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Originally published on May 11, 2020, updated October 10, 2023
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Thad Hay of Buy Box Experts shares Amazon product listing strategies in this guest article.
Let's talk about the shopper experience on Amazon. When a customer comes to Amazon, what are they looking for?
Prior to the craziness we’ve faced in the modern world, many shoppers sorted by Prime, then by number of reviews, then started looking at the main image and reading reviews. Price, of course, is a factor.
Why should you spend time writing an awesome product description and bullet points if you’re not sure shoppers are reading them? Well, the short answer is that they are reading descriptions. You only have so much opportunity to grab their attention and win their business.
The goal of a listing is to sell your products. Is it any different than your website? Of course not, so why put less effort into your Amazon listings? A potential customer needs to know the value of your product in an instant when looking at your listings. If they don’t, the distractions of sponsored product ads, less expensive products, or products that are advertising on your listing will win the traffic that you fought to get to your page.
So what helps listings sell? In a nutshell, it’s a combination of proper product images, awesome descriptions, helpful and keyword-rich (but not stuffed) bullet points, and so much more, including product reviews. Read on to learn what does and doesn’t work to help accelerate your sales on Amazon.
Amazon gives you the opportunity to add several images to your listing, but the primary photo is key. It’s what will show up in search results and on the detail page. Let’s compare two primary photos and look at what works.
What would you think of this product, and this brand, based solely on the featured image?
Now, look at the next one. How do they differ?
Which one of these products sells better? The second one does. You would be surprised how many people don't ensure their brand is properly represented on Amazon. While the first images show results, which are valuable, the picture quality is poor and the brand is not professionally represented. The first set of images would be great as part of a review, but they aren’t optimized listing material.
The second image is gorgeous and of high quality. Not only that, it properly and professionally represents the brand. THIS is the type of image that sells a product. And, Amazon gives you plenty of opportunity when it comes to your product images. You can add lifestyle images (but they should be professional photos), infographics, photos of your product in use, unboxing photos, and more.
Changes to your product images that weren't made by you can be a potential sign that your listing is being hijacked. SellerPulse by eComEngine includes listing content change alerts that notify you when there's a change to your listing images.
Accurate and well-worded product descriptions set the expectation with your buyer, thus reducing the chance of negative reviews. We’ll get to the importance of reviews later, but for now, let’s talk about how product descriptions can lead buyers to your products.
Choosing the right keywords for your product description can help shoppers find your products because those keywords will help your product rank higher in Amazon’s search results. Amazon’s algorithm is called A9, and it uses a number of variables to rank products. Among them are the click-to-sales rate (CTS) and the sales page content, which is where your keywords come in.
The more sales you get, the higher you will rank in Amazon’s search results.
The CTS is simply the number of Amazon shoppers who click your product in the search results and go on to purchase. So it’s true that the more sales you get, the higher you will rank in Amazon’s search results. But your keywords can help you get more sales, so it’s important to do keyword research and incorporate relevant keywords into your product description.
SEO keywords and description accuracy aren’t the only important parts of a good Amazon product description. It’s also a great idea to target certain buyer personas so that your products appear in the searches your ideal shoppers are running.
2021 Update: As of July 17, 2021, Amazon will no longer support the use of HTML tags in product descriptions and will stop showing HTML formatting.
There is a keyword strategy to consider here, as well, because there are certain keywords in specific categories and buyer persona groups. There are lots of keyword research techniques you can employ to write optimized product descriptions.
Finally, make your product description error-free, easy to read, and concise. Be sure to talk about the benefits of your product, rather than the features. You can use the bullet points for longer descriptions and product details.
The bullet points Amazon provides in your product description break up content into an easy-to-read format. They allow the shopper to skim through the content. They also help you with organic search ranking. You have five bullet points per listing and some text limit constraints, but you can get a lot of information across to potential buyers in this section of your listing.
DON’T:
DO:
Your bullet points are a way to keep shoppers on your listing and to provide more information to them to help you win their business.
Your product reviews, while not a part of your listing you can completely control, do factor into Amazon’s A9 search algorithm. Additionally, they help potential buyers read real opinions about your products. Provided you’re getting positive ratings, your product reviews can greatly increase your success on the Amazon marketplace.
Make sure that your Amazon product listing is setting the right expectations for the buyer. A detailed description is good for both search algorithms and shoppers. You'll also want to be sure your listing complies with Amazon listing policies.
Amazon is “customer-obsessed.” Improving the customer experience yields more sales. Amazon’s algorithm is built that way. By helping consumers buy quicker, more confidently, with less regret, and by making sure they get the product as soon as possible, you will see an increase in sales.
At the end of the day, put the customer first and you will win in Amazon's algorithm and in your business. It will make you feel better about yourself when you lie down at night, it will increase your sales, and it will allow you to grow this business long into the future. It is not about you or what you think...it is about your customer.
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