It is frustrating to see your great product, not performing well on Amazon. At some point in time, you may even begin to question your product. While it’s easy to fall into this trap, it’s important to find out the moment from where your customers get disconnected with the product. It may turn out that the problem is not with your product at all. It might be the copy, images or reviews that turned them down. Analyzing your conversion rates can help you optimize your listing. In this and the upcoming blog posts, we will learn everything about boosting conversion rates on Amazon. But before diving in, let us understand why you should focus on your conversion rates more than anything else?
A Higher Conversion Rates Has More Benefits Than You Can Imagine
#1: More Sales
Need I even say that? More conversions = more sales (your ultimate goal of selling on Amazon). No matter how much you spend on PPC, it won’t bring results until and unless your conversion rates are high. Because with PPC, you can bring traffic to your detail page, but if they are not ready to make a purchase all the dollars you spent to bring them will go in vain. I always say that, before investing in Sponsored Ads, make your product ready for the traffic because in the end conversion rates are what defines your sales.
#2: Increased Organic Ranking
Despite the increasing dominance of sponsored ads, organic rankings are integral to revenue growth. But just like Google, no one really knows how A9 works. However, Amazon does provide some insights – “Factors such as degree of text match, price, availability, selection, and sales history help determine where your product appears in a customer’s search results.” Sales history is what we should be interested in. It is an important element in various performance metrics, such as order defect rate. Any ranking advantage is directly attributed to sales history and especially conversion rates because of the increase in conversion rates = increase in sales.
#3: Merchandising Exposure
This is an often-overlooked benefit of increasing conversion rates. On the product page, there are various sections where your competitor’s products are highlighted. There is a list of Best Sellers, a section for Customers Also Viewed and a section for Compare with Similar Items. These spots are highly dynamic and desirable. Imagine the impressions and exposure your product can get if it reaches one of these coveted spots.
#4: Advantage In Sponsored Ad Bid Auctions
Higher conversion rates equal to lower customer acquisition cost, so it also provides a competitive advantage in sponsored ad bid auctions. For one keyword with multiple product ads, Amazon will favor the advertisement, which has the highest historical conversion rate even if the CPC bid is lower than that of competitors. The reason? Because customer satisfaction is above everything. The savings can be reinvested to expand the ad campaign or for other marketing activities.
What’s A Good Conversion Rate, Though?
According to a study, the average conversion rates for non-prime members was around 13% while that of prime members was a whopping 74%. Amazon sellers have a competitive advantage over the others because customers are already there with a shopping intent, so conversion rates are naturally much higher. The research revealed that shoppers on other online selling sites converted at just 3.32%. Now the question is, what would the ideal conversion rate on Amazon? Though a “good” conversion rates changes with product, category and price, if your product has a 20% or higher conversion rate, then it would be ideal. Now the question is, how can you improve the conversion ratio for your Amazon listings?
So What’s The Magic Formula To Increase Conversions On Amazon?
And a customer will be pleased when:
(a) All his questions are answered
(b) He finds your brand to be trustworthy
(c) He gets all the information he needs to make a purchase
(d) He doesn’t find the need to view the product in person
Imagine you are the owner of a brick and mortar store. When a customer enters your store, he will have several questions; if all of them are answered and he is convinced that he is getting the best bang for his bucks, then he will make a purchase, otherwise not. You knowwhyyour product is great, so you present it like it’s thebest product in the world. Now, what would be the situation if you are not there in the store? How will you prove that your product is the best?
This is what happens when you sell on Amazon. You are not physically there to convince the customer, so they will have to rely on the other factors. These other factors are what build trust and confidence in the minds of customers and eventually affect your conversion rates. Next time you shop online, observe your behavior. You will first look at the images, then scroll down to read reviews and at that time you will also view the A+ Page and then you will read the copy to get the crucial product information. So the main elements on a listing page that affects the conversion rates are:
(Note: Obviously price would be one of the things every customer would look at but its relative element that changes with every product and category, so I have not included it in the series)
In this and the coming blog posts, I will share detailed information on how you can optimize each of the above four elements to skyrocket your conversion rate. By the end of this series, you will exactly know what compels a shopper to click on the “Add To Cart” button. The first episode in our series in Image Optimization.
Episode 1: Image Optimization
I have said this before, I will say it again, images are one of the most important factors in increasing your conversion rates. They make even complex information fun to look at and digest. Also, customers perceive a listing with great images like a professional and trustworthy brand. Have you ever seen Apple’s product listing? It’s no less than a website. For once, shoppers might not bother to read the copy, but they will definitely look at each and every image you upload. So it goes without saying that image optimization should be your top-most priority. Here is a list of images every seller must have on their listings.This is a tried and tested formula; I make this type of images for all my clients and they have felt a positive difference in their conversion rates.Try it yourself and feel the difference.
