With Q4 almost coming to an end, it’s time for brands to get their 2023 selling plan in place. There are several factors that can help brands start the New Year with a bang. Now is the perfect time to analyze each tool and strategy in your wheelhouse to fuel growth.
Although there are myriad ways to increase sales on Amazon, below we have listed actionable tips that are easy to implement and can be simply employed by brands of all sizes.
#1: Learn from the past
Although you might want to bask in the glory of a profitable Q4 for the rest of Q1, it is important to look back and analyze everything that went well and everything that went south.
Identify the root cause of campaigns or strategies that were unsuccessful. Find out what can be done to improve this year. If you had any fulfillment fails or advertising mishaps that happened during last year, be sure you have a contingency plan ready to prevent similar issues moving forward.
#2: Make the most of all available tools
Most sellers are aware of the three cornerstones for success on Amazon: Appealing and informative product pages, pay-per-click campaigns, and lots of 5-star reviews. But over the years, the Amazon marketplace has dramatically changed. It’s not just enough to write compelling copy and earn 5-star reviews. There are so many recent tools and programs launched by Amazon that somewhat fly under the radar.
Amazon offers a suite of tools that are designed to aid customer-brand interaction. We have listed them below:
- Amazon Post: Posts are social media-esque posts with an image and caption. By clicking on the Post, shoppers will be redirected to the product detail page, where they can directly purchase the advertised product. Posts have a dedicated page on the Amazon storefront and they are one of the best tools to increase brand following.
- Manage Your Customer Engagement: The MYCE tool helps brands measure the interactions and impressions with customers. When used correctly, it will help brands build strong and long-lasting relationships with shoppers who frequently purchase from them.
- Amazon Live: Amazon Live allows brands to interact with shoppers in real-time through interactive live streams. As customers watch your live, they can also ask questions in the comments, redeem live-only promotions and buy products.
- Brand dashboard: Are you curious about the terms shoppers use to find your product? Want to debug your sales funnel? Brand analytics dashboard gives brand-registered sellers access to valuable insights into their product portfolio and keyword ranking.
#3: Drive off Amazon traffic to your listings
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Driving off-Amazon traffic should be at the top of your to-do list in 2023. By leveraging your social media, email platforms and Google ads, you can drive relevant traffic to your listing and get a chance to influence customers before any noise kicks in.
We recommend you enroll yourself in the Brand Referral Bonus Program if you haven’t already. With the BRB program, you get around a 10% bonus for every sale generated through off-Amazon traffic.
#4: Prioritize optimizing your creatives
Brands are quickly realizing the importance of investing in visually appealing creatives that speak to their brand. Apart from having a well-structured and informative title, bullet points and description, your listing should be attractive and eye-catching. Elements like images, A+ Content, and Stores can help brands stand out from the competition.
- A+ Content: If you haven’t already invested in A+ Content, you are missing out. A+ Content is what compels the customers to stop and learn more about your product in highly competitive categories. It makes information easy to digest, helps reduce negative reviews and helps increase brand awareness. Recently Amazon rolled out Premium A+ Content to all brands that have successfully updated at least 15 A+ Contents in the past few months. If you are eligible, we highly recommend adding Premium A+ Content to your listing.
- Images: Amazon listing images are one of the first things a shopper interacts with when they land on the detail page. They are located above the fold and are highly visible, so make sure they are worth seeing. Populate all the image fields with white background images showing the product from various angles, lifestyle images showing the product in use, and infographic images displaying the product’s key features.
- Storefront: An organized and neatly categorized Amazon store design makes it easy for shoppers to explore your product line. Amazon storefront also works as a landing page for your off-Amazon campaigns and Sponsored Brand campaigns.
- Amazon videos: Amazon product videos show the item in action, which helps shoppers imagine the product in their lives. Studies show that customers are 64% more likely to buy the product after first seeing a video demonstrating the product’s features and functions.
#5: Test what works and what doesn’t
Tools like Manage Your Customer Experiment make it come to reliable conclusions on what is best for your brand. The tool is designed to test various aspects of your product listing, including title, bullet points, description and A+ Content. Do you know if shorter bullets drive more conversion or long 250 character bullets? With Manage Your Customer Experiment tool, you can get statistical and accurate results.
Along with product detail page content, brands should also test prices, promotions, bundles and more.
#6: Get more reviews
Review influences purchase decisions more than anything else. Amazon has stringent guidelines that prohibit sellers from manipulating shoppers for adding fake reviews, so make sure you use only white hat strategies to get more reviews. It’s completely okay to add an insert card into your packaging or send auto-generated messages asking for reviews as long as you do not sway customers or ask only for positive reviews.
Learn more white hat tricks to get more reviews from our article.
#7: Focus on retention along with acquisition
You don’t want a leaky bucket. Along with acquiring new customers, make strategies to retain existing customers. One of the ways to increase sales from existing customers is by cross-selling other products from your brand. Amazon DSP can also be leveraged to target customers who have already bought from you.
To ensure customer retention, brands can stay in touch with the shoppers post-purchase. Offer services beyond what is expected to create opportunities for seamless upsell and downsell.
#8: Hire an Amazon management agency
The new year is full of new opportunities and unexplored potential. To tap into those profits, you’ll need a team of Amazon experts that ensure your Amazon account is in tip-top condition all year round.
Managing an Amazon account is not a one-man job. You’ll need a creative team that can optimize your product detail page’s visual appeal and visibility, a PPC team that makes sure your campaigns run hot 24/7, an account management team that firefights everyday issues. That’s why one of the best ways to guarantee success this new year is by hiring a professional Amazon agency like eStore Factory.
With eStore Factory’s expertise and a team of certified Amazon consultants, you can increase your reach and profits greatly in the coming year.