say, Hey, this is when we should be serving your product, right?"
ZonGuru turns that into a checklist: 5 questions and 11 relationship types.
Slide from Jon Tilley's ZonGuru workshop deck, Oct 29, 2026. Check how your listing scores against it
Look at the bottom line on that slide:
Every blank answer is a question where Amazon has to guess.
Your listing is like a comic. Your image carousel is a comic strip.
If the shopper skips the search page, the carousel does more of the selling. Here's how I put it on the alumni call:
"And then each carousel image should answer a different question."
"It's almost like a comic strip, you know, it's like you want to make sure your image carousel is speaking to your target customer."
Here's the example from Jon's presentation. Same kids' curl spray, seven images, one story:
From Jon Tilley's ZonGuru workshop deck, Oct 29, 2026.
Read it left to right, like a comic. The headlines are the brand's own, printed on each image. Each frame answers a different question:
Hook: the product, clean on white. What is it?
Promise: "Powered by Nature. Proven for Curls." Why this one?
Moment: "Morning Curls, Zero Drama." Is this my life?
Proof: "Before Curly-Q vs. After Curly-Q." Does it actually work?
Trust: "Trusted by Parents. Tested by Pediatric Dermatologists." Is it safe for my kid?
Experience: "Curls That Actually Cooperate." What will it feel like?
Payoff: "25+ Years of Curl Magic for Every Family." Why this brand?
In Jon's test, the other listing had five strong images. Each one looked good on its own. But they didn't tell one story.
One warning from Jon, because AI makes it easy to produce pretty images fast:
"Beautiful creative still has to be accurate."
And another:
"There's no shortcuts in business. I don't care if you're using AI, right?"
TAKEAWAY: Pull up your top ASIN. Answer the 5 questions on the COSMO slide in plain English. Then lay your images out in a row, like the example above, and write the question each one answers. Start with this one:
"What would a first time buyer still need to know?"
Watch the full interview
Jon takes one real product and builds two listings live. One from a popular published listing skill. One from Claude connected to Helix, ZonGuru's listing platform. Then he scores both.
This week in ecommerce
More time for BFCM deals, but not for stock
Missed the October 20 cutoff? MyAmazonGuy reports that Amazon pushed the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deal submission deadline to November 13.
The catch, in my view: your inventory deadlines didn't move.
TAKEAWAY: Check the date in your Deals dashboard first. Then only submit deals on ASINs you already have stock for. A deal you can't fulfill is worse than no deal.
Some ASINs move to new fee categories on October 31
That's tomorrow. According to beBOLD Digital, Amazon is notifying affected sellers that some ASINs are being reassigned to new fee categories effective October 31.
Your listing can look exactly the same while your referral fee changes.
TAKEAWAY: Download your Fee Preview report this weekend. Compare each top ASIN's current fee category with the new one. If one looks wrong, open a case with Selling Partner Support and include your fee-category reasoning.
Prepaid return labels for seller-fulfilled orders from December 18
PPC Land reports that Amazon emailed sellers: starting December 18, 2026, US returns on seller-fulfilled orders will need a prepaid return label. Address-only labels, where the customer pays postage, won't count. Heavy and bulky items are excluded for now.
According to the same report, you get seven calendar days from the return request to upload a label or refund. If you don't, Amazon may issue a returnless refund and charge your account.
TAKEAWAY: If you ship FBM, check your inbox for Amazon's email and set up prepaid labels before the holiday return wave, not after.
CBP pushes Entry Type 13 for international mail to January 20, 2027
In an October 14 bulletin, CBP extended the date it will require Entry Type 13 for international postal shipments subject to Section 201, 232 or 301 duties, or to another agency's jurisdiction, to January 20, 2027. CBP says there are no changes to international mail entry procedures before then.
TAKEAWAY: If you ship direct to US customers by international mail, you have until January 20 to sort this out with your broker or postal partner. Don't wait for the next peak to test it.
In case you missed it
Your Q4 AI Tools Playbook (last week's issue)
Build these workflows with other 7-figure sellers
On this morning's alumni call, we looked at our sellers' own listings through the same COSMO questions in this issue.
If you want to work through workflows like this every week with other sellers, join the 7 Figure Ecom Accelerator alumni cohort.
Two ways to join:
Talk soon,
Gary
P.S. Here's how I put it to Jon at the end of the interview:
"…you're pouring gas on the fire, but you wanna make sure that your engine is tuned up properly, your listing is properly indexed, both for a keyword A9 as well as Alexa Cosmo."
Sponsored: Before Black Friday, get your free AI readiness score here. Code 30-OFF-NOV15 takes 30% off your first month. Ends Nov 15.