Whether you’re new to selling your products on Amazon or have been up and running for a while, knowing how to properly optimise your product listings is the single-most important factor in helping you boost sales and make the most of the opportunities available.
So, to ensure you’re not making mistakes that will get in the way of your listing’s potential, here are some easy to implement tips on improving your Amazon SEO and product listings:
Sell first
Small tweaks to your product copy can make a big difference. Customers are on Amazon and browsing products because they’re ready to buy, not find out new information. So, just by changing the tone to fit the stage in the sales funnel that a customer is in can help to close the sale. The purpose of your product listing page is to sell – give them the best deal and describe the benefits of owning that product, they already know they want it so it should be an easy sell!
Optimise for Amazon SEO
You know your products better than anyone. So, if you were searching for them on Amazon, what words would you type in to find them? You should be using these ‘key words’ throughout your product listing, optimising the copy to make it easier for customers to find your product. For example, if you are selling reusable, leak-proof water bottles, then optimise your listing with terms highlighting this. Customers will be searching for ‘leakproof water bottles,’ so if your listing doesn’t feature those terms, it may not appear in a search. Read your product copy and add in keywords and phrases where they would naturally occur.
Connect with your customers
Imagine you are sitting across the table from a potential customer. Read your product listing copy out loud to them and then edit the copy to remove anything that feels repetitive or doesn’t add any value. Many times, we subconsciously refer to ourselves in copy as ‘we’ and ‘us’ when really, we should be speaking directly to the customer by using ‘you’. For example, ‘You can put our leakproof water bottles in your bag whilst out for a run without fear of them leaking’ resonates more with the customer as it is directed at them personally.
Why is Optimising your Listings so Important?
Selling your products on Amazon can lead to great success if you have a knowledgeable team that know how to move with the everchanging market. One of the biggest and most important parts of your selling journey is optimising your Amazon listings to achieve top ranking positions in the Amazon SERPs (search engine results pages). Great product listings are what will give you the best ROI, so optimising Amazon listings should be where you invest most of your time and effort.
Unlike in physical stores where the customer can touch and experience your product for themselves, on Amazon they are depending on you to give them a full description of the product and what they should expect when they have the product in their hands. As well as this, you need to incorporate strong sales copy that relates with the customer and makes them want to purchase.
Your product listing needs to give the customer a full shopping experience; from the high-res product image right down to the features of the product itself. Great product listings are time consuming to write, but if you don’t put in the effort then you won’t see the results you are hoping for.
54% of all product search is on Amazon, compared to 46% on Google – the market is huge and the way users shop on Amazon is very different from standard online searches. Amazon shoppers already know what they’re looking for, and are looking for the best price and quality; your job is to seal the deal with great copy. Visibility is the most important factor of succeeding as a seller on Amazon. If your listing isn’t fully optimised then potential buyers won’t be shown your product, which is the difference between sales and no sales. Unless you are in a very small niche, there will be competitors with similar products to yours trying to entice the same audience demographic. Quality images, SEO optimised sales copy, and detailed product descriptions are what will give you the edge. You should also be flexible with your product prices when optimising Amazon listings, as you may see an increase in sales by reducing your product price by a small amount if it gives you the edge over competitors.
Lots of brands are turning to Amazon as an additional avenue for sales, including larger more established brands. The difference with Amazon is that there is no bias towards the larger brands, i.e., bigger brands getting prime positions because they are more well known. Small brands have every opportunity to optimise their listings and rank higher than household names that usually dominate in retail. Amazon is a dynamic marketplace and because of this you need to be constantly on top of your game to beat your competition. You have to be continually optimising Amazon listings for current keyword trends to maintain top positions.
Drop the team at Melody an email or fill in one of our contact forms. We can give you an insight into your category and market opportunities on the platform and help you get a gauge of likely returns.
This article was written by Matt Howes, Ecommerce Director at Melody, a specialist Amazon agency in London.
