Is winning on Amazon possible? If a brand is able to sell successfully on Amazon, is that success fleeting? Achieving meaningful revenue on Amazon may seem like a mirage for many brands, full of promise at the beginning, but ending in heartache. However, sustained success is possible for those brands that achieve a top ranking in their category. The top 10 ranked products in a given category receive more visibility to buyers, convert more sales, and usually own 90% of the market.
A top ranking in a category may seem inaccessible in the crowded Amazon marketplace, but it is possible, even for newcomers, if success in four distinct areas can be achieved. Namely:
Traffic
The volume of searches for the product
Reviews
Consumers' feedback on the product
Price
The price cost for the product
Images
Photo representation of the product
Traffic
Increasing the traffic that flows to your product listings is the first and most fundamental pillar of Amazon conversion. A typical product category on Amazon has 10,000 to 20,000 indexed search items (we call "keywords") that will drive traffic to the category's product. However, not all keywords obtain the same amount of consumer interest, and the level of usage of each keyword can fluctuate dramatically on the account of seasonality and social trends.
Knowing what these keywords are when they are trending, and which ones have high conversion rates but low usage among competitors can be a powerful driver of seller success. Using these most-searched, highest-converting, trending keywords in your product listing and in potential marketing and ads spend will increase both the visibility among your target customers and your sales.
Price
Choosing the right price point for your products is the next important pillar of Amazon conversion, and perhaps the least understood element of digital retailing. There is a common misconception that Amazon simply rewards with the lowest price. And that as a consequence the only possible path of retailing on Amazon leads to loss of margin and commoditization of your products.
The reality is quite the opposite: savvy brands who understand the importance of analyzing category performance know that there are high-volume price points in what products convert more efficiently and that these price points fluctuate constantly from month to month. Understanding which price points have the best conversion at the moment, and positioning products to those price points can be one of the most powerful tactics you can use to rapidly increase your brand's Amazon revenue.
Reviews
Ensuring that your products have a critical amount of positive reviews is the next pillar of Amazon conversion. To do so, you need to have a quality product coupled with quality consumer service. In essence, your team needs to be responsive to customer concerns, and it must fulfill any promises made to the customer, such as delivery time. Pay particular attention to negative reviews on all products and try to resolve the customer's concern as quickly as possible.
Images
The last pillar of Amazon conversion is the set of images that visually convey product specifications and expectations to consumers. Your hero image must clearly show the product, and it is wise to accompany this image with a small set of photos from the primary directions (front, back, top, bottom, sides), as well as photos of the product use. Adding a product-centric video can be particularly effective at increasing conversion.
Conclusion
Achieving meaningful revenue on Amazon can be hard. Selling on Amazon without an understanding of these four pillars, and how to optimize them, can be impossible. Getting up-to-date data on keywords, price-points, and images that are converting in a given category, as well as being active in addressing customer reviews, is the best strategy for any brand looking to increase their category ranking
Stepite offers multiple services that customize millions of data points into actionable insights for brands. Please reach out to us at sales@stepite.com for more information