How To Grow On Amazon
Climbing the Sales Ladder: How To Scale on Amazon
Starting on Amazon is the easiest part of the journey. After you’ve launched your first product, the most prolonged and difficult part begins. All sellers share a common goal – revenue, but somebody’s win often means others’ loss. If you want to succeed in this race and outpace your competition, you need to use all means available. Boosting sales is not an easy task, and it involves a lot of work, but it is very achievable.
Step 1
Monitor Your Performance
If you want to boost your sales on Amazon, you need to know which areas need improvement. Of course, all aspects have room for growth and the sky’s the limit and everything, but there are usually things that need immediate attention. This is even more relevant for new sellers who are not yet privy to Amazon’s Best Practices and thus don’t know how to boost online sales.
If you want the most comprehensive analytics on customer behavior, product performance and account rating, you need to be enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry Program. Amazon won’t leave you without data if you are not enrolled, but it’s pivotal to have your brand registered if you want to get all the tools for scaling on Amazon.
Once you have the data, you will see which areas need to be improved first. Maybe your product has a low number of clicks – that means it needs SEO optimization and advertising. Maybe your listing is viewed by many people, but they leave without buying – that means you need to work on the contents or change the pricing policy. Maybe your listing got banned for violating some Amazon policy, introduced after you launched the product. Instead of taking a shot in the dark, work with the actual data that represents your performance.
If you can’t make heads or tails of the analytics, you can Contact Us – we’ll read it with you. As an alternative, you can work on aspects that need improvement in 99% of the cases.
Step 2
Optimize Your Product Listing
If you don’t know where to start – start with a product listing. It’s the very thing that customers interact with most, so it should be the first stop on your sales boost journey. There are two aspects to Product Listing Optimization: SEO optimization and Visual Boost. The first one will allow your product to rank higher in the search engine, while the second one will win over customers and improve conversion rates.
We’ve barely scratched the surface of what listing optimization truly is. You can also run A/B experiments with different versions of the content to see which one performs the best. For more information, check out our dedicated SEO Listings Optimization page.
Individual Account
This type will suit those who don’t expect too many sales and don’t need access to the full range of Amazon’s selling tools and advertising programs. It also doesn’t allow you to sell in certain categories and obliges you to pay $0.99 per every item sold, not including referral fees. It might be a good option for small-scale sellers who don’t have many items to sell or want to have a test launch without investing much resources.
Professional Account
This account will suit those sellers who plan to sell more than forty items per month - the monthly subscription costs $39.99. But for that price, you also get access to a most extensive Amazon toolset: advertisement campaigns, reports, analytics and much more. This subscription also allows you to sell in all categories, including the restricted ones. If you want your business to grow on Amazon, you’ll need a Professional Account, and better sooner than later.
Step 3
Advertise Your Products
The second key component of increasing sales on Amazon is advertising. You can hope for your product to eventually rank high in the search engine, or you can deliver it right to potential customers via ads. Advertising is a more reliable way to showcase your products as it allows even new sellers with no reputation to steal the spotlight from more reputable sellers with loads of reviews and good ratings. And it never gets old: you can launch and manage advertising campaigns as a means to increase your sales or to support your current success.
To gain access to Amazon Pay-Per-Click Advertising, you also need to be enrolled in the Brand Registry Program. With that, you gain access to the three main types of Amazon ads: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display. Depending on the type, your ad will appear in various places in the customer search results, bypassing the competition from the Amazon search.
We have a whole section dedicated to Amazon Sales Boost via advertising.
Step 4
Accumulate Reviews
Reviews aren’t just a way for customers to share their experiences with your products. They are markers that other people use to determine where the product is worth their trust and money. Amazon algorithms account for the number and quality of reviews when determining the place of your product in the search results and giving it the Featured Offer status. As such, they are important for both building reputation and increasing visibility.
The issue with reviews is that the majority of customers aren’t too willing to leave them. There is also the question of experience ‘coloring’: dissatisfaction tends to be a stronger driver for people to share their experiences, so you will need to put a lot of work into building a positive review portfolio. Paying for reviews will do more harm than good and so will offering incentives in exchange for good reviews.
There are two main things you can do when hunting for reviews. First, try to get verified buyers to leave reviews after their purchase. You can’t make them do that, but you can remind them how appreciative you would be if they left a review via a follow-up email or a package insert. Also, make sure to react to every review you get, positive or negative.
The second strategy involves utilizing Amazon reviewing programs. There are two programs you can make use of: Amazon Vine and Early Reviewer Program. Both are curated by Amazon and both are a great way to get genuine reviews from real people. Nobody will denigrate your product on purpose, but nobody will whitewash it either. Your best chance is to provide good products – and hope for the better.
Need help getting more reviews on Amazon?
Step 5
Create an Amazon Store
Brand Registry offers you another great opportunity to beat the competition by showcasing your brand and products in a most eye-catching manner. Amazon Store is your microsite within the platform that you can use to showcase your brand and entire product line through a highly customizable product portfolio. You can use widgets, attach links, download high-quality images – the toolkit is quite extensive. You will also have the whole place to yourself – Amazon Store doesn’t display the products of your competitors. To put it briefly, it’s a great tool to increase your brand visibility, boost credibility for both platform and customers and, ultimately, enjoy more sales.
Having an Amazon Store just for the sake of it won’t bring much use, though. You need a well-designed store that will benefit from all the best practices. We have rich experience in Amazon Store Creation and can create one that will both convey your brand’s philosophy and engage customers to interact with it.
Step 6
Manage Inventory
Proper inventory management can be a great performance booster, as much as a poor one can be a significant obstacle on your way to success. Running out of inventory is detrimental in more than one aspect. Apart from missing out on potential sales opportunities, you also risk being penalized by Amazon. Not only will your position in search results drop, but the platform may also decrease your storage limits if you utilize Fulfillment by Amazon.
Smart inventory management is much more than replenishing your stock before it runs out. You also need to plan the restocking to save on the shipping costs. You also need to be diligent in fulfilling orders and processing returns. The latter two can be the responsibility of Amazon if you choose FBA when creating your Seller Central Account. But you will have to maintain a consistent inventory in any case.
These are the mainstays of increasing sales on Amazon. The complete list looks much more extensive than that – there are countless other means and strategies that can help bring your performance to a new level. But we won’t reveal all the cards just yet. If you need consultation on boosting sales, Contact Us for a very thorough discussion.
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FAQ
Some of the key strategies include monitoring performance, optimizing your product listing, advertising your products, accumulating positive reviews, creating an Amazon Store, and managing your inventory effectively.
Making your product listing more effective involves focusing on SEO optimization and increasing its visual appeal. Use relevant keywords in your title, description, and features, and make sure to use attractive visuals like images, videos and descriptive text.
Reviews are crucial for building reputation among Amazon users and getting the favor of the platform's algorithms. Amazon's algorithms consider both the quantity and quality of reviews when ranking products in search results. Encourage verified buyers to leave reviews and make use of Amazon's review programs like Amazon Vine and Early Reviewer Program.
Proper inventory management ensures you never run out of stock and miss sales opportunities. It also prevents Amazon from applying penalties for unfulfilled orders or insufficient stock.
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