Amazon is a complex marketplace for sellers and vendors. With an algorithm, similar to that on Google, which determines the success of listings, it is important that vendors and sellers on the platform have an effective strategy in place which is frequently managed.
Below are four of the most crucial elements that should form the foundation of a Amazon marketing strategy:
1. Regularly reviewing your listing content
As mentioned, Amazon decides the ranking on the product search results pages based on the number of different factors and one of these is the optimisation of product content. Amazon will look to see if product listings contain certain relevant keywords and are relevant to the item being sold.
Vendors and sellers need to conduct keyword research and optimise the product listing title, description and bullet points, not forgetting the back-end keywords, in order to improve their chances of ranking highly on the results pages, increasing visibility and conversions.
A mistake that businesses make though is to write the initial listing copy and just leave it, believing that there is no further work to be done. However, a cornerstone of a success strategy should be ro regularly review product content and update as and when needed.
It should also be a priority to regularly review your Q&A section on listings as well as review content. This will give tips on what information the content is lacking, so as and when a new question is asked or review uploaded, you should review and make any additions to the listing if required.
2. Optimise your images
Amazon gives its sellers and vendors many image optimisation capabilities, including the option to add a video within A+ content. It should be a top priority to provide consumers with the best images possible.
All images should follow Amazon’s recommendations. For example their general image specifications include:
- Insert images in JPEG.
- Image pixel dimension recommended by Amazon should be 2560 pixels wide, but at a minimum of 1280 pixels in either width or height.
- Both RGB or CMYK colour modes are acceptable.
- Do not include spaces, dashes or additional characters in the filename as it will prevent your image from going online.
The reason for optimising your images is twofold. First, Amazon rewards listings with complete sels of images which meet their guidelines and restrictions. But also, as Amazon is online, consumers rely on high quality, informational images in order to true the product. By giving them a range of HD images which show the product, the scale, variations and use you are more likely to increase your conversions.
3. Take advantage of Amazon’s marketing tools
As with most algorithm based rankings, the organic search results on Amazon can be volatile, and with new sellers and vendors entering the platform every day, this means that often just conducting organic activity isn’t enough to be successful on Amazon.
Investing in Amazon’s paid search offering is a great way in which to assist your organic ranking, due to an increase in sales from paid activity, and also ensure you are competing effectively in your niche. Again this isn’t something which can be turned on and left to run. Vendors and sellers should regularly review their ads and spend to ensure you are remaining competitive but are not overspending.
4. Have a defined process for account management
For all of the above to work it is a vital part of your strategy to make sure you have a process in place to effectively manage your Amazon account.
There are so many aspects to selling on Amazon, and vendors may have more than one distribution channel on the go which can make keeping on top of Amazon difficult. Plus, Amazon regularly updates its platform for its sellers and rolls out new features frequently. It is therefore advisable to have a dedicated account management team or hire the help of an external Amazon consultancy agency to help manage your vendor or seller account.
