Amazon is one of the first places multitudes of shoppers look for when making a purchase — whether it is a book or clothing or soup or household appliances, Amazon has got it all. Now more than ever, securing your foothold in the Amazon marketplace can mean big things for your e-commerce site. Looking to grow your sales? Follow these 10 tips.
#1. Remember that product titles help optimize sales. Use all available space for product titles and include as many keywords as possible, since customers may use a variety of descriptors for products (see tip 2). Stay away from special characters, punctuation and formatting that buyers typically don’t use while searching for an item to purchase.
#2. Amazon offers five search terms – so use all of them. Let’s say you’re selling a silver link bracelet. If your product title is “Silver Link Bracelet,” figure out which other 5 keywords may bring buyers to your product. Don’t repeat the information you’ve already given in your product title – think about other attributes of your product, such as clasp type, length, style and metal type.
#3. Carefully choose two nodes. Nodes are Amazon’s product codes, which identify items within product categories. The silver bracelet example from above may be listed under “apparel” and “jewelry.”
#4. Think like a customer. As you write your listing information, consider the ease with which your products can be found, and how appealing your product information is. Spend some time reviewing how other sellers market the same or similar items. Pay attention to the types of listings that would make you hit “buy,” and the ones that would cause you to walk away. Make edits to your own listings based on what you learn from shopping around!
#5. Include detailed product criteria. A fairly new offering from Amazon, Filtered Navigation gives sellers the opportunity to spell out product details that will appear in product search results. Carefully considered details will help bring shoppers to your product.
#6. At the same time, don’t go overboard on information, either! There’s a fine line between just enough details and information overload. Use effective language, but don’t overdo it with a lot of extraneous verbiage. Try to keep your copy to fewer than 200 words, and make judicious use of simple HTML formatting for emphasis. If you use bullet points, make sure they highlight the item’s most salient attributes.
#7. Understand product page procedures. While links to different sellers of the same product will appear during a specific product search, the main product page that comes up belongs to one seller. Amazon’s algorithm determines which seller’s page appears based on a number of factors, including buyer feedback and merchant sales volume. Keep in mind, if your product page isn’t the chosen one, you can make a case for it by contacting Amazon seller support – especially if you believe your product images and data are superior to what’s coming up.
#8. Great images make a big difference. Ideally, Amazon images should be 500×500 pixels. Use a white background and frame (or crop) your shot so the product takes up about 4/5ths of the overall image. Stay away from distracting and data-hogging elements like animations, graphics and watermarks.
#9. Pay attention to performance. As a seller, your reputation hinges on your ability to provide quality products, convey information effectively and accurately, and fulfill orders properly. Amazon keeps a close watch on sellers’ order defect rates as well as feedback on communications with customers and returns. Because Amazon’s priority is its own bottom line, it wants its sellers to keep to the same high standards it holds for itself as a major marketplace.
#10. Think about whether Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is right for you. The biggest benefits of having Amazon’s logistics network fulfill and deliver your products are inclusion in the popular Amazon Prime program and higher views. Some sellers find using FBA for their top products only can have big returns.
The Bottom Line
If you’re selling on Amazon, it pays to be knowledgeable about how it works. Use the tips above to ensure your products get noticed, and you may see even start seeing a nice bump in your sales numbers soon!
