To ensure that product images in Elevate are shown in the best possible way, Elevate automatically analyses every image included in your product data feed. This analysis classifies image types and detects dominant colours, among other things. This intelligence powers key capabilities like colour filters, search results, product swatches and hover effects. In this article we will cover how you as a merchandiser can use the available image tags to control how products are presented.
Image types are detected automatically, but can also be guided via the product data feed using the following attributes:
Image types
Images typically fall into one of three types:
- Cutout: The product is isolated on a clean, plain background (usually white)
- Model: The product is shown worn or displayed by a person
- Misc: Any image that doesn't fall cleanly into the other two categories
Image types are detected automatically, but can also be guided via the product data feed using the following attributes:
typeDefault– A suggested image type; will be overridden if analysis disagreestypeOverride– A fixed type that bypasses automatic classification (used when you have highly reliable data)
If an image type is set using typeOverride, Elevate will not change it — even if it appears to be incorrect.
Image tags
Image tags offer even finer control over which images are prioritized in product listings. Tags are labels like Hero or Front that help merchandisers define visual hierarchy.
As a merchandiser, you can:
- Control the visual order of available tags, under Experience inside the Elevate app
- Decide which tags to prioritize per product list or page
How to prioritize images
As a merchandiser, you can decide which image types or tags should be shown first on product cards. Go to Experience > Pages > Settings > Default settings. This is where you define the image prioritization order.
If you want clean, uniform visuals in a product grid, you might prioritize cutout images first. If you want to focus on brand storytelling or campaign imagery, you might prioritize Hero-tagged model images instead.
An example:
If the priority is Cutout[1], Model[1], Hero:
- Elevate will show the first cutout image if it is available
- If there are no cutout images, then it will show the first model image
- If the product does not have any cutout or model images, then it will show the first image with the tag Hero
Use List settings on individual pages to override the default priorities if needed.
How images behave on product cards
The way product images are displayed in listings is determined by the Product Card configuration in Experience > Pages > Settings> Default settings. You can choose how many images are shown and how they behave on hover.
Hover effect settings:
Gallery on hover – Displays multiple images as a slideshow
Swap images on hover – Shows two images, swapping to the second on hover
No hover effect – Displays only a single image
How image prioritization works with hover effects
When using Swap images on hover, Elevate uses two separate priority tracks:
- One for the idle image
- One for the hover image
These two prioritizations are independent of each other. This means:
- The same image can be selected for both positions, which means that Elevate will only return one image as if the No hover effect option was selected
- The hover image is not dependent on which image was selected as the first image
Because of this, it is not possible to define a rule like:
“Show image B when image A is the cover image”
Things to keep in mind
- Hover effects only work if there are enough images. If only one image is available, Elevate will return that one and disable the hover effect
- Unavailable images (e.g. broken links) will be skipped unless they are the only option
- Very small images (100px wide or less) are only shown as thumbnails
- Image type classification depends on your data setup — using typeOverride will always take precedence over automatic analysis