After listing, there are multiple steps a seller should take to stay ahead of the game and maximise their probability of success.
Given the highly competitive nature of Amazon’s marketplace, these steps are almost non-negotiable and need to be addressed by every seller.
Price Testing
- Testing different price points for your product is a great way to increase profitability. It helps a seller to identify the highest price point they can sell at without a decline in sales numbers.
- Selling at the lowest price does not always translate into the most sales. It can sometimes attribute a ‘cheapness’ to the product in the eyes of buyers.
- At times, increasing the price of a product can boost the number of sales. This is due to a perception of greater quality.
- Given that sellers compete for the “buy box” on most listings, using clever pricing strategies is very important.
- Use the tools on Seller Central to help automate pricing decisions.
Customer Reviews & Support
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- Arguably one of the most important parts of your Amazon business.
- Sellers should send no more than two emails to any given customer. The first should be within a day or two of the initial online order to thank them. The second should be sent to confirm the product has been received and request a review.
- Don’t spam customers with emails as it can have a negative affect and increase low star reviews.
- There are strict guidelines set by Amazon around the content of these emails. Basically no links to websites, cross selling, marketing, etc.
- Politely ask customers to contact you if they have any concerns and before they post a negative review in Amazon.
- Sellers should develop a template and use automated mailing program.
- Companies such as Jump Send and Kibly can automate and manage the customer follow-up emails.
Sponsored Product Advertising
Amazon provides a great platform for Pay-Per Click (PPC) marketing.
These sponsored product ads show up near search results which increases their exposure to customers exponentially.
See the types of advertising Amazon offer below.
Use Promotions
- Amazon offers promotions like Lightning Deals and Prime Day. Sellers should take advantage of these, especially in the early stages of a new products life cycle.
- Customers flock to Amazon to try and secure a bargain. This can massively increase a sellers product exposure if positioned correctly prior to the promotion.
- These deals can help increase sales numbers which in turn can increase product review numbers.
- Amazon also has The Early Reviewer Program, which encourages customers who have already purchased a product to share their authentic experience about that product, regardless of whether it is a 1-star or 5-star review.
- This program helps to acquire early reviews on products that have few or no reviews and is extremely beneficial to sellers with new products.
External Traffic & Sales
- Sellers should use every channel possible to drive traffic to their Amazon site.
- Using Facebook Ads and Google AdWords are two of the most popular methods.
- Other methods include blogs and external websites with direct links to product listings on Amazon.
*Some sellers trade through sales channels like eBay and private websites in addition to their Amazon page. This way they can capitalise on sales both inside and outside of the Amazon marketplace.
Competitor Analysis
- It is important to always stay ahead of the competition. The best way to do this is monitor and analyse what they are doing.
- Review how often they are changing their pricing, running promotions, updating photos, updating products, etc.
- Learn from other sellers mistakes! Use their negative customer reviews to help improve your products.
- Use the information you gather from reviewing competitors to help improve your products, listings and overall business.
- Self improvement it critical. Every Amazon business should be self reviewing constantly to grow, innovate and stay ahead of the competition.