8 Essential Images To Boost Conversion Rates:
#1 The One Where Your Product Looks Great (Main Image)
Sometimes to create a great main image, you need to go beyond just clipping the background. By beyond I mean eliminating the photography flaws. Even if you photograph the product in the best studio in the world, it is bound to get flaws. Flashes, wrinkles, shadows, color and lighting differences are common and unavoidable. So to avoid that you should edit your photo and remove any elements that make it look unprofessional. This image will be your main image. If your main image looks perfect, your click-through rates will increase as well. Here are some of the common things to take care of in the main image:
- It should be at least 1500 x 1500 pixels
- It should be clear and of high quality
- It should take up as much as picture as it can
- It should have a PURE white background
#2 The One With Enhanced Lifestyle Image:
Use that extra space in the lifestyle image and make it look even more impactful. Adding a related tagline in lifestyle images is a great way to increase the value of that image. Imagine an image where a person is at the peak of a mountain carrying a hiking stick and it has a tagline which says “Reach great heights”. Would only the lifestyle image leave such an impact? I don’t think so. A sentence that connects with the customers and explains the convenience it brings to shoppers can add a great value to your image.
#3 The One With The Reviews:
Yes, shoppers do take a look at the reviews without fail, but they only skim through them. Most of the shoppers will view the star ratings, read one or two popular reviews and won’t go any further. Wouldn’t it be great if you could highlight one or two best reviews in your images itself? Just by reading the reviews in the image would make them more confident about making a purchase and it can also reduce the impact that negative reviews have left on them. If you don’t have any reviews on Amazon yet, you can highlight some of the reviews you have got on your website.
#4 The One With The Guarantee:
Every online shopper, including you and me, has experienced a bad purchase, which they regret. Be it a downright scam or a defective product, we all have been wary of the risk of online shopping, even on Amazon. Being an ethical seller, you can ease such doubts of the customers by displaying a satisfaction guaranteed or warranty image. Also, the customer satisfaction claim is something you cannot add to your A+ Pages, so this image must make it to your image grid. Just make sure to highlight the after-sale support as well as honor the promise when such a situation arises.
#5 The One That Explains Why Your Product Is The Best:
Every other seller is selling a product similar to yours, so shoppers are going to compare your product to ten other products. Make their task easier by making a comparison chart that clearly explains why your product is the right choice for them. You can consider all the important metrics on the basis of which shoppers make comparison and then highlight that your product has ALL of them while your competitor has only some (or none) of them. Making a comparison chart increases customer confidence as well as highlights all the features of your product in one place.
#6 The One With All The Benefits:
Let the customers know the convenience your product can bring to their lives. This isn’t a dietary supplement; it can help you to take charge of your life – experience better mobility, increased strength, better digestion, great immunity, enhanced pain management and much more. Most of the time customers are not interested in the technical features but get connected more with the easy-to-digest benefits. With this image, you can show off all the great benefits your customers will have if they buy your product.
#7 The One With Quality Assurance:
The only concern shoppers have while they buy a product online is the “quality”. In a brick and mortar store, they can themselves feel and touch the product and gauge the quality, but while buying online, they don’t have this ability. The quality assurance image is what increases their trust. If your product is Non-GMO, Made In The USA, FDA Certified, Gluten-Free, All Natural & Organic, why not make an image and show it off to the customers? This way, your customers can make an informed and a confident purchase decision.
#8 The One That Highlights The Main Feature:
Every product has its Unique Selling Points. Because it tastes great, because it makes you look great, because it is the most durable on the market, because it is certified and awarded. Identify yours and showcase them in the image. Highlighting your USPs can make you look different amongst the pool of competitors and it can answer a customer’s most common question: why should we choose you? Every product has something unique; making a “main benefit call-out image” is the best way to highlight it.
Need Help With Your Images?
Creating images for Amazon is not A DIY thing. You need really professional and eye-catching images that make your product stand out. Sounds challenging, doesn’t it? But you can take help from the Amazon Infographic Services. We have with us a team of creative nerds and graphic designers who can help you make Amazon Product Infographics from scratch. That’s right; we have even made images from mobile clicked product images. Contact us now and get your images optimized.
Learn Everything About Increasing Conversion Rates In This Series:
On popular demand, I am thrilled to announce the beginning of a blog series on increasing the conversion rates. So many of you told me to write a blog on this topic but covering every minute detail in one post was not possible, so I decided to make a series out of it. It’s a four-episode series and in each of episode, we will take a more in-depth look at the elements that can help you optimize your conversion rates (Images, Reviews, Copy, A+ Page). In the next episode, we will learnhow to write a product copy that actually converts.Till then stay tuned and happy selling! Also, let me know if you want me to cover any other topics 🙂