Setting up your store in a crowded marketplace gives you both the good and the challenge in the business. It brings you right to where shoppers with strong buying intent are, but, brace yourself as you are in for the extremely-tight competition.
According to Statista, Amazon received combined mobile and desktop visits of 2.4 billion as of May 2022. And from this, we all know that traffic isn’t a problem in the platform.
Instead, sellers are left to wrestle with their competitors and work on how to stay visible to customers.
Thus, when selling on Amazon, the key is to make your product stand out. And you do this by working out your advertising strategies, marketing propositions, and most importantly, your product’s value.
Here at Signalytics, we are sharing 5 tips on making your product or brand stand out on Amazon to increase your revenue and grow your business.
Tip #1: Increase your visibility
Visibility is the first step towards getting more sales. You must direct as much traffic to your listing instead of your competitors.
You have to nail the factors that will capture your customer’s attention. And you need to start in the search bar.
Just like Google, the Amazon algorithm also runs around SEO. It means you will be working around keywords to help your product get indexed for the right search terms. Keyword indexing is the way for your product to link itself to the algorithm and bridge the understanding between a customer query and your product as the solution.
We all know that a customer usually chooses from the list on the first page of the search and rarely goes to page 2 onwards. Thus, you have to make sure your product listing shows up in that much coveted first-page list in the search results.
SEO is the foundation of search results ranking, which also can help you stay visible to your customers. Also called organic ranking, the algorithm recognizes your product listing as the best solution to a relevant search query, thus, putting it up the list ranking.
By being up on the ranks, you will become more visible to your customers.
Tip #2: Set a competitive price
Pricing is a critical aspect of anyone’s business. This is where most of your decision-making will revolve and how your customers will engage with or buy from you.
In Amazon, setting up a competitive price can help you get more sales.
As you know, the algorithm considers the number of sales for your ranking. The more sales you make, the more visible you’ll become.
The tip though is that you should maintain a competitive pricing level. Too low from your competitors and the algorithm will impact your listing negatively. Also, risking it too low will put you on the losing end. Meanwhile, too high and shoppers will not choose you.
This is where you should apply pricing strategies depending on your business goals. Aside from checking your competitors, you must prioritize your current scale and growth goals. For example, do you want to increase the profit per unit to get a more flexible ACoS? Are you looking to sell volumes? Are you testing to discover the best ASIN in the product lineup? Are you selling old inventory?
Meanwhile, the Amazon platform itself runs around competitive price matching. Coming from the understanding that shoppers are on the lookout for the best value from the products they buy like usability, fast delivery, and exceptional customer service, these are also the same factors that influence the Featured Offer/Buy Box algorithm.
And to add, Amazon also adheres to its Fair Pricing policies that aim to provide outstanding customer satisfaction and foster trust and credibility.
To sum it up, setting up competitive pricing involves strong algorithm understanding, goal setting, and a lot of math. Make sure to understand your cash flow, margins, and other pertinent costs involved from manufacturing to delivery as well.
Tip #3: Optimize your product listings
Before you work on the depths and nooks of the Amazon algorithm, make sure your product listing is optimized at the surface. That is, your product listing should have all the elements to nail a sale.
Your Amazon listing has a dedicated space for each of the product titles, bullets, images, and descriptions. All of these elements must be optimized with relevant keywords from your SEO research.
You should come up with an enticing, error-free, and descriptive ad copy with the target customer in mind – his needs and your product as the solution. Highlight the key features and benefits of your product in the bullets. Make sure that the title contains the essential information your customer needs to know about the product even just at a glance.
Images must be clear and of high quality. You may also integrate headlines to capture your customer’s attention. Include lifestyle images of people using your product depicting positive emotions to denote satisfaction.
Listing optimization further boosts your chances of converting traffic into sales.
Tip #4: Take advantage of Amazon’s advertising tools
Now, the challenge with SEO is that it takes a long time before it works. Yet, it remains the best strategy to work around when marketing on Amazon since it brings steady and increasingly positive results over time.
But, if you want to gain traction faster and achieve that much-needed boost during peak selling seasons like Christmas and Black Friday, you need to advertise.
Gladly, Amazon has its own suite of marketing services to suit your goals. Choose between Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Displays. Make sure to master these advertising tools to maximize your opportunities in the platform.
Meanwhile, another important advertising tool every seller or marketer on Amazon needs to use is pay-per-click. Also known as PPC, it allows you to have more control over your marketing strategies. Aside from making you more visible to your customers, it can also help improve conversions, lower ad spending, and understand your market.
Amazon PPC is essentially paid to advertise. It works hand-in-hand with SEO to give you visibility to your customers and a fighting chance with your competitors. As the name itself, pay-per-click, your ad shows up in the prime spots of the search results page but you only get to pay for every click it gets. This kind of advertising model is the most cost-efficient and flexible at the moment.
Tip #5: Avoid making these common yet critical Amazon selling mistakes
Finding in success Amazon selling is a combination of attitude and strategy. Amazon selling provides tons of opportunities for entrepreneurs to start their dream business and scale it. However, as with any kind of business, you should also be open to a long journey of learning how to compete and innovate so you can do it for the long haul.
Many businesses already found success in Amazon, and their experience can help starting entrepreneurs get a good head start. With that, here are some common Amazon selling mistakes that new sellers make so you can consider them in your strategy.
Not having enough inventory
Not having enough stocks will affect your ranking. Make sure you stock enough, especially during sales and holidays.
Choosing incorrect category
Each product category has its own unique algorithm parameters ongoing behind it, and incorrectly associating your product with it may affect your visibility and conversions. Your product listing may also show incorrectly in the search results, which may also affect your ranking.
Not putting effort into packaging
Cutting corners in your packaging or even not doing it properly may significantly affect your future sales. Your product may reach your customers damaged, resulting in returns. On the other hand, improper packaging may also increase shipping costs unnecessarily.
Not responding/responding rudely to customer questions
At the end of the day, the customer is always right. Handle their concerns and questions professionally to increase customer satisfaction and encourage loyal customers. Make time to answer their inquiries as promptly as possible. Calmly handle complaints and offer a solution with the customer and your future customers in mind.
Running PPC without a strategy
Not using PPC and using it incorrectly both will bring negative results. It is important to have a good grasp of your goals and the tool itself before you launch it. If you don’t have the time or patience to learn about PPC, you can delegate it with confidence to reputable Amazon advertising management agencies like us here at Signalytics.
Not optimizing/testing the product listing
Setting up a store on Amazon is not set-up and forget type. You should still need to check your store from time to time, much better so, measure performance and re-assess your strategies to make sure the traffic comes in continuously and your conversion rate remains high.
If you see a decline in sales or your ad spending ballooning, see the possible culprits and make changes accordingly. For example, you may try on testing different sets of product images, or changing the keywords you target. Make sure to give it time for the new changes to gather data and return results before testing another strategy.
Parting Thoughts
Amazon provides tremendous opportunities for many people to start and grow their own businesses. However, as with any business, you must first learn the ropes and continue learning along the way.
If you do not have the time and resources but still want to take advantage of your opportunities on Amazon, we can help you. We offer various Amazon management services for both start-up and seasoned entrepreneurs. Contact us today to know more.