Amazon’s reign as the king of ecommerce won’t end any time soon.
More than 2 billion people visit Amazon each month, according to Statista.
So, how do you stand out and generate more sales?
The core belief behind Amazon’s algorithm is straightforward. They want customers to continue buying. They are interested in sales just as much (if not more) than you are as a seller.
The difference? Amazon doesn’t have any loyalty toward any brand other than their own.
More sales lead to higher rankings, which in turn, leads to more sales.
But how can you get past the chicken vs. egg scenario to start seeing improvements?
Here are the six marketing strategies you can use to grow your Amazon sales.
1. Cover the basics
Tips and tricks don’t replace solid marketing fundamentals. In general, you should be thinking in terms of strategy, not just tactics.
Do you have high-quality photos and strong copy? How are you positioning your brand/product? Are your prices competitive or is your product differentiated?
These matter on every channel — especially Amazon. You can’t start optimizing until your basics are covered.
2. Reanalyze your keywords and focus on keyword relevancy
Amazon’s algorithm may be focused on customers buying products, but that is similar to saying Google’s algorithm is focused on providing the best answer. While it may be true, a lot of variables and nuances go into rankings. This includes:
- Ratings.
- Sales fulfillment.
- Sales velocity.
- Inventory.
- Pricing.
- CTR.
With the A10 Algorithm update (which seems to be based on several updates throughout the years instead of one major update), matching the shopper’s interest/intent has taken center stage. Amazon is attempting to show products based more on searchers vs. their own profitability.
While you may have done keyword research when you first set up your product detail page, shopping behaviors may have changed. You should regularly conduct keyword research and make sure you have the terms placed throughout the product detail page. This includes important areas like title, description, and bullet points.
This isn’t simply stuffing keywords in your copy. You still have to write for shoppers in a way that drives conversions. The algorithm may rank your product, but it doesn’t buy it.
Shoppers are the ones reading and making the decision whether to purchase. Your copy must help convince them that your product is the right choice.
3. Invest more in advertising
As expected, Amazon Advertising continues to grow and be an essential part of the company’s revenue.
Amazon’s ad revenue was more than $31 billion in 2021. That’s more than triple its 2018 ad revenue of $10 billion.
If you want to be successful on Amazon, an ad campaign is a must.
Amazon rewards sales and running Amazon ads allows you to get those sales. Unlike Google Ads, where paid ads have no impact on organic placement, Amazon does. You can stimulate sales velocity and improve your rankings by investing more in Amazon Ads.
As the competition continues to grow, so does the cost.
The good news is that Amazon also continues to refine its ads platform to give you more options and data to improve your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS). ACoS is calculated by dividing your ad spend by your ad revenue and multiplying it by 100.
4. Bring in more off-Amazon traffic
Amazon is dominant online and they want to remain that way. A good way to do that is to get traffic from other sites. That is why Amazon does take into account traffic that leads to sales from off-Amazon channels like Google and Facebook.
Take advantage of the Brand Referral Bonus program and create an external traffic campaign for your product listings. Whether it is Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or any other type of campaign to drive traffic, you can set yourself up to receive a commission from Amazon and higher organic listings for your products when done properly.
5. Use a coupon with Amazon advertising
Everyone loves a discount and a good deal. You can play off both psychological triggers by running a coupon for your sponsored product ads.
Sponsored product ads allow your product to be shown within the search results for specific terms.
When you run a coupon at the same time searchers can see your product with a discount. This not only helps the CTR from the search results but also leads to a higher conversion rate – both crucial metrics for successful Amazon marketing strategies.
In many cases, it isn’t even the amount of the coupon that makes the difference, but simply having one is enough.
Even if you can’t offer a coupon with advertising and turn a sustainable profit on your sales, you should still consider it for a period of time. The improvements in your rankings could lead to higher sales well past the full advertising blitz.
Keep your guard up, however, because you are never operating in a silo. Competitors will always be after your market share.
6. Invest in high-quality videos
Photos still get most of the attention (rightfully so), but videos have earned their place among the must-haves when it comes to listing quality.
The more information you can give to potential buyers to make them understand and trust your product the higher your sales and the better your reviews will be.
These four video tips may help you produce more sales from your Amazon listing:
- Shoot a video describing and using your products.
- Make sure you have a plan to address the pain points your product solves and highlight other important differentiating factors.
- Highlight how your product compares to others and show it being used with a lifestyle video to determine what resonates most with your buyers.
- Keep it focused on sales.
Remember, Amazon wants happy customers and more sales — just like you.
Even though it may feel like it, it isn’t you vs. Amazon. It is you vs. the other products someone would buy instead of yours on Amazon.
Keep strategy focused on awareness and conversion. If you implement the right strategy, Amazon should reward you with higher rankings.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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