These Simple Steps Will Help Amazon Sellers Stand Out To Increase Their Revenue

Less than a decade ago, luxury and premium-priced brands were hesitant to sell on Amazon. Today, you can purchase anything from three-dollar toothpaste to an $18,000 Elie Saab gown on its e-commerce site.

Amazon has grown by gaining the trust of consumers and businesses, which has prompted more brands globally to list their products with the multinational technology company. 1.6 million packages are shipped per day and approximately 1.9 million users rely on the site to sell their products. In a sea of similar products and competing brands, how can brands stand out? “The key to success on Amazon is sparking emotion with consumers,” said CEO and founder of Rank Bell Marketing Agency for Amazon brands, Izabela Hamilton. “Amazon is the marketplace where you shop for keywords, but if you can transform that “keyword” into a real brand, you are winning.”

Consumer Packaged Good (CPG) brands with a D2C and B2B business model who are not selling on Amazon are missing out on additional, lucrative revenue. In many cases, brands listed on Amazon may not be scaling if an effective growth strategy is not in place. Here are four necessary steps to grow your business on Amazon.

1. Create your Shipping and Inventory Strategy

Companies must sign up on Amazon’s Seller Central to begin selling. Once a company is approved, sellers have two choices for fulfillment: FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) or FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant). With FBA, the seller ships product to Amazon, and the company stores inventory, fulfill orders and is responsible for handling returns. There is a fixed fulfillment and storage fee cost for FBA and varies depending on the size and weight of your product. With FBM, the seller facilitates packing and shipping orders placed on Amazon via their own shipping warehouse. Creating an Amazon store can be a challenge to navigate in the beginning but there are videos, FAQs, and agents available to assist on Seller Central.

Companies that select FBA have a significant advantage in choosing their shipping method as most customers prefer free 2-day shipping. If you take this route, it is essential to have the necessary inventory in stock. A good rule of thumb is to have twice your lead time of inventory on hand.

“Recently, a major Tiktok creator organically featured Leopara as one of her ‘Amazon Favorites’ and it sold out our Amazon stock within a week. I initiated a restock almost immediately so that customers could still order in advance but with Amazon’s replenishment lead times, it took almost a month to have inventory back in the ‘Prime’ 2-day ship category,” said Leopara founder Rachel Vicknair.

2. SEO Optimization of Title and Bullet Points

Image content is one of the biggest conversion factors when an Amazon shopper is deciding to purchase a product. Amazon SEO and Product Research Specialist Brandon Demercado said, “Your main image is going to impact whether a customer clicks on your listing, but the rest of your listing images, video, A+ content, and brand story are going to help translate to a purchase for your product. Infographics that highlight unique selling points and lifestyle images that enable the customer to visualize themselves using your product combined with great branding is key if you want to bring your listings to the next level.”

A high converting listing doesn’t have much value if people can’t find your product. Highly optimized SEO gives Amazon a blueprint on how to give you the best available coverage, get in front of more customers, and give you more opportunities for people to purchase your products. “A properly optimized title and bullet points strike the balance between clearly communicating what your product is, why they want it, and how yours is the one they want,” Brandon added. The difference between a poorly-written listing and an optimized one can affect indexing for 30 versus 300 keywords.

3. Get Reviews

Reviews influence consumers’ purchasing decisions. Amazon has a strict review policy prohibiting sellers from manipulating reviews, so yours need to be authentic. If a seller is caught with fraudulent reviews, Amazon reserves the right to revoke the seller, withhold funds, and take legal action. Paying for, offering reimbursement, or incentivizing customers are among the forbidden tactics for garnering reviews.

It is okay to put an insert in your products encouraging customers to leave feedback; the key is not to sway customers or ask for positive reviews. You can create a call to action on your social media platforms to leave a review on any site they have purchased from. If you are selling on Amazon, chances are you’ll capture reviews for the site from the ask. Brands often have an overflow of customers who discover their product on their website but will purchase it on Amazon to receive free shipping. Capturing emails on your website will allow you to send periodic newsletters asking your customers to leave a review on any platform they have purchased your product from, including Amazon.

4. Pay Per Click Advertising

The final step to running advertisements is utilizing PPC. Begin by creating a few discovery campaigns, such as “auto” and “phrase keywords match” campaigns. Then, let the advertisement run with a reasonable budget. How much you spend will depend on your bids, not your budget. To know what to launch, look through your reports and find which search terms converted with a healthy return on ad spend.

“I am always testing based on Amazon’s auto campaign and keywords I am creating. You don’t need a massive budget to start. $50 a day is enough to work with. If the campaign is doing well, increase the budget,” said CEO of Trivium Group, Mina Elias. Mina suggests calculating how much you are selling less your fees, cost of goods, and ads. If you have a positive profit, continue to increase the budget, and allow the campaign to spend while monitoring inventory levels.

Bringing on an experienced person or company specializing in Amazon growth may yield the fastest results and typically requires a retainer (or retainer plus commission) on ad sales. If your budget isn’t there yet, network with other founders selling on Amazon, and educate yourself by watching tutorials. With the right strategy, a great product will thrive on Amazon.